# New tank, white bacteria or fungus growing on substrate?



## SleepyOwl

Oh, and no camera so I can't take a picture.... I have tried Googling for a pic, but can't find anything similar.

And the only plants right now are floaters.


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## SleepyOwl

I looked again closely, and it is all over my driftwood too... slimy.

Should I wait it out? I thought about dumping a bottle of H2O2 in there since I have no fish or plants yet. 
If I just wait it out, should I add my plants on Monday? Should I do a big water change? Just sit on my hands?

TIA


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## lauraleellbp

Google up algaes and see if any of them look familiar? It might be staghorn algae?

Or it might be hydras?

Hard to say without a pic...


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## SleepyOwl

I did some more searching and I think it is just a bacteria of some sort. 

http://www.aquariumforum.com/f5/white-fuzzy-stuff-9191.html

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/g...8956-fuzzy-white-stuff-my-driftwood-help.html

I am going to just ignore it, and see what happens. The water itself looks a bit less cloudy, so who knows.


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## boringname

This is normal for a new tank including the fuzzy white stuff which I'm guessing is fungus. If you put a snail in there he will prolly eat the fungus or eat whatever the fungus is eating so either way the fungus will be reduced. 

My own theory on the cloudy water thing in new tanks is that since baccilus(sp?) bacteria are the main spore producing bacteria in our environment they get first shot at the new tank because their spores are on everything. After a while the other types of bacteria establish themselves and you get normal water.


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## BradC

I got that same white fungus type fuzz on my driftwood when I started my tank.

It is normal and harmless to fish, etc and should go away once the tank matures. If the fish/shrimp dont get to it first


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## Diana

If you have put a cycled filter on this tank then you need to feed the bacteria or they will die. 
Then, when you add fish you will have a problem. 

Feed the tank with fish food, just as if it had a full load of fish.
OR
Add enough ammonia to the tank to read 3 ppm in a test kit. 
Keep adding ammonia as fast as the bacteria remove it, until you are ready for fish. 
Then do a big water change. The bacteria will have turned all that ammonia into nitrate.


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## nalu86

Does it also look like this?










I had this in my 75 (no substrade, waiting until my MTS is ready...)


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## SleepyOwl

Diana,
That is what I figured. I should not have put the cycled filter on there without the fish.

Nalu,
It is not that stringy, but looks similar to the slime on the wood. 


_______________

I ended up putting a hob filter on with some carbon (not sure if it helps but...) and added some fish (two mollies and 2 guppies). Next day I could tell they were not happy, so I did a big water change. The water stank so bad.... like I hadn't cleaned the tank for a year. (Tank is less than a week old.) I also took the wood out and cleaned the stuff off, and sucked up as much from the tank as i could with the hose. I added a couple T of salt to the water.
Yesterday I filled it with plants that finally came. The slime has come back, but not as much as before, and the water is looking a lot less cloudy. 
The fish look happier today.
I also added a bit of tea tree oil to the water today. I have used an anit bacterial fish medication in the past that was tea tree oil based, so I thought I would see if it would help at all.


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## thewife

bacteria is more likely IMO. I would just say syringe it with some diluted hydrogen peroxide. that's my solution to everything unsavory these days. or you could add some bacterial supplement and see if they outcompete the little suckers. If you've got some metricide hanging around that would probably work too since the stuff is generally used/marketed for sterilization purposes rather than aquatic gardening.


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## tamsin

I put a piece of mopani wood in when I set my tank up about 10 days ago and it formed about a half inch of slimey whitish clear goo over it, which breaks off into strings if you try to pinch it. It's just beginning to go now though without no interference from me.


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## jasoileau77

I am having the same issue with sterilized driftwood I collected and boiled myself. I have a 40G bow front freshwater that I have set up, and almost immediately the water turned very cloudy, and about four days later, I saw a thick white gelatinous film begin to grow on the driftwood and substrate. I did a 70 percent water change and used API water conditioner, but the cloudy water is back . Looks like I poured milk into the tank. Could this be a bacteria bloom, or something much worse. I have live plants in the tank, but no fish so far.


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