annae Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 I have a new tank I have been cycling without fish and there is a strange growth in the substrate and in the back corners of the tank along the silicon. It looks like some kind of mould, it is white and when vacuumed out of the tank it looks quite snot-like floating in the bucket. I have emptied the whole tank and removed the substrate, boiled it and wiped out the inside of the tank. This seemed to work for one week but the growth is back along the silicon again. Does anyone know what this is? My fish are being delivered tomorrow so I hope it is nothing major! I don't have a water testing kit but am going to lfs tomorrow so will take a sample to be tested. When I say cycling I mean I have had the tank set up with the filter running for the past 8ish weeks... maybe even longer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 Did you add any source of ammonia when cycling your tank? That's why you need to start the nitrate cycle. The white growth is probably some sort of algae that your fish will probably eat. I wouldn't worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 ditto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annae Posted November 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 Hiya Thanks for answering. I didn't add anything to the water, I have a friend who is more experienced and she seemed to think I would be okay just to set the tank up and let it run for a few weeks. The fish are arriving tomorrow. I hope they will be okay. I have been searching for info on white growths for ages and was suprised not to find any info as it can't just be me surely?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 hi they only usually answer you once around here then ingore you lol anyway I just ran my tank for 3 weeks added stress coat etc it was fine Just done put 100 fish in it at once try add a few every few weeks?? Get an ammonia kitt, i got an expired onee off trademe for ten bucks it works fine ALso regular small water changes I have 80 fish approx I only lost one cat fish, and i got at least 30 babie guppies !!!!!!!!! Good luck let us know how you get on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 I got a strange green grown off my plants in my tank like green cotton or something anyone know what this is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Usually around here we keep tanks with fish in them, so don't get white algae. Add fish slowly otherwise you'll get a spike. Filters don't start working unless there is food (ammonia) for the bacteria. When you add your fish, they will produce ammonia to feed the bacteria. You will probably get a nitrate/nitrite spike, so do water changes often to help keep them down. Aaron, search black beard algae, does it look like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Hi Annae, welcome to the forums. I don't know what the strange white growth is - especially since you started out with a sterile tank. Very mysterious. As for adding the fish, how many fish do you have arriving at once? And what types? And are they full grown or juveniles? And how big is your tank? If you're thinking of adding a lot of fish at once to a small tank, you will need to go very carefully, do a lot of water changes, and test the water often. By having the filter running on the empty tank you have successfully aged the water (so it won't have chlorine in it any more) but you have not started cycling the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 I got a strange green grown off my plants in my tank like green cotton or something anyone know what this is? If it looks like green cotton (long threads) it could be hair algae. Trim off the worst affected leaves and remove them from the tank, then you might have to remove the plants and dose them with hydrogen peroxide or potassium permanganate to try to get rid of the algae. Or for a really bad infestation you might be best to throw away the plants and start again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Yes i have looked that up it looks like that ooo wonder where i got that from thank god its only in one tank !!!!!! The plants are doing really well I will trim it off and whetu yes i will do that thanks for the advice it aint very pretty lol lol I have 30 babies now in a sep tank, i used water from my main tank, the ammonia is all at 0 and ph around 7. my ph in tank with drift wood is only about 6.6 With my fry tank what do I have to do to that ? just clean as normal Man at pet shop taking baby guppies for dollar each I think i got some gold ones tooooooooo yeeeeeeeeee and my platty is so fat its gonna pop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaat Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Sounds to me like the white gunk you often get on new heater clips. If so it is ugly but harmless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 ooo no it looks like mine is hair alge (sorry to high jack your thread) I dont have nitrate kits etc it said to get it out with your hand and then rinse in bucket and get it out again what you guys reckon im off to do a serach for it on here ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Sounds to me like the white gunk you often get on new heater clips. If so it is ugly but harmless. Yes it does sound like that - I have never had issues with it affecting anything in my tank. and aaron11 - some of us work and can't answer during the daytime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enzoom1 Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Yes it does sound like that - I have never had issues with it affecting anything in my tank. Yeah, i used to always get it on the rubbery/plastic parts of the heater. Never really did look good, but after a while it disapeared. Not sure if it was my fish eating it, or it just naturally stopped growing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Yes it does sound like that - I have never had issues with it affecting anything in my tank. and aaron11 - some of us work and can't answer during the daytime. Yep i understand that I did get some nice help from a man but apart from that was ingored anyway thanks, i been trying to read and learn on here i have learnt heaps its great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Yep i understand that I did get some nice help from a man but apart from that was ingored anyway thanks, i been trying to read and learn on here i have learnt heaps its great Don't be offended here, but it might have something to do with the way you ask questions. You need to provide us with all the information you can so we can help. It also helps to search (there's a button for it at the top of the page) to see if people have had a similar problem. If we've all seen the question 10 times before, we're not going to answer it. Also, if you ask questions in an appropiate thread (not on other peoples unrelated threads) you might get a better response. Hope that helps. Mods - I'm not trying to moderate here, just trying to help out people who don't know better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Yep i understand that I did get some nice help from a man but apart from that was ingored anyway thanks, i been trying to read and learn on here i have learnt heaps its great Hi aaron, it would be quite helpful if you began new subjects in a new thread. You might find that more people read a thread with a subject line that they can relate to - so you might get more answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Yes well i dont need to ask as much now I found out how to have a good poke around and see whats on here and i got some of the cotton algae stuff off it looks better now ill just keep doing that i cant afford the medicine stuff at the moment !!!!!! and whetu i had 5 threads no one answers i thought everyone might of been a bit snobbish here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 27, 2008 Report Share Posted November 27, 2008 Snobbish no, but if someone doesn't know the answer they won't reply either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted November 27, 2008 Report Share Posted November 27, 2008 lol ok lssmith has beennnnnnnnnn great with their help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annae Posted November 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Hi everyone, lots going on in this thread now! I haven't had a chance to use my computer for a few days. The fish have been added successfully. There are 10 of them and they are quite small so I am looking forward to watching them grow! I went down and got a testing kit and the ammonia is okay for now, the ph was a bit high though.... well it was showing 7.8 and I think it is better to be around 7? I have also been doing 20% water changes each day so hopefully that will help keep the ammonia down. The white gunky stuff was growing on the plastic part of the heater as well but since the fish have gone in it has started to calm down. They were picking at it and then it was getting sucked into the filter so I have been taking any chunky bits out and also vacuuming during water changes. Oh and also I got some ph down to try and adjust it a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Your pH will probably drop more as the tank matures but imo (and in many others) as long as the pH remains consistent the fish will be okay. Its better to have a stable pH than one which fluctuates and this is likely to happen if you fiddle too much with it. The correct pH is more important if you are trying to breed fish. What sort of fish (or have I missed it?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Don't try to alter the pH with pH Down!!! 7.8 is fine and, as said, will probably lower naturally as the tank matures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted December 1, 2008 Report Share Posted December 1, 2008 Well done, im sure your fish will be fine I got my guppies off a breader he has no ph or no ammonia test kitt, and just does frequent water changes and his fish are in perfect condtion. I have 40 baby fry Im glad i got the ammonia test kitt like you though coz i had a slight problem it all seems better now, tank wasnt cycled for long enough. and feeding too much ha !!!!!! My platy is so fat its gonna explode i never seen a fish so big, lol. I got a hair alage problem now grrrr in one tank BUT my plants all have booomed and look great worth the effort aye. my rule now is tank maintance on saturday takes me about an hour to do the turtle tank 3 foot, 2 foot tank in my room and curved glass tank in comptuer room, and baby fry tank NO MORE TANKS till i move Then im gonna get a 4 foot or bigger tank i cant wait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annae Posted December 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 Well its good to know that the ph should adjust itself... wish I read that before I went out and bought the ph down doh! Oh well, luckily I only used it once and it didn't really do anything - probably because I am doing lots of water changes. The fish seem really happy and I have put a seat in front of the tank for my cat to sit and watch them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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