I Have A Fungal Infection!

[lukyjay]

Hey,
 
My aqarium is pretty new, about a month old almost. I bought some driftwood a few weeks ago and I noticed there was some white murcy/fluffy stuff growing on it, googling showed that it was fungus! I cleaned all of it off, but obviously fungus is really small so it's impossible to get it all.
 
The driftwood was from my LFS and was bleached/cleaned properly, but they keep them on a concrete floor until they're sold and I think there might've been bugs inside them. I saw a baby cricket on one of the pieces.
 
The fungus is now growing on my Java Fern and Crested Java Fern, and is all in it's roots too! It won't go away!
 
Is this going to harm my fish? Is this going to harm my plants? Can I leave the fungus there and forget about it, or must it be removed? Is there a way I can remove it without killing my Java Ferns?
 
I've heard getting a snail can help, but I don't really want one because I'm scared it'll eat my plants and I have no idea how to look after one.
 
What should I do about my fungal infection? Is there a canisten for a fish tank?

 

[Deleted member 107737]

I had the same on all 3 pieces of my bogwood. I think mine got there as when I was doing a fishless cycle I used fish flake rather than ammonia so the small particles that landed on the wood turned to mould after a while.
 
I never bothered cleaning mine of and after having fish for about 3 months, its dissapeared..... dont know if the fish have nibbled at it or the water changes have helped ?!?!?!?
 
Hope this helps in some way,
 
Cheers

 

[lukyjay]

It does help, it means it can't be poisonous thanks pal

 

[This Old Spouse]

This happens often with new bogwood/driftwood in the tank. It will disappear eventually, but you could take it out and scrub it. 

 

[lukyjay]

Hi, cleaned it last night and it came back today already. It must be all through the gravel, I'll just leave it.
 
My tank has a very bad smell when I lift the lid off, what would cause this? Also my water is a slight tint of green, pretty obvious against my white wall. Ammonia is between 0 and 0.2, I've been doing 20% water changes (by vacuuming gravel) every 2-4 days.
 
Is the fungus causing a really bad smell? What can I do to get rid of the smell, would a sucker fish help?
 
Also I had to throw my crested java fern in the bin The fungus had covered it entirely and it was dieing.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Sounds like you're having a bacterial bloom, and no, a "sucker fish" wouldn't help and would probably just kill the fish in the process. Are you in the process of cycling your tank? How many and what kind of fish do you have? How big is your tank? What kind of filter do you have?

 

[lukyjay]

Actually I bought 2 brushnose catfish and they ate it all in about a week They love it! They don't seem sick either. Fungus is only found in the tubing to and from filter (where fish cant get)