Can Anyone Id What This Stuff Is On My Tank?

[Dhak]

Hi everyone,

So just over two weeks ago I setup a 37gallon tank with a Penguin Bio-wheel 200 filter. I didn't know about fishless cycling so there are 6 little red eye tetras in there now. Ammonia levels have already plummeted (<0.25) and I'm keeping tabs daily on nitrite(1ppm this morning) and changing 20% water anytime it goes >1ppm (which happens in less than 24 hours now). Now yesterday I did another water change like I have been, and the tank was crystal clear at night. Feedings have been little, every other day or so, they haven't been fed since Fri night now. I woke up this morning to find these white specks everywhere over the glass and plants. I guess since it's white it's not algae and it doesn't look like eggs to me. I'm stuck guessing that they're hydra but am really not sure, maybe fungus? I'd appreciate any help in what they are and what to do! Any ideas are welcomed


Please let me know if the photos don't work, I'm linking them from another site as I can't find an attachment option when posting.

Thanks!

 

[silverrabbit]

They look like the bubbles of sticky snails eggs I keep finding in my goldie tank

 

[Jdubz]

ditto on the snail eggs... my fry tank had tonnes of them!

Little creature on the left hand side of the bottom pic

 

[Dhak]

Damn, I hope all of these aren't viable, or else I will have a few hundred snails to deal with. So do I just have to manage them through cleanings until the tank is stable enough to throw in a fish that may like the taste of these snails?

 

[TylerFerretLord]

They don't look like snail eggs to me, you can usually make out the individual eggs in the clutch. I'm not sure what they are to be honest!

Nice shot of the copepod in the second pic.

 

[Dhak]

They don't look like snail eggs to me, you can usually make out the individual eggs in the clutch. I'm not sure what they are to be honest!

Nice shot of the copepod in the second pic.

lol, thanks. I'm quite pleased that my cellphone was able to take those pictures.
Someone suggested to me that they may be bacterial growth, signs that the cycle is going alright. I've worked with plenty of bacteria in lab settings but never seen growths like these, does it make sense to anyone else?

 

[Jdubz]

is it a watermark?

 

[drobbyb]

Another for snail eggs. They get all over everything don't they?

 

[smbgpd]

Looks like one of 2 things: 1) general organic crud that is forming pretty patterns around a nucles or 2) beginnings of an algal bloom. Either way scrape off glass with magnetic scraper, hand, piece of cloth or with your hand off the plnts and let it get into the water column and be sorted by the filters.

 

[betta fish]

Do you live in a hard water area? as these look like water marks, are they on the inside or outside of the tank? have you tried rubbing them off? they don't look like snail eggs at all to me, have you seen any snails? I always get white patches in my tanks due to the water being so hard in this area

 

[Dhak]

Do you live in a hard water area? as these look like water marks, are they on the inside or outside of the tank? have you tried rubbing them off? they don't look like snail eggs at all to me, have you seen any snails? I always get white patches in my tanks due to the water being so hard in this area

I don't think the water here is particularly hard but I haven't tested it. All the marks you see are on the inside of the tank. That one on the glass looks like it is flat but in fact all of those things are dome shaped, attached at the base to either plants or glass and even sway gently with the water current. I cleaned off the glass and most of the plants, they're not doing much for now so if anything comes of it I'll post the results.

And nope I haven't seen any snails in the tank that I've had for 2 weeks but I did get the plants on the first day from Petco

 

[Amunet]

Maybe some kind of mold or fungus?

 

[FishBeast]

snail eggs for sure... should see them crawling around in time... I had a massive outbreak a while back but my pearl scales cleaned them up

 

[keenonfish]

Kind of looks like snail eggs to me too BUT the surrounding stuff isn't... This is an interesting read and if a recently setup tank then it is more of a possibility. Any recent white or unexplained patches on fish etc...?

Even if I appear alarmist at least you can rule it out!

 

[Dhak]

Kind of looks like snail eggs to me too BUT the surrounding stuff isn't... This is an interesting read and if a recently setup tank then it is more of a possibility. Any recent white or unexplained patches on fish etc...?

Even if I appear alarmist at least you can rule it out!

Hm, you're right that is alarming. I inspected the fish in detail this morning and I can't notice anything odd about their behavior or appearance. They are calm for the most part, exploring and only rush around when chasing one another. After I cleaned off all the things on the glass with a magnetic scraper they haven't come back so far. However, the number of these translucent domes has increased a lot on the plant that is seen in the first photo. I think that may just be because all of them were knocked loose off the glass and some were filtered while others got stuck there.

Anyway, without a microscope I can't really confirm that these are bacterial in origin and I don't want to start the antibacterial treatment when the fish still appear healthy and the tank is progressing through a normal cycle. I'm tempted to see if I can use a microscope on campus to finally see what it is. At the very least it would tell us algae eggs fungus or bacteria