Heeelp, fluffy white stuff!!

I noticed tonight as i gazed into my empty tank in the making, that on the front glass face, side glass, some of the elodia leaves, and on the vallis, a tiny fluffy white mass of stuff were anchored as if with spider-thread to the plants and glass, this, i'm sure wasn't there this morning.

Only thing different in my tank is a put a wooden box with two t12 cool white florecent tubes on top of the tank and removed the desklamp and camping light i had on top for the past few days (dont have money for the real lights yet)

Anyways, i dont like the fluffy little feathery things, i dont know what they are, and i wanna get rid of em... who can tell me what they are? pictures attached

Please bear in mind this is hard to capture in a photo as the things/plants/algea? is about 2mm by 2mm or less

i also included a drawing of what the structure seems to look like for clarification

 

Elodea is also illegal

 

Ferryman,

I think I stand under correction, but I you cycled your tank without any filter for a few days didn't you?

You sound very much like a perfectionist to me as well. (I recognise it because I am exactly the same). Water must be clean/no algae. I bet all your cable are neatly tied together either with cable ties or that spiral sable tidy.Let me give you this one bit of advice... with a fish tank... that ain't possible! I have given up.

Let me try explain in a little bit of detail where you were possibly wrong in the beginning. Yes, you were 100% correct in that bacteria colonizes the substrate as well... and by adding a bit of fish food into the tank, you allowed food to enter for the bacteria. Unfortunately because the water was not MOVING.. the bacteria wasn't getting sufficient oxygenated water. Without movement of water, no oxygen enters the water. (And adding an Airstone doesn't introduce oxygen). The surface of the water needs to be broken and moving in order for oxygen to enter the water.

SO basically your bacteria HAS NOT established itself... and the food has gone VROT and turned your tank into a NITRATE pit.

The brown algea on the tank glass is 100% normal in ANY new set up. It's actually not algae, but a thing called Diatoms. I remember it making my tank look disgusting... but after about 2-3 months it completely disappeared... bearing in mind the light set up was rectified. If I remember correctly, Diatoms grow in very dim light. (Someone please confirm this)

Algea control is at best, an ongoing thing. You will NEVER completely get rid of it. Certain algae likes bright light, some like dim light, some like still water, some like fast moving water. So no matter what your set up is going to be... you will always have some kind of algae trying to take over.

The key is to ensure you don't overfeed your fish... and keep some plants. The plants will fight with the algae over the nutrients, and usually keep the algae at bay. Certain algae is also wanted in your tank, because this wil subsidise your fishes diet as well!

Mate... EMPTY your tank. That was is stale and vrot. Start again. Have an airstone in the water... this helps break the surface tension at the top when the bubbles pop. Have the pump on. Get a product called Stability... or any other good (more expensive rather than cheap is the clue) cycling product. And put in about half a teaspoon of fish food. It would be even better if you could collect half a handful of gravel from someone who has a tank that has been running for a while. Some LPS will help you out there. This introduces bacteria immedietely.

Then leave the water to cycle. Don't add too much fish food. Remember the bacteria is microscopic. They can only consume so much.. the rest becomes rubbish and poison.

Cycling a tank could take up to 6 weeks. After about 3 weeks you should be able to SLOWLY introduce fish.. i.e 2 to 4 at a time (PER WEEK)

Hope that helps a bit. Don't mean to run your current cycling down... I think your set up is stunning... We all make mistakes in the beginning. We just trying to help you not loose too many fish in the beginning.

 

If its a Fishless cycle, you can also just add pure ammonia. Usually available at the chemist.
Its cheaper and cleaner than fish food.

Here is a calculator to work out the Ammonia
http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

and some more Bedtime reading

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861

 

Hey there.
@Henk - i tried to find it on the blacklist, but couldn't find it

@zoom - i'm not a perfectionist, not with the tank anyway, wires at the back look horrible, my lighting solution is something to laugh at etc

Then, no i didnt start cycling my water without filtration, that is theo's new 2.1 setup you're refering to. I had filtration running before adding fishfood. Check my newbie thread. I added food, it filtered, broke down etc. Because it was koi food, it was big and made red and green food powder residue everywhere. I then did a siphon and wateq change, i also took out the cascade insert thats mostly charcoal, and rinced the aquaclear sponge in TAP water to get the food powder out. Thats why i added food in spongefluff to add more ammonium to the system after i basically rinced half the filter medium. I started two weeks ago, did a 40l water change (180l tank). After i added wood i did another waterchange bc of the tannins

Surface tention is broken all the time by two hob filters, water looks clear and smells fine.

I added some stronger light for my vallis to grow, and bam, had the white feathery stuff growing

 

I do appologize Ferryman.... with al the threads and newbie alerts... it get's confusing between keeping track of who's doing what.
Please accept my sincere appologies.

Zoom feels like stupid idion....

 

Zoom, no need to feel stupid. Although your explanation may not apply here, it may apply to someone else who's reading this.

 

Yeah.
I say the same. Thanks for the info Zoom. It'd be helpful once i get that trouble.

Now, anyone know what the white feathery stuff is?

 

Does it look like the middle picture of the Rhizoclonium from http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

 

Nope, sorry bud, that stuff looks slimey-fluffy. Mine looks like a few nano sized feathers held together at the ends. . Or just-hatched spider skeletons. See the drawing above. And how its placed in the photo above. Its not directly on any surface, it floats like, 1mm away, attached with a little anchor thread

 

How about the first picture under "Hair, Thread, Fuzz, etc" at the same link? May be because ammonia is still high in your tank?

 

Ugh. I really need n testing kit. . .

 

The more I look at your drawing the more I'm leaning towards it being a Hydra problem.

Does it look like this close up?

 

Thats closest yes. Except the density is switched. The part stuck to the glass you almost cant see, the part floating around is more white and visible

 

Google Hydra and you'll see a number of different photos of it......I still think that it the most likely cause........could be wrong though but it sure does seem that way

 

Looks like Hydra...

 

Ferry bring some of the water to me then we can quickly test it.
Tonight or tomorrow.

 

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i dont know, i read that hydra is a type of tube thing, with tentacles at its mouth, this stuff doesn't liik like an "animal" thing, it looks like plant, unless hydra is only 1mmx1mm sized? and where the tube would be, there is nothing visible that i can see as being the "body" of a hydra. it looks like bits of dustbunnies,

i spoke to Shaun at Petstop today, told him when the stuff appeared etc, that i added some food again in filterwool etc to help "feed" whatever backteria needs to cycle through my tank,,, then he said the stuff in the tank is caused by the "extra uneaten food" mentioned some thingus that starts to life/grow in the water when there's excess food, and its nothing to worry about, soon as the cycle's over, they will go away when i introduce fish...

Hopefully this is the answer?

It doesn't look like hydra, but it might be something like it, some very very small stuff that develop because of too much food, the fact that the stuff is anchored to surfaces with a very small thread and just moves in the currents reminds me of how marine stuff feed from crap floating around in the currents

Thanks slojo, i can swing by tomorrow afternoon/evening if you have time?

I'm going to Pet Masters tomorrow to do some price-checks, maybe i'll find an acceptable testkit package there...

I'm thinking of buying an API package with all the tests in, it'll most probably work out cheaper than buying every test individually at R90-R120 each

the fluffy stuff is the little white things you can see surrounding all the leaves on my plant-who-must-not-be-named

but its also on the glass, starting to appear slightly on the mopani, its on the filter intake pipes, the leaves, everywhere.

I have alsoo removed the filterfloss with the broken down food in it yesterday, to make sure that whatever i changed to the setup is removed...
I havent removed the better lighting though

the two 2' cool white t12's are still in the box on the top

 

its probably some fungus spores that started living the high life once i added more food to the tank, i guess we'll just have to test the water, and if its fine to introduce some fish i think i'm getting 10 x neon tetras @ R50 from Moolis... its affordable i think, and will be some welcome colour and movement in a dull disembodied cube of water soon to become an aquarium

 

You seen the "large" neons?They look awesome man.