Chicken feathers

[Shikkapow]

or at least thats what it looks likte... I cleaned my fluval 304 today and when I reprimed the filter a masive amount of what looks like tiny chicken feathers is floating all around the tank....
at first I thought it was the cotton filter I had in there before, but it turns out the filter media was ployester and looks nothing like what is floating around in there
Tank:
55 gallon .004-.006 salinity
fluval 304 filter
2 adult archers
1 F8 puff
2 glass fish
1 crawfish
substrate is crushed coral
ammo 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm


is this some sort of fungus? it seems to be only in the pipes, the filter didnt have anything in it...

 

[OrionGirl]

Most likely it's biofilm that grows on the pipes. When the filter was turned back on, the sudden flush of water was enough to work some of it loose. Pretty common, nothing to be alarmed about. I try to clean all the tubing in my tanks at least once every 6 months to clear them out--otherwise, just put a net over the intake next time and catch all of it as it comes out.

 

[Shikkapow]

oh wow those things were NASTY
kinda overlooked the obvious part of cleaning...

thanks