Help, have weird growth at bottom of betta tank

[ghostgal]

Hello,

I noticed this weird white fuzzy growth at the bottom of my betta tank (it is a cycled tank) about one week ago.

I did a 35% water change and hoped it would go away. However, the next day it reappeared. I was leaving to go out of town to my college for finals, so I did a 90% water change, removed all the gravel, soaked all the decorations and moss in hot water, then scrubbed the tank in the hot water. I swished my plants around in some new spring water I dechlorinated.

I added new gravel to the clean tank, added my plants then added new water back in. I dosed some bacteria as well. I then added my fish and snail back in with some of the old tank water. I reattached my filters and heaters.

The problem was better for about 4 days, until it came back.

I'm unsure how to get rid of it at this point, is there a medication I should dose? I'm worrying if I should come back in town to handle this because my mom is not a great fish babysitter other than for feeding them. I rather take my finals here however, but end of the day my fishes safety comes first.

image link:
https://imgur.com/a/OlYq6ly

[ADsnail]

Omg, I had the same creepy thing clinging to a decoration. And then another on the gravel. I thought it was some alien life form and signaled the coming bacterial takeover of Planet Betta. Then I used a giant 12' long pair of tweezers, kept for plucking things from the bottom of the tank, grabbed and pulled it out for examination. It collapsed into mush on the paper towel. Still had no clue what it was.

Then a friend walked in, took one look at the paper towel slime and glanced at the other white fuzzy growth, still in the tank, and said "It's a piece of uneaten betta food and it's been hanging around getting moldy". Boom -- suddenly I realized he was right.

Now the solution is to pay even more attention to feeding time: I only give one pellet and wait until he eats it before giving him one more. If he ignores one for any reason I reach in and remove it immediately. It's interesting how the pellets become totally mushy within a minute--perfect mold material. The betta won't eat it if it's been sitting for even one minute (he doesn't like mush either), so I have to watch closely. Problem solved. I haven't had a a white fuzzy invader since.

[Mother of fish]

Yep. I would guess moldy betta food as well.