Furry White Stuff?

[BettaBettas]

Ok so in my 5 gallon fluval (long) I looked at the pump and it had fuzzy white strings (kind of) attached to it, it was obviously an algae or fungus but what kind and how do I get rid of it??? I think lyraguppy (sry if I spelled wrong!) had made a thread about the same thing in the past.

 

[LyraGuppi]

This gunk?
If that is what you're talking about, I'm afraid I never figured out what is was. It's gone now, though, and didn't harm anything.

 
AlexJordan:
Sometimes things like plant, bacteria, or free substrate can build up in a white gunk on old filters or heaters.

 

[BettaBettas]

yea pretty much! its all over the glass making the tank cloudy and pretty much unattractive!

 

[LyraGuppi]

I'm still at a loss, sorry. Hopefully a more experienced member can come around soon.

 

[Blubble37]

it's a bacteria as far as i remember, it grows wherever it can whenever there are excess nutrients. You will always have it to some extent, that cloudy crud you scrape from the glass or the slight film on all of your ornaments. If it gets a food source it will bloom. Clean it off and do a water change, about 50%, clean down your media. It's not a huge problem but it doesn't look wonderful.

Source: oh boy i've had this plenty of times
 
I did remember doing an experiment once where i put an algae wafer in and lent it up against a small colony of this stuff. Lo and behold, the next day it was enveloped in a blanket of this translucent white organism.
 
 
 
EDIT: Oh, if it gets into your filter foams, good luck getting it out. P.s, it's a nightmare.

 

[BettaBettas]

well blubble if it is what you say it is, which im almost positive it is.... give me some good luck or pray for me, SOMETHING lol. i guess ill try the water change and clean my plants, i bought a nerite snail but he hasn't done much cleaning.... hes being lazy

 

[Blubble37]

the snail won't do too much, they eat algae, this stuff is a bacterial colony

gently clean down anything that's covered in this stuff, the water change will lower the amount of available nutrients in the water. rinse out the filter foams under tank water, if you find anything that is clogged with a thick, white matted substance, either blast it out with a tap at mains pressure or get rid of it. as far as i remember this stuff only attacked the foams on my internal powerhead.. your filter sorta matches an internal and external really