Clear Spores

[Seryn]

This is my first freshwater aquarium. I had a goldfish tank before but I knew this was an entirely new step in the hobby. I read up on it as best I could before even buying the equipment.

The tank was cycling without fish for about a month. We then slowly added the fish we have now, 4 Mollies and 4 Guppies slowly every 2-4 weeks, 2 at a time as not to overstock.

We do weekly water changes and clean the rockbed on Mondays. The water has remained clear and the fish are happy and lively.

The bacteria levels have been decently growing over the weeks since I first added fish, showing it's slowly becoming established as what I read. Only this last week did I start to see light signs of orangish/brown algae on the glass which I scraped off. I wasn't too concerned with it.

Then I came home from work today and my husband pointed out he had noticed something odd growing in the tank. I took a look and there seem to be clear, slightly white sporish globs throughout the gravel and on the two decoration rocks we have. Some of them have caught up food/excrament in them and remind me of a cobweb. A couple are floating freely around the tank. None bigger than a dime.

This most recent week we changed the water but did not clean the rockbed as part of the python broke and needed replacing. I don't know if this makes a difference.

The fish seem extatic and healthy as usual. No growths or signs of injury on their bodies.

I've tried to find documentation in my aquarium books and searched online, but to no avail. Does anyone know what this clear spore like stuff is?

Thank you in advance. Here is some of the aquarium's info to help.

My tank:
29 Gallon Eclipse Aquarium with Biowheel
Freshwater Community
Medium-sized Rock Substrate
4 Mollies
4 Guppies

Today's Test Results:
Ph 7.4
Temp 80
Ammonia 0 (down from Monday's 1.0)
Nitrites 5.0 (same as Monday)
Nitrates 20 (up from Monday's 10)

 

[extremenewb]

Is it like, a white nucleus with a translucent cloudy jellylike substance surrounding it?

If it is, from my experience, they turn into heaps of ANNOYING vermin snails.

 

[Seryn]

No, they're mostly clear and like cobwebs really. I'll look further into the vermin snails though just in case. Thank you.

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi Seryn and welcome to Aquarium Advice!

Congrats on reading up on your first tank before starting it!

It seems like your cycle is progressing nicely...when you said you cycled for a month without fish, was the tank just running with water but no fish? Did you add an ammonia source? The nitrogen cycle must have an ammonia source -- either fish, household ammonia (without any detergents) or something that will rot to produce ammonia, like a shrimp from the grocery store. You could do searches here on this site or at Google for "fishless cycle".

Your ammonia is 0 which is good. Temperature and pH look great! The nitrites are rather high -- I would do daily water changes of 30-40% to lower them. You don't have to clean the rockbed every day. In fact, when cycling, the least amount of disturbance to the substrate is encouraged. This is because the good bacteria will cultivate here, and also on your bio-wheel.

The rockbed has me concerned a little -- since you are calling it a rockbed, it must be bigger than the usual aquarium gravel. The python is a great tool to use to clean the substrate and do a water change at the same time. But sometimes, large stones can allow small particles of food to become trapped and decay, which in turn will spike your ammonia. Some fish, like cory catfish, eat the food that falls to the bottom of the tank, but their barbells would possibly be damaged by the larger stones. So keep an eye on the ammonia level to make sure it stays at 0. Hopefully with regular water changes and gravel vacs with the python, you'll be ok. It's just something to keep in mind.

So, about your original question -- do you have any real plants in the tank? Have you used any medicines? You gave an excellent description of the tank, so if you used any of these things you probably would have mentioned it. IME, sometimes medicines can cause this slimy material. If you had real plants, and they carried in snails, it could be snail egg clusters. Otherwise, it could be because your tank is not completely cycled. Keep doing your water changes to get the nitrites down to 0 and this should clear up. Sometimes, in my tanks, after I use the gravel vac, I see lots of little particles floating around and some of them look like a little piece of white mucus. After about a half hour, they settle back down again. Sorry I have no good answers to this question -- it may just be due to the fact that the tank isn't quite cycled and stable yet. Good luck!

 

[An t-iasg]

On second thought:

I'm wondering about your rock substrate in relation to the white stuff. If there is a lot of uneaten food and detritus trapped beneath the stones, this may have something to do with it. I have never had a rock substrate so I don't know for sure. What brand is it? Can you provide a link to a picture, from an aquarium supply website like DrsFosterSmith.com or BigAl's? But for now, I would just finish out the cycle and then see how your ammonia levels are, and if this white stuff goes away.

 

[Seryn]

Thank you for the welcome An t-iasg

"It seems like your cycle is progressing nicely...when you said you cycled for a month without fish, was the tank just running with water but no fish? Did you add an ammonia source?"

It was running with water and no fish. We decided it would be better to choose substrate and decor and set them up so the fish wouldn't be disturbed as much and have a prepared home. We then took some time to research which fish we'd like to try first. We also researched the local pet stores to see which kept better, healthier stock and were informative. We also work on different time schedules and didn't get the setup done as fast as most ^_^.

"The nitrites are rather high -- I would do daily water changes of 30-40% to lower them."

The book I got didn't say what to keep the nitrites at during cycling. It said they would spike and then drop when the nitrates got to decent levels. The nitrites went from 0 to 5.0 about a week and a half ago and it was the first time I got nitrate readings. I thought this was the spike the book was talking about. I have no problem doing water changes to make it go down though.

"You don't have to clean the rockbed every day. In fact, when cycling, the least amount of disturbance to the substrate is encouraged."

I thought I said we do it once a week. I didn't know about disturbing the cycling process, thanks.


"The rockbed has me concerned a little -- since you are calling it a rockbed, it must be bigger than the usual aquarium gravel. "

Perhaps using the word rockbed was a mistake. The gravel I got is from the aquarium store. We chose a more natural looking mix of round edged gravel. My understanding was they wouldn't be able to swallow or choke on the size and the roundedness would keep them from getting injured. My husband took a picture of a penny next to the gravel to give you an idea, it's attached.

We do own and use a python for cleaning the water and substrate. I agree it's wonderful. When we clean the gravel, we try to be as thorough as possible.

We decided not to go with live plants yet since it's something else I'd like to read up on first before delving into. I haven't used any medications on the fish.

Thank you for your help ^_^

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi Seryn,
Your gravel looks like regular aquarium gravel, which is good! When I recommended daily water changes to lower the nitrite, I meant that you didn't have to vac the gravel with the python every day. Once a week is fine -- most people vac once a week with the water change. There's no "set" value to keep the nitrite at when cycling -- if there are fish in there, just try to keep it as low as possible with water changes and don't overly disturb the substrate or filter. When I cycled my tanks, it seemed like it took forever (about 3 weeks!) for the ammonia to spike and then fall to 0. But then the nitrite fell to 0 shortly after that -- only about 3 days, I think.