Weird Growth On Rock

[tgo]

hi there, I just noticed some whitish/clear stringy substance growing off a fake rock ornament I bought less than a week ago. It looks like the rock has a slight foggy appearance to it, until you notice the substance flow with the current. There is a aubias plant tied to this rock. There is no such growth in other areas of the tank (10g US), including the other sunken-ship ornament, which also has an anubias nana attached to it.

I am about two weeks into a fish-in cycle. I am using Nutrafin Cycle and a waste control product as well. I have been doing at least three changes (10-15%) a week, ammonia and nitrate are barely detectable by test kit, no nitrate test yet.

 

[tgo]

nobody has any idea what this could be?

 

[knig6]

i would like to be an assit, there was a post similar to this for having a whitish clear substance on their plants, but i forgot which fish eats it, but i think algae eaters or some sort, but i dont know, should check out other post

 

[fatheadminnow]

See this site, and see if you cant identify what type of algae it may be?

http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

-FHM

 

[tgo]

thanks for the link, but unfortunately none of those look as white and milky as the stuff in my tank. I took out the ornament to prevent spread, I noticed along the glass very tiny small white dots, they don't look like eggs cause I can see a very tiny wavelike action once in awhile. I don't want to add any algae-eating fish until the tank has cycled to keep down the waste.

I tried some searches and found that other people have had this problem on bogwood and rocks =, but I am confused because some people say its fungus, others bacteria, and others say its algae.

 

[fatheadminnow]

thanks for the link, but unfortunately none of those look as white and milky as the stuff in my tank. I took out the ornament to prevent spread, I noticed along the glass very tiny small white dots, they don't look like eggs cause I can see a very tiny wavelike action once in awhile. I don't want to add any algae-eating fish until the tank has cycled to keep down the waste.

I tried some searches and found that other people have had this problem on bogwood and rocks =, but I am confused because some people say its fungus, others bacteria, and others say its algae.

What I would do right now is continue and finish the fishless cycle.

If the white hairy stuff is still in your tank 2 weeks after the cycle has finished and you added fish, then I would start to think about what it is.

It probably is algae, due to the high levels of ammonia form being added to your tank.

-FHM

 

[tgo]

I'm doing a fish-in cycle with 4 danios, just meant that I didn't want to add another fish. I didn't know about fish-less cycles until after I got the fish (some internet sites said to cycle with danios), now I am just trying to do as much as I can to reduce the damage. I did a 20% water change today. I guess I'll skip a day of feeding and feed them less after that, maybe reduce the lighting for a awhile too. Is this a good idea? I have a 14 watt Sun-Glo, what is the minimum amount of hours I should have it on with anubias plants?

 

[fatheadminnow]

I would say 8 hours to 10 hours a day.

I have mine on for 10 hours a day, and my Anubis is growing nicely.

Even for a fish-in cycle, you are going to have higher levels of Ammonia, so I would do what talked about, and wait until after the cycle to see if it is still around or not.

Also, is your tank getting any direct sunlight?

-FHM

 

[tgo]

I guess it might get a little bit of direct sunlight, not very strong though and maybe only for a few hours.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Look up hydra, and maybe freshwater bryozoans if the hydra don't work out.

Both are harmless and rather cool.

 

[waterdrop]

Reading this it sounds possible to me that you just are looking at normal whitish biofilm on the surfaces of the tank and planaria out in the water or in the glass. Both of these things are very common in a 2-week old tank like yours and are harmless and will both probably be gone eventually without intervention.

The heterotrophic bacteria in the water (different from the 2 species of beneficial bacteria we promote in our filters) will produce quite a bit of grayish/whitish biofilm on various interior tank surfaces in a new tank. Eventually the micro-organics that these heterotrophs are eating, that came in with the fresh tap water and new things in the tank, will be consumed and the heterotrophs will die down, their biofilms will break down and you just won't see the stuff or it will get washed away in your ornament cleanings. Planaria are also things that come and go in a short burst and often you won't ever see them again. Once tanks have fish planaria would get gobbled up anyway.

Without actually seeing, this is my best guess from your description and is quite likely I'd think.

~~waterdrop~~
edit: forgot to mention that yet another common thing in new tanks are various white fungus growths or small white blobs of fungus getting stuck on strings of algae. Again these are things that will usually go away and are usually not a concern