Uh... White... Stuff???

[rich_one]

I've been in this hobby for a long time... so I am not a newbie. yet, I see something I have never seen in any of my tanks.

Tank has been running about a month now. No fish... just water, driftwood, filter and light (normal flourescent... no fancy HO plant light).

I am getting discus this weekend... but I look in the tank, and there is white, cob-web like looking stuff on the driftwood and the filter intake... a little on the non-heated parts of the heater.

anyone have any idea what this stuff is? Should I be worried about it, before I go and spend a ton on discus this weekend?

I can post pics tonight, but really, just looks a lot like cobweb.

Thanks!

-Rich

[underwaterforest]

Hopefully it isn't the white bacterial growth that I'm encountering Rich. So far I haven't been able to rid my tank of it and just posted a thread about it right before this one (Ozone). My white stringing "stuff" has been attacking my discus and so far two of my 9 fish are not eating and looking sickly.

Your growth maybe fine if you aren't noticing fish problems though. I have had many tanks in the past with white bacterial growths with no detriment to the fishes health, I believe they where an Aeromonas strain of Bacteria when I tried to key them out.

Edit:

Is the white growth from the driftwood? I have seen many pieces of the mopani wood have this white layer until my algae eater removes it, usually takes a week or so to get rid of it

[rich_one]

Hmmm... well, no discus in this tank yet... but I am supposed to pick up a group from Hans on Sunday.

I wonder, now, if this is the driftwood... I can always take it out and boil it again... longer.

I'll get picks tonight, and see what everyone has to say. no way I'm buying $500 worth of fish, for this white crap to give me problems before I even get started! LOL...

-Rich

[rich_one]

Hmmm... well, no discus in this tank yet... but I am supposed to pick up a group from Hans on Sunday.

I wonder, now, if this is the driftwood... I can always take it out and boil it again... longer.

I'll get picks tonight, and see what everyone has to say. no way I'm buying $500 worth of fish, for this white crap to give me problems before I even get started! LOL...

-Rich

I should clarify... I'm saying no discus in the tank... in fact, there are no fish in the tank of any kind.

[underwaterforest]

I wonder, now, if this is the driftwood... I can always take it out and boil it again... longer.

-Rich

I tried boiling mine (3 times) and baking in the oven but the white stuff keep coming back on my driftwood. But my busynose found the white stuff too be very tasty and after a week or two the wood was pristine looking.

[rich_one]

can't find the stupid camera... but it'd be cool if this is just pleco food!

-Rich

[snoopy65]

Here is an excerpt I read in an article pertaining to this.

What's that fuzz on my driftwood?

Quite often after driftwood is added to an aquarium, a white almost transparent fuzz will grow on it. This fuzz can appear several weeks to several months after the driftwood is added to the aquarium. Popular thinking is this fuzz is either a fungus or a mold. Either way it's harmless, unfortunately it's not pleasing to look at. Some people have had luck just brushing it off. Others have had luck by introducing algae eating fish, as they will actually eat it. Neither technique will guarantee preventing this fuzz from recurring. The important thing is to have faith, as it will eventually disappear.

[DerekFF]

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=77562

[rich_one]

thanks for the link, derekff... and thanks everyone for your input. I am not at ease that this stuff won't harm my discus, and I need to grab me a pleco!

Again... appreciate the help!

-Rich