Freshwater Q. Weird Mass in Tank

[tunicata]

Hi,
I am writing this in the nudi bar because it relates to a Freshwater tank. If it belongs in a different section, by all means...
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There is a freshwater tank at my school that has 2 fish (angel of some sort and something else...), large pebble/marble sized substrate, plastic plants, penguin bio-wheel and a sponge for passive mechanical filtration.
The bulbs are on pretty much all day (at least 10hrs).


Anyway, there is a thick sheet of white STUFF on the bottom of the tank.
It reminds me of purple cyano sheets I've seen in saltwater tanks, and also looks like the globular nasty mass that dead fish leave.

This white mass is much thicket than any cyano I've seen, and is also sort of fluffy like cotton.
I looked under the hood of the tank and saw the bio wheel and a small compartment that allows water through. This compartment has a blue sponge that is now covered with filth.

I know nothing about this tank, it is not mine and is not really being taken care of by the person who set it up. BUT The guards are trying to take care of it and asked me to find out what the goop is and how they can make it 'decent' again.

Any clues? I do not have pictures. It's a white fluffy, thick sheet that more or less covers the bottom of the tank. To my knowledge the tank has not had any drastic changes, and may have only received maintenence in terms of water top offs and glass scrubbing since last spring.

 

[KathyC]

There is a good chance that it is a fungus, possibly from uneaten food.
Any chance you can get your hands in there and remove it?
If some of it breaks up, use a net and run it back & forth through the water until you gether up as much of it as possible.
It would also be great if you could get those filter cartridges changed out for new ones, or at least rinsed off.

If the fish all seem fine, I would use the approach above.
Any idea how big the tank is becuase I would usually advise to dump a handful of Kosher salt into the tank to eliminate/reduce the fungal growth. Knowing the tank size would be helpful.
The salt will not harm the fish in small amounts, but it should not be repeated unless water changes have been done as the salt WILL remain in the tank (as in it won't evaporate out, but you knew that )

If the water in the tank has only been topped off (oy...)I wouldn't suggest any major water changes as the water is now probably incredibly soft with a low PH and even a 20% water change could easily kill if not harm the fish.
FW tanks should never be topped off. It's similar to SW tanks in that only the water evaporates, not the minerals and other elements in the water. This can seriously throw off the osmotic balance of the fish. So water changes need to started off with small volumes being changed weekly...about 5% for the first moth or so, and then increased to 10% weekly.

Any way to find out if anyone other than the Guards (thank them please!!) are caring for this tank?

 

[ming]

I agree with Kathy, but instead of the net approach, I would try to siphon out the fungus. A net will make it more messy and since its all on the bottom, it shouldn't be hard just siphoning it out

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Is the white stuff filamented? If so, how long are day? No big issue, so don't worry just siphon or scoope them out.

However, the description seems to indicate the feeding habit should be adjusted. The problem usually caused by feeding too much in one shot leaving too much extra food on the bottom and fish in the tank is not interested in rotting food. Angels(if they are) are kind of picky in eating even most prepared food is acceptable to them. But once, they become stale, they would not eat them.

 

[tunicata]

Great!!!
I actually just saw the guards feed that tank today. OMG, there were so many flakes throughout the water column that it seemed as if it were snowing.
And a lot of the bottom was covered in the food as well.

I too think its some sort of fungal growth and I told the guard I'd bring her an extra siphon I have and I'll have my students clean it out for her tomorrow.

But she needs to stop those feedings, there are only 2 fish in that...maybe 20g hex tank.

Thank you folks for the feedback, whenever I have an aquatic problem, this board is the first place I go

Also, I checked out that sponge today, and it's actually glued into the bottom of that section of the filter. I was thinking I would just take off the hood and try and clean it out a bit. I'll be careful to not overclean, and find some way to clean it out.
I was thinking I could take out the old sponge and replace it with a piece of sponge I have just laying about.

Is that ok?

Thanks

 

[KathyC]

Go you Tuni!! Nice of you to step up to help them out!!

If at all possible, I would try and get that sponge out of there use some force if necessary. It really needs to be cleaned or changed. If you are only changing the sponge there is no need to worry about impacting the biofilter in the tank. FW tanks are a lot more forgiving than SW..lol
Judging from the amount of food (and fungus) in there I'm sure there is more than enough bacteria in the tank to sustain the 2 fish without throwing things out of whack.

If you think they could use a better filter, LMK, I'm sure I have one laying around I could donate to them

 

[tunicata]

Aw thanks Kathy!

I'm going to go check with the teacher that is actually supposed to be caring for this tank to see what her plans are.

Should I take a picture of the tank for you?
I'm about to take my 4th block class down to clean the fungus out.

We're also going to be adding some more snails from John Maloney, he's been AWESOME (this is for my SW tank of course).

Though...actually...anyone know where to get FW cleaning crew from? Other than petco....

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Though...actually...anyone know where to get FW cleaning crew from? Other than petco....

In NYC, try pacific of delancey and the small papa mama store "somethng star" on Mott street(not the corner store)

Except one or two type of cleaning crew that fourish like plaque, most are hard to keep in FW

 

[KathyC]

Hey Tuni, if you could get a pic, that would be great!
As far as a FW cleaning crew, I'd skip that short of maybe putting either a single Bushy Nosed pleco in there, or better yet a trio of Cory catfish (they stay small, but like to live in groups) they would definitely clean up any food on the substrate. FW snails are a pita because they multiply like crazy, and lay eggs all over everything. I'd avoid them.

Some info on Panda Corys (corys also come in other colors, Albino are popular but kind of bland looking..lol)
These guys are good because they can be acclimated to the softer water that the angels like.
http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=pandacory

Also, very reasonably priced!

Panda Corys are cute..