White fungus on LR

[Mutz]

Got home from work today and there was some white fungus on one of my pieces of LR. None of the remaining LR seems to have it - but I swear it was not there when I left for work this morning. The rest of the LR is just coated in brown algae like it shoud be....Here are two pics. Anyone know what the white stuff is? Is it something I should worry about?

My 2 damsels are still alive and kicking - and the temp has not changed at all (80 degrees).

-Edit- sorry - just noticed that I posted this in the wrong forum. My bad.

[Mutz]

...and here's the white "stuff"...

[reefrunner69]

What is the ammonia and nitrite readings? It could be fouling on the LR. Is the rock new?

Looks like sponge...to me...Can you see through it? does it have what appear to be veins?

[Mutz]

What is the ammonia and nitrite readings? It could be fouling on the LR.

I just tested the water and here's what I found:
Ammonia = .12
Nitrite = .05
ph = 8.5
DISCLAIMER= that's only the second time I've used my test kit. So I expect some margin of error. I plan on bringing a sample to my LFS tomorrow to have them re-test it.

Is the rock new?
Ummm, I put it in my tank exactly 3 weeks ago today. I got it from the LFS and brought it right home. I have no idea how long the store had it before I took it.

timbo2 -
No, I cannot see through it and there do not appear to be any "veins". It's very hard - I cannot scrape it with my fingernail. It looks kind of like white mold that you would find if you left a can of tomato sauce for 6 months in your fridge. Sorry but that's the best way I can describe it.

Thanks guys.

I am still thinking sponge of one sort or another. hmm, is it kind of slimy feeling? but nothing sticks to you?

[Mutz]

Is it slimy?

I guess it's kind of slimy. It feels as if someone put some pool table felt on the rock - giving it a velvety feel. And no - none sticks to my finger.

Overnight the white stuff did not spread any more. It's still exactly as it was last night. There is, however, a bunch of purple algae cropping up all around it now.

[BrianH]

Do you drip kalk??

Brian

[Mutz]

Do you drip kalk??

Not to sould stupid - but I have no clue what that means - so I guess I don't do it.

back to sponge, I believe it is...I wouldn't worry about it...I believe also, you are going to see quite a bit of stuff appearing on the LR as time goes by..

BTW, Kalk is Kalkwasser which is Calcium Hydroxide in a powder form. You mix this with water and drip it to introduce Calcium to your tank...The corals and inverts use this to build their skeletons..

[BrianH]

Kalkawasser is a supplement some people use in their top off water to supplement calcium and to keep pH stable. I ask because I saw a post on another board where some people who drip kalk with vinegar(to lower pH) were seeing white sponges rapidly growing in their tanks.

Brian

[Mutz]

OK cool - I'm glad it's sponge and *hopefully* not something I have to worry about. Thanks guys!

[loganizzi]

For what it's worth -


I have had something similar on my LR since I first introduced it into my tank. One rock is completely encrusted with this white deposit. It is hard and looks more like a calcium deposit (not that I know what one looks like), or maybe like someone dripped white candle wax all over the rock (but it's hard). I don't know what it is, but it's been on my rock for about 3 months now and hasn't shown any signs of being malicious. I don't think it has changed in size much since I've been watching it.

I've seen references to similar deposits on the web and they thought it was calcium carbonate.

[dantodd]

hmmm... very interesting. I have a ton of white encrustation (is that a word) on some Fiji Live Rock I got from my LFS. I had assumed it was bleached out coarlline.


dan

[Salt4Us]

We had that on our rock in the 29, coraline eventually took it over, I just figured it was what the rock looked like. Your before pick looked like it had some growth that maybe was dying off from cycling, maybe that's what the rock looked like after the growth died off? JMO

[reddood]

Hello all i am new to the bord so just introduceing myself...
Can i ask, did the rock have coraline on it before it turned "white"? If so how deep was the colour (spelling -from the UK)
also what type of lighting do you use?


Dan

[Mutz]

Most of my rock had/has patches of coraline on it. The particular piece of rock on which the white matter grew had some as well, but it was on the other side of the rock.

My lighting - since I don't have any corals, etc - is just the basic lighting that I got with the hood. I think it's a Power-Glo or somethingl ike that.

[reddood]

mmm,
i was thinking it could of bean a lack of molybdenum in the water which can cause corraline to loose its colour and turn white allmost over night.
there is an calcareous algae that is white but i cant remember the name of it at the moment, but to get it you would need good lights and high levels of iron and calcium for it to grow.

so what you are discribeing is a hard white covering on a peice of rock. if this is the case i am at a loss as you dont drip kalk or use addatives.

i dont think it would be a sponge but it dose sound like a calcareous groth of some kind. TBH just keep an eye on the water conditions and if all seem fine i wouldnt worry at the moment. if it starts to spread or water conditions get worse then i would take some kind of action, but im not sure what at the mo..

Danny