Questions About White Algae Or Mold

Travis Harrabek

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Mar 11, 2019
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I started a planted aquarium freshwater. I have carpet plants and dwarf hair grass. I have noticed that there is a white fuzz on the grass in certain spots and on the substrate in certain areas. The tank has been running for 2 weeks and has stable levels for everything. The only thing I have left to install is the co2 system. It's a 35 gallon tank. Has 8 tetras and 3 ghost shrimp. Any ideas of what it exactly is and how do I get rid of it. It doesnt seem to spread. Wondering if it came from the seeds and the slime they had on them during the growth stages. It showed up 4 days after the tank was filled.

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Kyalgae

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Neat! Looks like a bacterial bloom to me. I did a tank where we didn’t presoak the driftwood and it got covered in this stuff for quite a few weeks. It can come from anywhere really. Usually the blooms burn themselves out after a while. Maybe a water change will help a bit. I’ve even had it in the water for a while and the bacteria made the water look pearlescent a bit like white hand soap.

https://barrreport.com/threads/what-is-this-jelly-on-my-driftwood.15704/
 
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Travis Harrabek

New Member
Mar 11, 2019
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Saskatoon Saskatchewan
Neat! Looks like a bacterial bloom to me. I did a tank where we didn’t presoak the driftwood and it got covered in this stuff for quite a few weeks. It can come from anywhere really. Usually the blooms burn themselves out after a while. Maybe a water change will help a bit. I’ve even had it in the water for a while and the bacteria made the water look pearlescent a bit like white
 

Travis Harrabek

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Mar 11, 2019
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Do I have to treat it with anything or does it eventually disappear. I do a 25% change on schedule days. Over the last day or 2 it seems to be killing the grass. It's not getting worse in any area except for where it originated from. Do I leave it or remove it?
 

Kyalgae

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Do I have to treat it with anything or does it eventually disappear. I do a 25% change on schedule days. Over the last day or 2 it seems to be killing the grass. It's not getting worse in any area except for where it originated from. Do I leave it or remove it?

I would try to remove the dead plant material and vacuum up the dead roots, you could probably suck up some bacterial sludge. If the plants are dead you should get rid of them. I would do at least a 60%-70% change if it was me. You did a dry start I'm guessing? What kind's of substrate or combinations of substrate did you use? I can't make it out.
 
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Travis Harrabek

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Mar 11, 2019
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I went and got a enzyme balance and it cleared it up in a matter of 3 days tops. Only problem was when I did the dry start I was advised to plant the seeds right onto seachem florite over gravel and the plants never rooted down so they released into the water. I have collected what let go and have since added pool filter sand to hold the rest in place to root. Since adding the sand the water has cleared up incredible amount. The shrimp love the sand and have become far more active. I also added a dyi co2 setup and have a schedule of micro and macro nutrients.
 

CRS Fan

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Feb 15, 2010
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I’ve had rogue bacterial blooms only a couple times in 35+ years of fish keeping. I was suggested to re-seed the biological bed using Seachem Stability. This worked well for me. You may also want to add some juvenile BNP’s to eat the decaying matter.

Best regards,

Stuart


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