White/clear small blob growth on glass and accessories

[tiger27924]

Hey all, this is my first post, and unfortunately its a very distressing one. I recently set up a 20 gallon high tank, about 2 weeks ago, and now there are small blobs growing all over the aquarium. They are clear to white, and about the size of a sowing pin head. They are on every piece of glass, my one plant, the heater, the sponge filters, and on the bottom. The blobs do not appear to be on any of the fish, which thankfully seem unaffected and not stressed (currently only two corys and a pleco, but with a breeding pair of KOI angelfish on the way next Tuesday......the reason I'm so distressed about this really). The blobs aren't in clusters, and appear to be spherical shaped. My water readings are alright, with a pH of 6.9, Nitrate levels at 0-.25ppm, and ammonia at 0-0.5ppm. I really have no idea what this stuff is, or whether it's harmful. Unfortunately I can't break the tank down because I don't have a spare one right now. Does anybody know what I can do to get rid of this stuff, or what it is? There are no snails, or anything else in the aquarium. I keep the temperature at 79 degrees Farenheit. Thanks for your help!

fricken out cause i don't want to end up killing my new angelfish pair ,
tony



so i checked out the blobs under a microscope, and one blob had about 50 teacup shaped heads on stalks, and each teacup shaped head had cilia.....i believe these are the protozoan called vorticella. Does anybody know hot to treat a tank for protozoans without harming the fish??? thanks.

tony

[TankGirl]

Heat will do the trick - crank 'er up to 86F and leave it there for 7-10 days.

Way to go with the microscope! I really need to get myself one.

[tiger27924]

Thanks tankgirl. Luckily I was able to talk to some of the folks in the USDA research facility here and they supplied me with a chemical called "Formalite II" by aquatronics which they said should do the trick. For anybody else interested, they also told me that these were harmless to my fish, and if I was gonna breed my angelfish I could leave them in there and the fry would eat them as a source of food!!! I'm considering leaving it be, the only thing is the little splotches on the glass aren't very aesthetic. Thanks again for replying.

tony