Co2 System Creates White Specks On Wood

[BBrain]

Size of Tank: 27 U.S. gallons (30"x12.5"x18"H)
Temp: 26 C
pH: without CO2 7.3-7.4, with CO2 6.6-7.2 (problems)
Ammonia (ppm): 0
NitrIte (ppm): 0
NitrAte (ppm): 5
KH (degrees): 4
GH (degrees): 4
Ferts: Flourish and clay substrate tabs, liquid Seachem Comprehensive (2ml, 2-3X/week), liquid Leaf Zone (K & Fe)(manufacturer's recom. dose)
CO2: DIY, with problems (0-50 bubbles/min.)
Lighting: 2 wpg: 54 watts "daylight" (Cool White) fluorescent T-8 (4100K)
Substrate: gravel (has a small amount of shell bits)
Filtration: one Aqua Clear 50 power filter (capacity 200 gph)
Water changes: 20-30% once per week

Fish: 9 Glowlight Tetras, 3 Peppered cories, 3 baby Bristlenose plecos

Plants: mostly Cabomba & Amazon Sword species (small to large), plus a few Java Ferns, Hygrophila polysperma, Rotala sp., Bolbitis, Anubias barteri var. nana, Hygrophila difformis
===================================

I'd like to know what the tiny, white specks are in my tank. They seem to be mostly on the 2 pieces of wood (one local piece that has been submerged for 50 years in a reservoir, and one store-bought "Malaysian Driftwood").

The specks are the size of finely ground pepper, and seem to appear only when CO2 is being added to the water. I never saw them before starting up CO2. For example, 2 days ago, I scrubbed the specks off the wood, just before I got my CO2 going again, later that day. The next day, the specks showed up again.

Does anyone know what these white specks are, if they are a problem to my fish, and how to prevent them from forming?

Thanks a lot!


Here are some photos:

Reservoir wood and surroundings:

Zooming in:

Close as I can focus:

Malaysian wood:

Close-up:

 

[Lance76]

i would love to know what they are as well,
i have the same thing on my wood, but i do not have CO2 at all!

 

[smithrc]

do you have any nerite snails in the tank ?

we get these when the water is in good condition - they dont hatch though as they need brackish water to hatch...

 

[BBrain]

Nope....NO SNAILS ALLOWED in my tanks!

Are you thinking that these might be snail eggs? I've never heard of snail eggs as small as these specks. Also, the specks are not uniform in size.

Are there any chemists out there?
My theory is that these white dust-like specks are some substance that's formed by a reaction of carbon dioxide with water and/or wood.

 

[thefirethief]

Hey wetty! I dont know if this is anything to do with the white 'fuzz' I get on certain pieces of driftwood. It covers the entire thing though and returns in a few days, despite boilings to remove it. I get this without CO2, so if yours only appears with CO2 then I might be way off. Nice tank by the way! The rocks are jolly good!





This is from cichlid-forum.com


What's that fuzz on my driftwood?

Quite often after driftwood is added to an aquarium, a white almost transparent fuzz will grow on it. This fuzz can appear several weeks to several months after the driftwood is added to the aquarium. Popular thinking is this fuzz is either a fungus or a mold. Either way it's harmless, unfortunately it's not pleasing to look at. Some people have had luck just brushing it off. Others have had luck by introducing algae eating fish, as they will actually eat it. Neither technique will guarantee preventing this fuzz from recurring. The important thing is to have faith, as it will eventually disappear.

 

[BBrain]

Hey firethief, what the heck is that avatar of yours? Looks cool, whatever it is.

Thanks for the compliment on my tank. Yeah, I really like those stones, too! They came from a streambed near my place. Gathering stones that day didn't do my hernia any good, though!

Like you, I also wonder if my specks are type of fungus, just a different type from that fuzzy stuff. I've had the fuzzy before, in another tank, on a store-bought piece of very heavy wood called "Mopani". The wierd thing is, it came back even thicker after I scrubbed it off! I took it out of the tank, and exposed it to the elements for a couple of months, and now it's back in that other tank, and shows no fuzzies.

I've also had another wierd stuff on another piece of wood (Arbutus, or Madrone). That wood was what I call "land wood", in that it came from a forest....so it had never soaked in water, like driftwood. That branch was dead, but I don't know for how long. Anyway, the stuff on it was not fuzzy; it looked like clearish jelly. And it was tougher than it looked, because it took quite a scrubbing to get it off. I boiled that wood, but that turned it really dark, and I don't like it any more. I really liked the original reddish-brown colour. Here's a couple of photos:

I love the mysteries of aquaria, even though some of them can be annoying, or even depressing!

 

[xoedusk]

I might be crazy, but they look like gas bubbles to me.

 

[BBrain]

It was time to put one under my great uncle's old microscope, and I sure didn't expect to see what I saw!

These little specks are ANIMALS!!!!! Eight-legged animals, that is... ie. arthropods. Water mites, to be more specific.....one of the thousands of species of water mites, I learned. So far, I haven't found any references to white ones. And I haven't found out yet if mine are dangerous to fishes, but I think a lot of mites just eat detritus, and some eat fungus, too. That would be good, if those are what I have!

I haven't found any pictures similar to mine, but this one's a bit similar (mine has nasty hooks on each leg-end; no wonder they're tough to remove from the driftwood):

 

[Jen]

I wouldnt have thought that for the world. Wierd. I would take the wood out of the tank just in case they are harmful to your fish. Chances are though that some may have migrated to other areas of your tank.

I hope you can figure out what kind it is!

 

[BBrain]

I hope you can figure out what kind it is!

I'm not even going to try! Not after I found out that there are many thousands of species identified, and there are estimated to be many, many times that, that are yet to be identified! Nope, that's a job for an "acarologist"; a scientist who studies mites, or Aracids.

Just in case there's an acarologist reading this, here's a drawing that I made of one of these critters, under my microscope at 450X:

I've seen these tiny white specks in this tank, off and on for a few months. The fish have been generally healthy, and since these mites are concentrated mostly on the wood, I think they are eaters of detritus. So I'm not too worried, but they are an eyesore, that's for sure.

So, I will pull out the wood pieces (and their attached plants), pull off the beautiful plants (tearing the poor plants' roots ), and clean the wood. I REALLY hate ripping out my aquascapes, that I spend months developing!
(Or, maybe I could culture and market these as another "tank cleaner", like shrimp! )

P.S. Jen, I see by your avatar that you may only have one shoe. Your real name isn't Cinderella, by any chance?

 

[Jen]

I know what you mean about pulling up all your hard work. It really is gut-wrenching - espeically when otherwise, everything is healthy. Nice job on the sketch though... it looks fantastic.

I just might be the Cinderella of the modern world. I wear leather instead of glass. My prince charming would ride a motorcycle instead of a white horse.

In reality, those are the new shoes I just spent a small fortune on. I didnt have any nice black dressy shoes to wear out, so I went shopping. Nine West are my favourite shoes, and a store near me happened to have them. My Grandmother actually talked me into them!

 

[thefirethief]

Have you had a look for ways to get rid of them other than ripping apart months of work? Ive been having a search.

One solution could be to treat them like any other parasitic infection such as white spot and skin flukes (ich). By the sounds of it there shouldnt be any reason why this wouldnt work.



You could try anything that contains Malachite Green . It got rid of my herpes.

 

[BBrain]

Firethief, your fishes had herpes? Don't they practise safe sex? B)
Good idea, though, to maybe try a med. I just have to be careful not to hurt my purdy fishees, and plants!
I just had a look at your link to malachite and formalin.....that's a good one! Thanks!

Jen, don't you like white horses? Me neither. My favs are jet black, and buckskin. Pintos are cool, too!

 

[Jen]

Im actually deadly allergic to horses, but none-the-less, if I'm a Princess in leather and pointy stilettoes, then I would have to be wooed by a hottie on a chopper!

 

[BBrain]

Well, I guess I jinxed myself in saying my fish have been healthy....I just found my favourite one dead, up against the front glass. One of my baby bristlenose plecos.

Guess I'll try to diagnose, and if I have to treat the tank to protect my other fish, maybe it'll be with a med that'll kill those mites, too.

Later