An odd growth help!

[Nam5]

Need some help here, I can't find any answers online so I am bringing this mystery to the forum.

I have a white vein like 'thing' growing in my tank,
By thing I mean it moves, one might it had encompassed my thermometer, the next morning it was completely gone on to the other side of the tank.

It looks like a thick spider web, and as I said it moves. I'll try ad get a picture up shortly.

Any stabs at what's going on?

 

[blackmolly]

what type of food do you feed?
is the tank planted?
water parameters?
do you use dechlorinated tap water, RO, well water, etc?

 

[Nam5]

I use a generic food, not sure of my water balance, I have hornwort planted and a blade grass style plant, and I am using dechlorinated tap water. Two parrot fish and two golden algae eaters.

 

[jlk]

Its white & looks like spider webs, correct? Its a type of slime mold. Check the link below & scroll down about 1/2 way to aquarium slime mold pics & see if they fit what you are seeing.

Slime Mold Photos

 

[Nam5]

BINGO! That is exactly what it is. There's not much on the write up, any ideas how to cure it? Or if it will kill my fish, or hurt them? It is kinda neat now that I know what it is

 

[jlk]

I actually came across this info the other day while searching for something else entirely & found it fascinating (and remembered it when i saw your thread)! I just did some more searching & evidently there is very little information on slime molds in aquariums because it is pretty rare!!! Lots of info on how to deal with them in a garden/dry land but none are practical for aquarium use.

From what I could gather, they are not harmful to fish & there isnt a fish that will touch slime molds because they excrete some noxious odor/chemical that repels fish/other creatures. Evidently, this alien blob which is made up of a zillion individual cells functions as a whole 'living' creature when they get together (thus, you see it moving all over). Good news? It eats the algae that grows on everything. In respect to getting rid of it, once again, little information is available. I saw a few brief mentions that perhaps it can be manually removed, possibily salt or a copper sulfate treatment for the tank. Copper is very difficult to remove from an aquarium & quite toxic so I dont recommend using it. Couldnt hurt to try salt unless your tank is planted or you have sensitive fish.

Ill do some more looking but I think you are stuck with this alien creature unless you want to physically try to remove it!!!