HELP! WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?

Usually the day after every water change the tank gets A LITTLE clouded. Yesterday I did my water change and today it's a bit cloudy as normal BUT I did something different last water change... I scrubbed the wood with a toothbrush to get all the dirty stuff off. I vacuumed most of it up and did a 60-70% water change but then today there is this white "fungus?" on the wood and the anibias... It's really weird and unlike anything I've seen

Please! I need to know if this is harmful or not...

Probably released sap from the DW by scrubbing the outer surface...if the DW is aquarium safe (which I assume), no need to fret over it

No, not harmful, but don't "scrub" wood once it is in the tank (or even before, for that matter). This allows the fibres to break apart faster, and the wood will in time rot and be harmful then.

Second reason not to ever "clean" wood and rock is that the biofilm that forms on all surfaces is essential. Fish will be seen grazing surfaces, not always for algae but for the microscopic food critters. Bacteria is sticky and adheres to the biofilm, and you want this bacteria; it is not the nitrifying, but it is just as important. Most of this is in the substrate, but the more the merrier.

Ah ok... It looked ugly though. There was that dead fungus stuff all brown and fluffy, then sand trapped on it and snail poop on it... So I just wanted to lightly scrub it. And it looks great but that white stuff really freaked me out.

Thanks! Makes me feel a whole lot better!

A bacterial biofilm, and you learned how to cultivate it. Some fish eat it - usually it vanishes once all the creatures the cleaning killed re-establish themselves.

When I moved and had the tank wood sitting in a bag freezing for a couple of weeks, it showed up the day after I put the driftwood in tanks. It's always around, but kept in check by other life forms.

GaryE said:

A bacterial biofilm, and you learned how to cultivate it. Some fish eat it - usually it vanishes once all the creatures the cleaning killed re-establish themselves.

When I moved and had the tank wood sitting in a bag freezing for a couple of weeks, it showed up the day after I put the driftwood in tanks. It's always around, but kept in check by other life forms.

Click to expand...

Cool... So I did something awesome on accident

I'm so glad it was nothing harmful... I was sincerely scared