Hi guys, I need some help. I have a 10 gal fw tank housing 5 female bettas. Params are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate. Temp is 78 degrees. I'm running a sponge filter and a lousy toy internal box filter with poor quality carbon. (I put this in because I am at a loss for what to do).
I do a 50% and a 20% water change every week. I gravel vac every week.
I went on vacation for 5 days and left my fiance in charge of feeding. When I returned from vacation, I noticed some weird white patch in the center of the tank on top of the gravel. (I did a param test, and it was normal) It appeared like a spiders web. There was some of this spider's web type stuff on a small crypt plant too. I immediately did a gravel vac and a 50% water change. Everything seemed fine.
I woke up this morning and looked in to the tank, and this white stuff is EVERYWHERE. It seems to grow exponentially!
Here's pics:
The tank
Yesterday, before gravel vac:
Today, in the morning:
Check out that gross white gunk everywhere. It even clings to the glass! Those aren't water spots causing that blurry look, that's the white stuff on the glass
This sponge filter used to be black, it is coated in the white stuff.
The val is being engulfed
I explored some past threads where people seemed to have the same problem as I, however there never seemed to be a resolution. Please help guys!
More info that might help: I added those two drift wood pieces last night, maybe they could have caused the white stuff's population to explode. (driftwood had been boiled and soaked in hot water for 5 days) I shook and scrubbed the sponge filter off in a cycled tank full of only hornwort and a sponge filter. The cycled tank has no substrate, and the water was very cloudy and full of the white-stuff particles. This morning that tank is clear and no white stuff to be seen :screwy:. I have no clue what is going on.
I do a 50% and a 20% water change every week. I gravel vac every week.
I went on vacation for 5 days and left my fiance in charge of feeding. When I returned from vacation, I noticed some weird white patch in the center of the tank on top of the gravel. (I did a param test, and it was normal) It appeared like a spiders web. There was some of this spider's web type stuff on a small crypt plant too. I immediately did a gravel vac and a 50% water change. Everything seemed fine.
I woke up this morning and looked in to the tank, and this white stuff is EVERYWHERE. It seems to grow exponentially!
Here's pics:
The tank
Yesterday, before gravel vac:
Today, in the morning:
Check out that gross white gunk everywhere. It even clings to the glass! Those aren't water spots causing that blurry look, that's the white stuff on the glass
This sponge filter used to be black, it is coated in the white stuff.
The val is being engulfed
I explored some past threads where people seemed to have the same problem as I, however there never seemed to be a resolution. Please help guys!
More info that might help: I added those two drift wood pieces last night, maybe they could have caused the white stuff's population to explode. (driftwood had been boiled and soaked in hot water for 5 days) I shook and scrubbed the sponge filter off in a cycled tank full of only hornwort and a sponge filter. The cycled tank has no substrate, and the water was very cloudy and full of the white-stuff particles. This morning that tank is clear and no white stuff to be seen :screwy:. I have no clue what is going on.