Strange growth on bottom of tank

[edwardmean]

I recently started an aquarium (33 gal) and have two bolivian rams, 1 clown pleco and a few live plants that I am trying to get to grow. I just noticed yesterday that there is a strange whitish, pinkish (the pinkish tinge could just be from the tannins released by my driftwood) growth on the bottom of my tank. The picture isn't the best but it has tendrils that come out and flow with the water and searching everything I have yet to find any mention of anything even similar to this. Yesterday I tested everything form pH to KH and everything came out good except for my pH which is 7.8.

I was wondering if anybody had any idea what this is and/or where it came from? Should I be concerned? I can clean it out but would rather just eliminate it.

Here is the growth:

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/2668/picture023pl6.jpg

[fishcatch22]

looks a bit like fungus. can you give a closer pic?

[edwardmean]

Will try.

[edwardmean]

Here is an enhanced view:

http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/7985/untitled1nm7.jpg

As I said it moves so it is hard to get a really clear image but it is very wispy.

[fishcatch22]

looks like fungus to me, but i'm not sure. could be a bacterial bloom, too.

[edwardmean]

Actually I think you may be right on the fungus. Now that I think about it I had a partially uneaten algae wafer that I did not clean out of the tank before I put in some new substrate. I had heard that I should not clean my substrate for a while in order to properly cycle my tank. it just so happens that the algae wafer was very close to where this growth is.

[fishcatch22]

Actually I think you may be right on the fungus. Now that I think about it I had a partially uneaten algae wafer that I did not clean out of the tank before I put in some new substrate. I had heard that I should not clean my substrate for a while in order to properly cycle my tank. it just so happens that the algae wafer was very close to where this growth is.probably is then. i've gotten the same thing myself.

[rosita]

That's exactly what it looks like to me, too. Sometimes I'll introduce a new kind of food, the fish pick at it, and I later find little tufts of fluff growing around it. :rolleyes:

[wataugachicken]

ah, the fungus among us. . . just gravel vac very good, be careful about overfeeding until your bacteria are established better.

slightly off topic, did you test ammonia, nitrites, and nitrate? the presence of fungus like that is a good sign of not being cycled yet.

[edwardmean]

Yes I have tested everything and everything tests well except for the pH which may be a little high at 7.8. Also I noticed that my driftwood is starting to get this growth. Once it grows a bit I will take a picture and see if I can show it better. All I can say now is that it looks kind of like jellyfish skin on my wood.

[bandit1n]

I believe I have the same problem but my filmy substance is dark blue-green. I had small 1 gallon tank with filter and somehow this icky film grew on the sides of the tank and everything that wasn't moving in the tank. The tank was not placed in direct sun but has a lamp on all the time. Well we cleaned the tank and thought we got rid of what ever it was but it came back even worse. The second time we just replaced the tank and it's entire contents with new gravel, fake plants, and cave. After a month, it has started to appear again both on the objects in the tank and on the surface. Could the fish be the reason for the return of whatever this blue-green filmy stuff is? If so, is there a way to clean the fish so this never comes back?

[Kyohti]

Yep, that's fungus from uneaten food. I should know, I have a few fluffs of it on the bottom of MY aquarium right now! >.>;;

I usually just attatch a length of air tubing to a syringe and suck the stuff off the bottom of the tank to get rid of it.

[ErrorS]

Might as well add my $0.02..

I've had fungus grow like that from driftwood. Usually it's a single piece and if I remove it the fungus will go away. It's possible it might be your driftwood.

I also get that kind of growth on the end of the airstone attached to my CO2 injector. It never spreads though, so i just ignore it.

never had it grow on food or gravel.. it's either my driftwood or that airstone. About 4-5 years of experience

[Kyohti]

I believe I have the same problem but my filmy substance is dark blue-green. I had small 1 gallon tank with filter and somehow this icky film grew on the sides of the tank and everything that wasn't moving in the tank. The tank was not placed in direct sun but has a lamp on all the time. Well we cleaned the tank and thought we got rid of what ever it was but it came back even worse. The second time we just replaced the tank and it's entire contents with new gravel, fake plants, and cave. After a month, it has started to appear again both on the objects in the tank and on the surface. Could the fish be the reason for the return of whatever this blue-green filmy stuff is? If so, is there a way to clean the fish so this never comes back?

THAT is another problem I've had recently... that's just algae growth. It's usually spurned on by... guess! Uneaten food. :P

No worries... it's just that the uneaten particles provide high nitrate levels that the algae really seem to love. And any lighting will grow INCHES of this icky stuff on EVERYTHING in your aquarium. The best thing to do is to use an algae destroyer solution (as long as you don't have any live plants!!) and make sure and use that syringe and air-tube suggestion I made previously to suck any uneaten food off the bottom of your tank! Also you'd probably benefit from some bottom feeders or a stronger filtration to keep debris off the bottom of the tank.