Weird white algae

[Bettaguy23]

a small amount of white fuzzy looking algae has started to accumulate on some of my plants and around the intake of the filter. I recently re-aranged the plants and rocks to better suite the fish and I’m just wondering if this might be the cause, any help is appreciated

 

[seangee]

Those rocks look like they may be calcerous and leaching into the water.

If that is the case - and you are not specifically trying to harden your water - they are best removed.

 

[Bettaguy23]

Oh, they’ve been in there for around 3 months, would it take that long for them to begin leaching?

 

[LindaJanie]

Oh, they’ve been in there for around 3 months, would it take that long for them to begin leaching?

Have you tested your water for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, hardness? Are your fish healthy and active? Do you do regular water changes? If you're water's good & the fish have been healthy in that tank for a while, it's probably a type of algae. I've seen "white algae" once in a guy's breeding tank; it presented no problem (if that's what yours is). As for the rocks, they do look like limestone in the photos. Limestone rocks will contribute to water full of calcium. Where I live, the water is already very hard. I deal with this by replacing evaporate w/reverse osmosis water and by my weekly water changes. If I were in your shoes, I'd take out the limestone rocks, test my water & keep up w/water changes. Half a century of fishkeeping has taught me that barring the introduction of new fish w/out quarantine, all problems in the past came from water quality (and bad water due to overfeeding). I don't mind algae in my tanks (I like the feeling of peering through a window into an underwater world) & just keep the glass clean so I can watch the fish. The tank where I've got hundreds of 2-week old 3-spot gourami fry is full of algae, which seems to make for healthy fish. PS: You might want to scrape the "algae" off your filter; that part does look like calcium deposits in the photos, although it may not be.

 

[Bettaguy23]

Water is all good however it does seem to have gone slightly harder over the past week or so. Fish are all good, eating and moving as normal. I think I’ll remove the rocks to prevent the water changing to drastically and I’ll clean that filter too! I don’t mind algae either I just wasn’t sure if I should be concerned for the fish. Thanks for all your help Linda and I’ll sure take your advice onboard

 

[seangee]

Half a century of fishkeeping has taught me that barring the introduction of new fish w/out quarantine, all problems in the past came from water quality (and bad water due to overfeeding).

That really should be in a sticky somewhere. It can't be said often enough.

 

[BeckyCats]

I don't believe the limestone is the problem. I asked a friend who is a geologist and he said that if the calcium was dissolving out of the stone, it wouldn't be clumping up onto things. It would just be in the water. He has no ideas what the white could be other than possibly a fungus or something, but he doesn't think it would be the calcium from the stones. That's assuming it's limestone, though, so not sure.

 

[Bettaguy23]

I don't believe the limestone is the problem. I asked a friend who is a geologist and he said that if the calcium was dissolving out of the stone, it wouldn't be clumping up onto things. It would just be in the water. He has no ideas what the white could be other than possibly a fungus or something, but he doesn't think it would be the calcium from the stones. That's assuming it's limestone, though, so not sure.

I’m not sure what type of rock It is, they were just from pets at home. Thanks for your message, I think I’ll do a large water change tomorrow and limit feeding to reduce the nutrients.

 

[seangee]

and he said that if the calcium was dissolving out of the stone, it wouldn't be clumping up onto things.

I think that may depend on how hard the water is and the plants. My tap water is incedibly hard (which is why I use RO). When I used that in my tank I regularly observed "limescale" on my plants.

 

[Essjay]

Water is all good however it does seem to have gone slightly harder over the past week or so

If your hardness is increasing slightly it is probably due to the rocks dissolving in the water. Unless your fish can cope with this, I would remove them and replace them with some type of inert rock.

 

[Colin_T]

Take one of the rocks out and dry it, Then put some vinegar on it. If the rock and vinegar fizzle and pop it is a calcium based rock.

A small amount of limestone in a tank is not going to cause problems to anything. If you have lots of limestone in a tank, it can raise the pH to 8.5 and the GH might go up a bit but it won't go up fast.