Black hairy fungus!

[delia]

Tonight I found a couple of black hairy fungus "puff" growing on my filter! In the 25 years of having aquariums, this is a first for me and I don't know what to do about it. I'm am in the need of new light bulbs but am waiting to go to That Fish Place in Pennsylvania next week to buy them (and other stuff- great prices!)-

I converted my 55 gal tank to a discus tank about 4 months ago. I have 5 discus, 4 corys, and 4 rummy nose tetras. I do water changes 2x a week. Keep a pH 6.3, temp 82. I use Seachem's Discus Buffer to adjust the pH. I thought things were going good!

In my panic tonight, I took off the filter (Whisper 5), set aside the filter media, and scrubbed the housing. I'm in the process of setting up a 2nd discus tank (yes, I'm hooked!).

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Is this type of fungus harmful to discus? I know nothing about it.

Thanks!
De

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Sounds like some kind of algae. Not sure though. I would just wipe it off and put the filter back on the tank if no one is stressed out.

-Ryan

[Carol_Roberts]

Is it black hair algea or fungus? Fungus is bad - it means you have something rotting and growing fungus in the filter :o Hair algae isn't much better - it means the filter pads are not cleaned on a regular basis.

Do you feed beefheart? My guess it is is fungus on the rotting meat. time for a prefilter.

[delia]

I'm not sure if it's fungus or algae- I've never had it before. It's like a small tuft of black fur- the "base" of it is tiny but there was quite a tuft of hair. When I went to clean it of the plastic filter tube, it was really "anchored" on. I had to scrape it off.

I haven't been feeding beefheart- they don't seem to care for it. I feed frozen blood worms and Sera's Discus granules.

I checked my calender- I changed one side of the filter media on August 8th. 3 weeks prior to that I changed the other side. I rotate changes every 3-4 weeks.

At this point, I don't see any more in the tank. It was just on the filter. I'm just afraid I'll have an outbreak and wake up in the morning to find a "disaster".

Thanks for any ideas!
De

[Carol_Roberts]

3 tablespoons salt per 10 gallons will kill hair algae.

[Terrybo]

Seachem Discus Buffer contains phosphates, which can cause a lot of algae growth. If you must lower the ph of your water, Seachem Acid Buffer is phosphate free.

Terry

[delia]

Thanks Carol for your quick replies.

I forgot to ask about what a prefilter is. I looked on ThatFishPlace.com and found a prefilter that looks like a sponge that fits on the intake tube of the filter. Is this what you mean?

Also, I see salt is used frequently to treat many things. Do you mean regular table salt? If I see any more of the "black stuff" I will try your salt suggestion. I'm assuming that it won't bother the fish.

Thanks!
De

[delia]

Thanks Terry for the info on Discus buffer. I was having a miserable time adjusting my pH- it took me 3 days to get the pH right! I thought I was going to have to set up a RO system. (I realize most folks on the list don't worry about an acidic pH but, at this point, I've been following the advice of the discus breeder I order my fish from).

Discus Buffer was the quick answer- it easy to use. I think I'll try the Acid Buffer. My list for my shopping spree at ThatFishPlace is getting longer every day! I do order online (shipping is very reasonable) but I'll be going next week when we bring our son back to college.

[Carol_Roberts]

non-iodized table salt will work just fine. Prefilter is a fine pored sponge that fits the intake tube of your hang on the back filter. The prefitler is rinsed daily and traps particles that would otherwise be sucked into the filter to rot.

Adjusting the pH for a tank of growing juveniles usually causes more problems with pH fluctuations than just using aged tap.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Growing discus usually requires lots of w/c. Tap water works great without adjusting the Ph. Just aerate and heat in a storage tank.

Dan

[Howie_W]

I was having a miserable time adjusting my pH- it took me 3 days to get the pH right! I thought I was going to have to set up a RO system. (I realize most folks on the list don't worry about an acidic pH but, at this point, I've been following the advice of the discus breeder I order my fish from).

Discus Buffer was the quick answer- it easy to use. I think I'll try the Acid Buffer.


Hi delia,

Please tells us what your water parameters are straight from the tap, and also after aging for 24 hours; pH, GH, and KH. You don't need subject your fish to chemicals constantly being dumped into their water. Clean stable water conditions work best.

Howie

[delia]

Thanks everyone for your input.

Howie- I'm leaving town for a week but when I return I'll test straight and aged tap water.

De

[BrianNY]

It sounds to me like common brush algae. Is your tank planted? How much light is it getting?

Remove it by hand and keep an eye for more. Usually once it takes hold it's very difficult to get rid of.

[delia]

Hi Howie.
My tap water is
pH 7.35, after 24hr airated, pH8.16
KH is 5
GH... is the question... I've tested with 2 kits Tropic Marin and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and don't get the test results described. After adding 1 drop of the test reagent, I don't get the color it's suppose to start out with... then I don't get the end color.

How would I acclimate to this high a pH?
Thanks!
De

[kelseygirl]

De. listen to the good folks here. I almost disastered my pair by using PH buffers to keep my ph at 6.2. I didn't even know they would be ok at a higher ph. My tap is 7.4 and rises to 8.2 after aerating for 24 hours. I just started adding this aged water at the higher PH when doing water changes. This slowly changed the ph. My fish adjusted quickly and thrived. Chemicals are bad. (Besides expensive.) They even started spawning after almost 2 years. Just wanted to share my experience so you'd know it works! Janice

[kelseygirl]

Oops, forgot to tell you...I was doing 10% to 30% water changes. :)

[BrianNY]

sounds like beard algae ridiculous to get rid of I would go into the planted tank section I remember reading about one of the more common meds that had a side effect of killing this good luck

[Carol_Roberts]

Salt ;)

[sn8k]

Seachem Discus Buffer contains phosphates, which can cause a lot of algae growth.
Terry

I second this observation... I used only one treatment of SeaChem's Discus buffer and it drove my PO4 readings to 5+. It's a recipe for algae disaster in a planted tank. It took me 2 weeks of 60% water changes every other day and 3 treatments of phosphate spong to bring the PO4 readings to an acceptable level. Even then, you need to balance your NO3 (10 to 20) with the PO4 (.5 to 1.0) respectively.

In brief - you need to get your chemistry correct or algae is going to be a reoccuring problem. Don't forget to also treat for potasium (K) and trace elements.

Here's an informative link for you ;) http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=7;action=display;threadid=4888

Good luck :thumbsup:

Mark K :fish:

[Wahter]

If it looks like this, it's black brush algea (AKA red beard algea):

http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/pic/gravel.jpg

[delia]

thanks for everyone's input. I'm in the process of experimenting with my water. I am happy to say I have not seen any more algae. It sure looks like black brush algae. Thanks.

Are dicus affected by a high P04?

Thanks everyone.
De