Question: White algae

[snuggly time]

Just wondering if anyone has dealt with white hair algae before? It has literally taken over my fish tank covering everything. It's not in my axolotl tank but I'm so worried that he could end up with it. So far his tank looks clear

Is there anything else I can do other than keep lighting to a minimum, reduce the food and do more water changes? Any tips would be great, thanks :happy:

 

[Tappers]

In my experience it's more of a fungal/bacterial film and very common on new wood of the twiggier kind especially. It will burn itself out once the nutrient levels drop - with things like the wood it seems to use the nutrients in the bark layer remaining but I've seen it grow on other surfaces.

Don't worry about light being a factor, it doesn't photosynthesise. Just get cracking with a gravel cleaning siphon and try to get organics down to a minimum in the tank. In my tanks I used to find that gibbiceps plecs would eat it but they grow pretty big and may not be suitable for your set up. With increasing hygiene and perhaps a few days of 40% water changes (dechlorinated and at approximately the same temperature when dipping a finger) it should soon vanish. I perform 50% daily changes when rearing young fish so don't be too shy of a good change.

 

[snuggly time]

I've been siphoning and changing about 25% water everyday. I will continue with bigger water changes. I have neon tetras so the plecs would be too big, and the tank is only 60L, I have two otocinclus catfish but they don't seem interested in clearing this mess up Thanks for the advise.

 

[Tappers]

I'd be tempted to try amano shrimps if you still have it in a fortnight - let me know how it goes..

 

[snuggly time]

Well the filter has now almost stopped working, there's barely a flow and we can't seem to fix it. Bought a new one online, hope it arrives soon. These poor fish are having a hard time at the moment. Been doing daily water changes and keeping the light down. Need to give the tank walls a good scrub but I have really sore hands at the moment, all cut and bleeding. Going to wait a day or two for them to heal :S

The local pet shop only sell ghost shrimp. I have one in there at them moment, the other died a few days ago. Axolotl tank looks fine

 

[gar4016]

Out of curiosity, is this white stuff something that you can post a picture of?

 

[snuggly time]

Update: The stringy stuff seems to be going. I didn't get any pictures of it but i looked like this covering pretty much everything! http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13589&stc=1&d=1242787781

Now I just have white spots all over the tank walls. (Any ideas?) I noticed more baby snails in there today, thought I'd got rid of all them

There's also some tiny white worm things that move around. The majority of them are on the filter. These are the best pictures I could get.

 

[Tappers]

It's all happening there isn't it?!

Firsty, your plant with the dead patches is normal - this is a Dracaena and not an aquatic plant at all. Think of it a bit like a cut flower, it'll look pretty for a while but is fundamentally drowning. You could always pot it up and put it on the window sill.

Having seen the photos, it looks like your 'white algae' might actually be a bacterial biofilm bloom in response to your poor filter performance. This will create ideal conditions for the tiny creatures that can hitch-hike in on the plants such as the little nematodes and planarians that you're seeing. They thrive on organic debris, so the cleaner you can keep the tank the better (for various reasons) and perhaps a nice little group of the shoaling Corydoras catfish would help hoover up these tasty tiny livefood treats.

Have you bought the same filter? If so, make sure you use the old mature sponge to avoid water quality problems. Having said that, your water does look a bit grey - have you tested for nitrite?

 

[snuggly time]

Thanks for the reply.

I ordered a different filter this time. Opted for the Fluval u2, read some good reviews on it. The one in there at them moment is Interpet power filter pf2. The one in my axolotl tank is still going strong! Yeah the plant isn't doing well, I'll take it out and maybe buy some plastic ones for now. I bought it as an aquatic plant from pets at home lol!

I tested the water a few days ago and the results were all.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrtite: 0
Nitrate: 0

Guess I'll have to start the cycle all over again lol. I've been doing water changes daily anyway to try keep the tank clean. I just seem to be losing this battle. I wiped all the tank walls last night and it's back again today. Just need this new filter to hurry up lol.

 

[Tappers]

Happy to help.. If you can run the two filters together for a couple of weeks the new sponge will mature before you take the old one out. Either that or cut up the old one and stuff some of it in the new filter - the Fluval should have a carbon space that you can use for this instead. I've been trialling API's bacterial starter and it seems good if all else fails, I've just used it to stock a tank of shiners in the animal room and it worked beautifully.

Your zero nitrates make me a bit suspicious of your test kit - could you get that double checked? Most people have nitrates coming out the tap so hopefully your test kit is right and you're just jammy with the quality of your source water

 

[snuggly time]

The axolotl tank never had nitrates in it either. His tank is cycling now, and in the last few weeks only just started getting a reading for nitrites and nitrates. The only trace I had in the water when I tested it is 0.25 ammonia.

 

[Tappers]

I'd expect a nitrate reading as the nitrite levels drop. If your kit has always read zero I'd be inclined to check it against either a neglected tank or another kit, although some of the scales start at 25ppm which hides a low level undetected. I've known people get caught out with 100+ when they tried a new test kit - seems the nitrate reagents expire quickly in some makes.

 

[snuggly time]

I removed most of the substrate and the eggy smell has gone.

The new filter arrived and the water cleared within a few hours, it looks very clean now. We also got an air pump to add more oxygen. Still a bit of white stuff on the tank walls but it's looking so much better already. Just keeping up with daily water changes for now and going to maybe try add some java fern. We're also looking at a buying a bigger tank and using this tank as the axolotls holiday tank for when we go away in August.