I transferred my fishtank from work to my home and had something strange happen. Once setup it started having this strange fungus type growth that I can only describe as albumen in look once more developed .

It begins off as a small fuzz but continues until it looks like a clumps of wavy masses on the gravel and it clings and starts to grow everywhere... the sides of the tank, the rocks, etc, etc.

What is it and is it possible to get rid of it?!?!?

I even started a new tank and it's appeared in there too.

(The fishtank is freshwater)


HELP!!!

 

Just do what I do, buy more suckers

 

Algae? Perhaps the new location of your tank has greater exposure to light.

You could:
a) Cut down on light exposure by closing blinds in the room or simply shutting of the aquarium light for longer periods.
b) Buy more catfish, plecs, or other "suckers" as mentioned above.
c) Use algae removal chemicals avail. at pet/aquarium stores.
d) Do a complete tear down, steralize all rocks etc. and start over again (not recommended).

Hope that helps
Asif
PS-Oh, and don't fall behind in your regular water changes either

 

- no, it doesn't have exposure to light
- I have 3 corys but this isn't green algae, it's like white fungus and can form into snakey tenticles
- I've used algae chems to no avail
- I've done a complete tear down, boiled the rocks, etc, and it still came back.


argh.

 

Is the tank getting enough light? That can be the problem at times as well. In addition, the Corys, while bottom dwelling fish don't eat as much detritus and algae as some other bottom/side dwellers. Plecostamus comes to mind right now.

You could even have a case of "blanket weed", although I'm not sure what the scientific term for that might be. The only way to remove it is periodically with an old hairbrush attached to a stick which you twirl around in the water until all the hairy mess is gone. It will come back however, and even in the case of a complete tear down, may reappear if your new restart was not carried out properly.

Asif

 

It does look like a blanket, it begins to cover the whole bottom and coats the sides... it's white and becomes like little puffy, wavy bunches as it grows.

 

More than likely blanket weed I would imagine. Even fish won't eat that stuff. You're going to have to try a complete tear down again. Just remember....even a little bit of that stuff left, and it will take off once you restart your setup. Don't forget about boiling the substrate as well. Tiny particles of the weed easily become lodged between pieces of gravel, and will magically come back to life once you add water.

Good luck
Asif

 

Marc, had this happen to me once. Went ot Nippon Fish on Geary and the guy came out to check it out. Turns out, the algae which you have here have been transferred either by-- 1. water, 2. gravel, 3. the fish itself, from your old tank and will continue to grow. No matter how clean your new tank will be. These are micro algae and your fish may be the carriers.

 

Off the topic but... Check out these Luo Han fish... US$11,000! F*CK...

 

Heh heh, I guess I'm supposed to chime in here given my name. Unfortunately, I don't know a whole lot about freshwater tanks (only interested in full blown reefs) but you should probably do some large water changes (25% week for one month).