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What the heck is this?



I have broken this tank down twice & the same issue continues. I had previously treated with several meds when fish were in the tank and the problem continues to exist. Most recently I broke down the entire tank, cleaned it let it sit for about a week and then set it back up. I went to use it as a grow and put a fish in it and I had to remove the fish because whatever this is, obviously affected the fish. When I put the fish in the main tank he immediately got better in about a day. The growth is on uneaten food that was left in the tank. the tank is a 30G that I use for growing out CA cichlids. Currently theres nothing in the tank. How do i treat this so that I can use the tank again?



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Almost certainly some kind of water mold (maybe Saprolegina?), which superficially resemble fungi but are now recognized as being more closely related to protists. It feeds on any decaying organic matter in the tank, which is why you're seeing it on uneaten food. Other common places to find it are on dead fish that haven't been removed from the tank in a timely matter, or even on necrotic wounds.

If the meds and drying out didn't work, you're going to have to take more drastic steps. It is probably forming ultra-resilient spores. I'd sterilize the substrate with heat and rinse the tank with some fairly concentrated bleach (with lots and lots and LOTS of rinsing afterwards).

Ok I have a suggestion and please if it doesn't make sense let me know , (becauseI have been told this repeatedly many times.) Couldnt you use a large amount of Sea salt in order to sterilise the tank, instead of bleach? I have always been told for the past 20 years use salt instead of bleach.

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It would work on the mycelia, but I'd be worried that it wouldn't kill the spores. One of the main reasons for spores is to prevent dessication, so trying to kill them via osmotic means is dicey.

Just get a syphon and suck those bits of food out.

Even if you sterilize the tank, you're probably getting spores in your tap water. Just remove the offending pieces of uneaten food (may I suggest a turkey baster for this purpose?) when you have them.

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Just remove the old mouldy food and reduce your feeding.
I would be interested to know what you are feeding, how much and how often.
Filtration what do you have and is it sufficient to move all the left over food to the intake. Also do you have any air movement in the tank.

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It is not just the food that it affects thats why I took the fish out. The food is of course removed I just took the photos for ID. Feedings are typical to my other tanks and there are no issues with those tanks. The tank temp is 78F I will do a water test but previously when this outbreak occurred all the levels were pretty much under control and stable. I will likely break down the tank over the weekend and clean it with the bleach and then try setting it up again. The tank is a 30 and while I'm not sure the exact model of the filter it is a tetra tech that comes with the 55 gallons kits sold at Walmart. It does appear to me to be sufficient filtration as there is a lot of water movement. The food is just Hikari Gold, but the same thing happened with NLS in the past. While I'm no fish expert I have kept fish long enough to feed properly and do regular water changes.

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Even if you sterilize the tank, you're probably getting spores in your tap water. Just remove the offending pieces of uneaten food (may I suggest a turkey baster for this purpose?) when you have them.

I think it is obvious that there are a great many spores if the mold is coming back so fast. Think about it as if it were ich: you don't stop treating once the white spots are gone -- you have to keep medicating until they're all dead so it doesn't keep coming back. Standard tear downs don't seem to be doing the trick, so I recommended something drastic. Since he's using it as a grow-out tank, I think it is even more important that it's taken care of properly and promptly as younger fish are generally more susceptible to nasties in the water.

Ive always thought that that was either fungus or bacteria that was breaking down and eating up the pellet type of foods. Ive never had that problem with flakes, but it always seems to gather on pellets. I have also noticed this on driftwood, which is weird, as the driftwood i have in the affected tank is mopani driftwood. It shouldnt be breaking down already! Also, ive only seen it in the tank that previously just had a cycle. I think that it might die off if it dosent have anything to eat, so i would just keep it full of water, run filter, and keep doing lots of water changes. Take out anything that can decompose and cause this, and dont put any food in the tank. I am sure that this is not lethal, and i would just feed with flakes for now, until it is gone. Maybe the bio gold part of the hikari pellets, is the bacteria that is feasting down on the pellet? Just a thought.....

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Maybe a silly question, do the fuzzies keep reforming on/near the piece of bog wood ( sure does look like bog wood in the pics ), if so, remove and boil the wood in a large pot for 15-20 min, let cool, place back in tank and in time, see if that resolves the fuzzy issue.
ya hardly really ever know where some of the bog wood has come from or what it has been exposed to.

I had this in a new, just cycled tank. I also think it is Saprolegnia. It is true, it ALWAYS growth on uneaten food or where it can find organic matter. For example, my gravel was containing some very small shells. Just a few days after I made the setup, I noticed that some of this tiny shells had dried flesh inside, and this fungus grew on it.
I noticed some snail eat it. The pond snails did it for sure, but I wouldn't recommend to deliberately put this ones in your tank as they can invade it.
How I managed the problem : I don't feed too much, so there is no food left for long periods of time, and I keep lots of inverts to eat all the leftovers. It never appeared again.
Becaus ein your tank this fungus seems to be a problem ( I had only a couple of isolated growth) I would also say to use a medicine specially aimed to saprolegnia, because this thing can kill fish.