fungus?

[SryImABiologist]

so my fish arent sick but im seeing these little organisms on my plants rocks ect on my snails old shell parts but nothing on my fish, they have a stalk with a darker round top i think they might be some sort of fungus, i was wondering if anyone has a trick to get rid of it? would not be opposed to chemicals however i do have inverts in the tank which limit my options.

 

[V227]

There is fungus in all fresh water aquariums. When an abundance of waste and other nutrients accumulate in the tank and begin to decompose, fungus gains a foothold. I've seen fungus take root all over the bottom of a tank. It's usually harmless, but you don't want it to push your luck and let it take over. Your situation might be fungus. To knock it back: Don't over feed, try to change out 50% of the water weekly, concentrating on thorough gravel vacs.
That's really all there is to it.

 

[SryImABiologist]

im like between a rock and a hard spot, if i dont feed my snail he eats everything and every time i feed my tetras they miss like 40% of the food and wont eat it off the top of the water or the bottom of the tank. would an anti-fungal treatment for fish kill the fungus in the aquarium? cause its covering my plants at this point which causes them to die and feed the fungus more.

 

[V227]

Then uneaten food is the underlying cause of the fungus. Your BN will help a little with that problem. Might think of adding a small school of agressive eaters like Danios, larger tetras or
Barbs. Aquarium Salt kills fungus, but is not particularly good for inverts or plants.
The best weapon is a siphon coupled with WC's. Rake the substrate vigorously with the siphon. I've never used salt in my tanks, but many member regularly do. Advice will likely be coming.

 

[King Fisher]

Aquarium salt at 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. It's a low enough dose to not kill plants or fish IME. Fungus and algea don't like salt.

 

[SryImABiologist]

yeah but i have a snail will it be ok?

 

[King Fisher]

No probably not. Scratch that.

 

[King Fisher]

I should elaborate, a mystery snail will tolerate it from what I've heard. Long term, Its very debatable whether you can use salt at the dose I recommended with snails. I don't keep snails so I can't give much advice on that. Look at some Google chat forums and see what others have experienced with salt and snails before trying it.

 

[SryImABiologist]

i had a ph crash once where my ph went from 7.4 to 5.4 and i added some sodium bicarbonate (sodium hydrogen carbonate or baking soda) and my snail started making a ton of stress slime and was pretty inactive for a few days and he was fine before i added the baking soda solution....so i think the aquarium salt is not gonna be feasible. the betta antifungal's main ingredient is a plant extract and i read that tannin is an antifungal sooo idk has anyone else used api's antifungal for betta?

 

[King Fisher]

i had a ph crash once where my ph went from 7.4 to 5.4 and i added some sodium bicarbonate (sodium hydrogen carbonate or baking soda) and my snail started making a ton of stress slime and was pretty inactive for a few days and he was fine before i added the baking soda solution....so i think the aquarium salt is not gonna be feasible. the betta antifungal's main ingredient is a plant extract and i read that tannin is an antifungal sooo idk has anyone else used api's antifungal for betta?

Great idea with the tannin. I didn't think about that. It is an acid so maybe it will work.

 

[coralbandit]

For feeding look into 'Golden pearls' they are a food that stays ' buoyant ' and in the water column longer then any other food..It does not sink fast..
It comes in all sorts of sizes .I use them growing out my fry and juvis regulary.

 

[SryImABiologist]

just an update, i got a bristlenose pleco and he obliterated the fungi on the rocks tank and filter, and a group of ghost shrimp is keeping it off new plant growth