This has got me beat

[arcticfox]

Im new here,I thought I knew it all after keeping tropical fish for over 40 years,but recently I came across something Ive never seen before,best way I can describe it is that it looks like a furry growth all over the gravel,which is very sticky as the gravel cleaner has a job to move it,the only way I can move it is to stir up the gravel and then suck it out,all well and good ? NO, a couple of days later you can see it re-appearing,slowlyat first then it takes over completely covering the gravel,its getting to be a big problem,its not caused by overfeeding,my aquarium fish shop has no answer,the question is does anyone on here? I cant imagine how it got into the tank as its kept religously clean,water changes etc every week to ten days,this particular tank is just an ordinary community tank,no living plants,36x15x12 can anyone help?

 

[Nina7777]

hey there,
What color is it?

doyou feed shrimp pellets?

 

[Silly me]

A picture would help millions here, is its dark brown, dark green or white, pinkich in color??

 

[arcticfox]

Thanks folks for the replies,I cant believe I didnt tell you the colour,well its white and it looks like the growth of mould that you get on cheese when it gets out of date,its very invasive and in about 4 days will cover the entire surface of the gravel so effectively that the undergravel filter stops working (ie the power head slows drammatically), it cannot be removed by the normal method of syphoning,the only method I have found successful is by breaking up the mat and then sucking it out via just the plastic tube of the syphon,as you might imagine this is not a very good way of doing it this is some serious stuff,after cleaning it out its back within 4 days ,in answer about the shrimp pellets,not sure what those are,I do feed frozen brine shrimp,these come as cubes on a card of about 48,once again thanks for your interest

 

[rollntider]

sounds lika a bacteria,

 

[silver]

Strange............almost sounds like fungus!???

I would wait until someone more experienced comes along (hopefully) before doing this but I think you may have to treat the tank for fungus........I have fungus on my fish right now and it is white and cottony looking although various funguses look different, some look like little hairs

I wish you luck!!

 

[Silly me]

add salt to the tank.. What fish do you have in the tank, can they take salt?? you might need to add lots of salt, 1 spoon for every 5liters
If it turns pinkich in color, its bacteria (of which the worst would be TB)and I have no idea to get rid of it, ask the VET from help..

But it sound more like fungus , so adding salt should be good..

O got this from http/www.thekrib.com
On Bactreria .....Also, just in case, not to dip your hands in the tank,
since some bacterial diseases are rarely contagious to people
too.

 

[juliethegr8t]

The first thing that came to mind after reading your post is that it may be a problem with your filter. If you have had this tank up and running for awhile, the undergravel filter is probably completely clogged with all kinds of goop. This is why a lot of people don't like UG filters - they need to be completely removed and cleaned at times. This sounds like one of those times. I know it's a huge hassle, but it might be worth trying. Even if it isn't the problem, it might help!

 

[pete28]

hey i would say it might also be a filter problem. what kind of fish rocks wood do you have in the tank. do you use aquarium salt? just trying to do some detective work to maybe help you out. is there any way you could take out some of the covered gravel and maybe take it to your lfs and see if they can do any tests on it maybe try treating te probelm outside the tank to avoid adding harmful chemicals to the tank and disrupting your fish. hope this helps
pete

 

[arcticfox]

Great to see so many replies, well its definetely a fungus,that much Im pretty certain off but Im assure its NOT treatable by my aquarium centre,at least they dont know of any treatment, they have seen it and heard of cases of it but do not know what it is or what causes it,I cant understand why its only in one tank,my other two get exactly the same treatment as this one and they are clear,the only thing I can think of is that it came with some fish I might have added at some time in the affected tank,as for the undergravel filter I think the world of them,my water is always crystal clear and they do their job well as long as you keep the gravel clean,I do add a small amount of salt at times,anyway something had to be done so I have now cleaned out the tank,got rid of the gravel,scrubbed everything else,rocks etc,and set the tank back up and am now waiting to see if everything goes ok if its going to come back it will be pretty soon if past performance is anything to go by so I will keep you informed soon,just in case you come across this again elsewhere, finally Nina7777 Im interested to know why you asked as to whether I fed brine shrimp or not? it rings a bell about another problem I had some time back,once again thank you all for your input....take care ......Bob

 

[arcticfox]

Onr final thing I forgot to mention,although I renewed the undergravel filter (it had been in the tank 5 years) just to make sure everything was clean,underneath the old one was spotless all the detrius was in the gravel,the seal between the filter and the tank bottom is as good as its going to get these days,in my opinion,this post is for anyone who has any doubts about undergravel filters

 

[arcticfox]

Hi there, Im back again with an update about the growth on gravel I posted a couple of weeks ago,It ended with a complete clean out of the tank,sadly for me its starting to re-appear,(Im mystified), I would appreciate an answer from Nina7777 if possible as to why she asked if I fed brine shrimp,as I think maybe this has something to do with this irritating problem

 

[bahja]

have you tried any meds for fungus? that's the first thing that came in mind when you mentioned the 'hair' was white.

 

[ddm18]

Hi arcticfox,

Probably completely useless, but I'll mention it anyway: I had a similar problem a few months ago, a white 'hairy' growth, that looked similar to mould appeared on my gravel, but for me I just needed to siphon it out (it was pretty well stuck together, but came out in chunks), give the gravel a good vacuum and it's been fine since. For me, I think the problem was that I wasn't cleaning the gravel frequently enough.

I doubt this helps, because obviously your growth keeps reappearing, but who knows?

Dave

 

[reg2k2]

The last time I used (live) brine shrimp, I got some of those cottony tufts, ugh. 'Course the batch I had were pretty much on the verge, and an lfs employee informed me that once they start, they turn bad and build bacteria *very* quickly. Any chance the frz. ones have turned? ei. been thawed and refrozen? I'd suggest switching food for a time, if your fish don't mind too much, and continuing the gravel-clean.

Is it still growing so fast??