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This morning i noticed a white, cottonlike fungus growing on my heater suction cup. Any clue what this may be?

I really can't say for sure, but my advice would be to unplug the heater and clean it off. Most likely it is some sort of algae.

It IS a fungal growth, and you are advised to remove it FAST.

This fungal growth arises when the occupants of the aquarium are overfed, and the nutrient balance won't support an algal growth to mop up the excess nitrates and other pollutants. Remove it IMMEDIATELY, subject your aquarium to a 50% water change and deep gravel vac, and cut down considerably on the feeding of your fishes. I've seen this in badly maintained dealer aquaria, and the usual outcome of leaving it there is that it multiplies, spreads, and becomes a disease hazard to your fishes. I cannot identify it conclusively, certainly not to species level, but if I saw this in an aquarium of mine, I'd act FAST and not take the chance that it was Saprolegnia, which will settle and grow on any fertile medium rich in organic compounds - such as any breaches in the slime coat defences of your fishes. Left alone, it becomes a plague of unsightly glutinous off-white blobs that colonise any uneaten food, and can enter your fishes' digestive tracts if they pick at the food thus infected. Manually remove as much of it as you can, perform an immediate deep gravel vac to starve any remaining fungus of nutrients, and while you're at it, check your bottom feeder inventory. This fungus has a habit of appearing in aquaria that are devoid of bottom feeders for a protracted period of time if those aquaria are not subject to scrupulous attention.

While it might not pose an immediate and IMMINENT threat to your fishes, it's a time bomb ticking away while it is left there. At the earliest practical opportunity, remove it and clean the aquarium. Don't rush the job, prepare for it beforehand so that the transitional stages are kept fairly brief and your filter bacteria continue to live. If you have everything to hand within easy reach, and your path from water source to aquarium is kept free of obstacles for the round trips with the buckets, you can effect the transition in about 30 minutes, during which time thefilter bacteria only have to spend about 15 minutes without a throughput of oxygenated water. The new incoming water will soften the blow as it were. Mind you, in my case I have less than 10 feet to travel from aquarium to kitchen tap, so I can effect a water change in pretty short order - 15 minutes to vac the aquarium and dump the old water, 10 minutes max to add the new water (temperature matched) and fire up the powerhead again. One of the beauties of the UK lifestyle is that we have electric kettles for making tea, and these come in VERY handy for temperature matching your water rapidly - if you don't have that facility, believe me, buying a kettle for your water changes makes life a LOT easier. You can have a 5 gallon bucket mixed, temperature matched and dechlorinated in about 2 minutes once you've got some practice in.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Ok well i just cleaned off the fungus and i will be doing a water change within the hour. I do tend to overfeed, so i that is probably how it appeared. I added some Pimafix to the tank, so maybe it will help destroy any fungus that i might not be able to get.

Zach,

Let me be a little stronger than Calli. Do a daily 50% water change with a deep gravel vaccuum on your gravel for the next three days. Do not feed your fish.

After you have completed the last water change, feed your fish once the following day at half of what you were normally feeding. Perform 50% water changes twice a week with gravel vacuuming. Give your fish a "fast" day, no food, once a week.

By the way, did you know that most fish can go more than a week without food?



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Good point Bob - I held off a little partly because I didn't want to alarm him TOO much, and partly because there may have been practical considerations to deal with too. I'd have taken rigorous steps to deal with it if I'd found it in my aquarium, but mine gets twice weekly water changes and gravel vacs anyway so it should never happen to me!

At some point I'll have to do a write up on the logistics of water changes - every little bit helps in this game!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

David,

I visited a hobbyist friend this weekend. His son came up and complained that his Aqua Clear that I had recommended to him, "Sucked'.

I asked him what problems had he experienced with the filter. His response was that it didn't give him crystal clear water in the tank. I walked over to the tank and started laughing. The young man had never cleaned the filter! The riser tube was clogged with plant matter and the sponges were so clogged that they were rising out of the well. The only thing holding them in place was duct tape across the lid...

When I explained the problem to the boy, disgust turned to amazement, when he realized that equipment requires maintenance! I showed him how the clean the unit. We restarted it and, within an hour, the aquarium began to clear.

The young man called me in a week after he performed his third 50% water change to report that he was no longer experiencing deaths amongst his cichlids and that their fins were regenerating from the fungal rot.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Bob, in one respect that is funny ... but sadly not so funny for the poor fishes in that aquarium.

The number of people who think likewise - that your filter is just something you plug in and leave from that point on - never ceases to provide me with my own share of "Eh?" moments. Yet more potential customers for the article An Aquarium Is Not A TV perchance?

I'm starting to think that I should send that article to Practical Fishkeeping and see if they print it. Though I would probably be preaching to the converted in that case, as most of the people I know who pick up PF on a regular basis are themselves experienced aquarists.

Do you think TFH would print it?


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I don't want to hijack this thread, so "You've got mail!"



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright