Webbing-Like Growth On Piece Of Driftwood

[aquadude]

Hi guys. I'm new to the hobby and the forum. I have a 29 gallon tank with:

3 emerald corys/catfish
one common pleco
three small fake plants
one medium sized live plant
a medium sized piece of driftwood (in the middle)
A roman column structure

the people at petco told me to wait a month before changing the water at all, but it's been over two weeks since I put fish in and the water was looking dirty so I changed out 5 gallons this morning, and will probably do 5 more in a few days I noticed this web-like thing growing on the driftwood and wasn't sure what to do with it. I took most of it off. Does anyone know what this is and if I should leave it alone or not?

 

[waterdrop]

Hi aquadude and Welcome to TFF!

Decorations, tank inner surfaces and especially wood, will all get all sorts of gray biofilms, fungi and other odd looking stuff in a new tank. None of it matters. It will all go away by itself usually or will be easily cleaned later.

Of much more importance is knowing whether anyone has shared the information of "cycling" the filter on your new tank, which is something which should ideally be done before fish are introduced. How long have fish been it? How long has water been in, again? Are you aware of or doing anything about "cycling?" Let us know and we can help.

Unfortunately, a common Plec may grow much too large for that tank. Perhaps some of our plec people will get to take a close look at yours and make sure its one of the types that will grow too large before we recommend that it be re-homed. The cories should be great though!

Congrats on stumbling on perhaps the best place you could ever hope to be with a new tank to learn about!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[aquadude]

Thanks for your reply. I had heard of cycling, but had heard a lot of different things. I set up the tank and filled it three weeks ago, put the corys in two weeks ago, then got the pleco 4 days ago. The people at petco said I wouldn't need to do the entire nitrogen cycle, but because of that I am trying to go very slow in adding fish. I ran the filter and heater for a week before putting any fish in the tank. As for the pleco, any idea how long it will take for that pleco to get huge? I am aware of the size they get to and plan on upgrading to a larger tank eventually, as I am loving this hobby so far, but I still have a lot to learn.

 

[waterdrop]

Haven't got but a minute but you are in what we call a Fish-In Cycling Situation. You need to read our article in the Beginners Resource Center on what the Nitrogen Cycle is and the one on the Fish-In Cycling techniques. Its a bit urgent. You'll need a good liquid testing kit. You'll need to learn good water changing technique. We deal with lots of these cases each month. I'll be back to help when I can and there are lots of good members here who will help.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[aquadude]

Will do. Thanks for the heads up

 

[waterdrop]

OK, in Fish-In Cycling you've got to have a good liquid test kit because you've got to be measuring for ammonia and nitrite(NO2) twice a day. Your job is to be a detective and figure out what frequency and percentage-size of water changes will keep each poison (ammonia or nitrite(NO2)) -at or below- 0.25ppm maximum before you can be home again to change water again. In other words, you want your test result to look extremely close to zero ppm when you measure it 20 minutes after a water change (about the time you should allow for mixing.) and then for the test results next time (say, 12 hours later) to not have gone above 0.25 or 0.30 (basically the first color result on your kit.)

Most people look at their schedule and figure out what time they could test in the morning such that 12 hours later they could also test in the evening. Few fish in a bigger tank is easier. More fish in a smaller tank is harder.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[aquadude]

Thanks a lot waterdrop. I actually will have time tomorrow to pick up a liquid test kit. Is there a brand you would recommend? Should I get the master kit? In the meantime I'm going to get some water ready to change out tomorrow. My fish appear to be doing ok... Still pretty active, and eating. I've lowered the amount I'm feeding for the time being to eliminate excess food, although they usually seem to finish it all, which is a good sign I believe.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, most of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. There is a company called Salifert that makes significantly better tests but I believe you have to buy each test as an individual kit. There is also the Nutrafin Mini-Master Test Kit which a few members have fussed about as being a bit more difficult to tell when you've reached zero on but overall is similar quality to the API kit. There are other brands of kits that the members have more problems with.

Excellent that you are being proactive for your fish. You want to figure these things out and take actions -before- they feel any stress if possible. Keeping the feeding to a minimum during a fish-in cycle is good practice.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[aquadude]

Update: I picked up the API test kit today and tested the water. Ammonia was a little over .25ppm, so I conducted about a 40% water change today. Fish seem to be doing well still. I will test again sometime tomorrow. Thanks again

 

[waterdrop]

Water changes (with good deep gravel cleaning each time) will be your friend during fish-in cycling. Don't ever worry about making them bigger if you have time. --wd-- (and always use good technique, which is outlined in many places here in the subforum)