Anyone know what this is.

[Country joe]

I've got rid it once, but here it is back again.

 

[MaloK]

That is called slime mold, a slowly moving organism belonging to the Protista kingdom.

A sign of a healthy ecosystem.

 

[GaryE]

I like slime molds, but they don't stay around long. They pop up every now and then, then move on. They aren't the prettiest things that visit our tanks, but they do no harm.

 

[Country joe]

Do you just leave it. Or get rid

 

[MaloK]

They live on excess of nutrients like decaying plant material, bacteria, and other microorganisms. They are part of the natural cleanup crews...

They can be beneficial in aquariums by helping to maintain water quality. But, excessive growth can indicate a little too much nutrients generous environment.

Reducing decaying matter in the water layer helps, Fine mechanical filtration removes a lot of what they are feeding on.

Introducing strong competitors like pods and cods or shrimps are direct competition for them.

 

[Country joe]

They live on excess of nutrients like decaying plant material, bacteria, and other microorganisms. They are part of the natural cleanup crews...

They can be beneficial in aquariums by helping to maintain water quality. But, excessive growth can indicate a little too much nutrients generous environment.

Reducing decaying matter in the water layer helps, Fine mechanical filtration removes a lot of what they are feeding on.

Introducing strong competitors like pods and cods or shrimps are direct competition for them.

I do 25% water changes with gravel cleaning, and I have a fluval 207 external filter in a 125 tank, I was feeding once a day. But have been trying out twice a day. Maybe should cut back to the one a day.

 

[Back in the fold]

Interesting . I’ve never seen that ever in 59 years of fish keeping . Just learned something new .

 

[MaloK]

I do 25% water changes with gravel cleaning, and I have a fluval 207 external filter in a 125 tank, I was feeding once a day. But have been trying out twice a day. Maybe should cut back to the one a day.

Or divide what you would give once a day into two smaller meals.

And crank up the water changes to 50% for a while.

 

[Ceez]

Interesting . I’ve never seen that ever in 59 years of fish keeping . Just learned something new .

Me too!

 

[emeraldking]

As already stated, no worries...
It happens overhere in some tanks as well. And yes, they stay there for just a certain period and vanish after that. It depends on how it develops whether I like the look of it or not. If it looks like lace, I definitely like it... At my place it mostly develops close to the bottom of the tank.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Some fish are grazers rather than piggy feeders. Discus are a perfect example. They do better fed several smaller meals in a day rather than a single big one.

One way to prevent the build up of nutrients is to do two water changes in the week and these can be as much as 50% each.

The water that comes out of our tap contains some level of nutrients that plants need. This may create more of thing they need some but not a lot of building up. Water changes are the solution. In some cases this may remove something they do need and we have to make sure to replace (fertilize) after a water changes to insure this doesn't happen.

I all the years I have done palnted tanks I have never seen this sort of mold in any of them. I guess i am lucky?

 

[emeraldking]

I all the years I have done palnted tanks I have never seen this sort of mold in any of them. I guess i am lucky?

But even if it would show up, there's no reason for worries.

 

[Fishfunn]

Me too!

I never seen it either.

 

[Oldspartan]

We have had this a couple of times. It started out as a bitty piece than bloomed and then dissipated each time. The first time I saw it I was alarmed and sucked it out then researched it. Discovered both causes and that it was not harmful in moderation. Made some adjustments to vacuuming schedule and decreased feeding just a little. Have not seen it since.