White Algae on Driftwood Only?

[captaincritical]

Hello all,

This morning I noticed some white gunk growing on my driftwood. I'm at the very beginning stages of doing a fishless cycle. It's been 5 days and all I have is a slightly elevated ammonia reading (1.00ppm) It reads 0.25ppm straight from the tap - I'm guessing it's chloramine. I haven't added ammonia or food or anything, just the dirty-looking waste water from a plant I got at my LFS. I'm getting some seeded media from someone this weekend.

The only living thing I have in the tank is a Marimo Moss ball, which was ailing a little from too much light when I brought it home, but now looks much better since I moved it to a darker spot.

I'm treating with Prime and supplementing with Big Al's Bio Support. I did a 30% PWC yesterday because my driftwood is leaching tannins and I prefer my water more clear.

I've attached some pictures. What is this and should I be concerned?

 

[Brookster123]

This is typical with new dw, nothing to worry about. It will go away on its own..

 

[captaincritical]

Ah, good! I found differing opinions when I ran a Google search. Thank you.

Any chance it could be responsible for raising my ammonia level?

 

[Rivercats]

It doesn't cause ammonia and if it really bothers you a quick spot treatment with hydrogen peroxide 3% usually kills it off.

 

[captaincritical]

Thanks Rivercats, I'll consider that if it gets out of hand. So long as it's not harmful, I'm not bothered.

 

[mrvincent]

If a fungus that eat a bacterias that eat a chemical that is released by the DW for the firsts months. I won't care about this, it will solve by itself. You can still remove the excess white fungus with a toothbrush, the the time will take care of it.

3% hydrogen peroxide for spot treatement work for almost any fungus/algae, but it's temporary, fungus will grow back until the DW stop releasing this nutrient. You can spot dose up to 1 ml/gallon daily. Just throwing peroxide into the water column wont work.

 

[captaincritical]

Makes sense to me. Merci beaucoup, Mrvincent.

 

[mrvincent]

Makes sense to me. Merci beaucoup, Mrvincent.

Pas d'problèmes Mme Captaincrits. (NP )