New Fishless Cycle Concerns And Slime!

[Mervin]

Hello everyone,
 
This is my first post. I've been wandering around these forums as a guest for a few weeks and find it to be one of (if not the) best forums for tropical fish keeping. I recently purchased a 10 gallon (imperial) tank (12 gallon US) and began cycling my tank 5 days ago.
 
I set the tank up with a suitable filter (which also agitates the water), heater, light, 1 decoration, 4 plants, black gravel and some pebbles.
 
I've been following this guide. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/113861-fishless-cycling/ by rd1952. (the first method).
 
I've been testing the ammonia every day using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. The ammonia started off at about 6 after 5 days it's down to about 4. The colour has definitely gotten lighter so there must be some bacteria consuming the ammonia.
 
So everything looks ok so far?
 
Today I woke up to find slimey gooey white stuff everywhere inside the tank. It is highly concentrated around the base of the live plants, but is present on all of the gravel, pebbles, plants etc... but looks like a thinly layered mist on those things. Around the plants it looks like it is growing out of the gravel and whisps back and forth in the current. Some parts of it are quite long at 2-3cm!
 
I have taken a picture best I could in the hope that someone here can shed some light on this, and should I be concerned? Is this part of the normal cycling process? Will it go away?
 
I alo have 2 other questions. Whilst I am doing this fishless cycling and following the guide do I need to be doing partial water changes and/or gravel cleaning?
 
View attachment 68712
 
(the bag in the tank just contains some "uncontaminated" gravel)
 
Many thanks in advance for any help.
 
Good to be here!
 
 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Hello and 

 !
 
 
I have to say I don't know what that stuff is.  What ammonia are you using to cycle the tank?

 

[Mervin]

Hi,
 
Thanks for replying. I'm having to use just fish food because I've found it impossible to find any bottled ammonia in the UK. Boots no longer sell it, neither do any of the super markets or chemists. I was told it is because it can be used in explosives. None of my local fish shops have it either, infact everyone I asked seemed to look confused!
 
I've been reading about different algaes and I can't match it to any. I think it may be a fungus? I will do some more research and see if I can match it to something. The back of the tank is not completely covered, it is growing really fast. Here is another picture.

View attachment 68713
 
I'm really concerned that my tank might need to be completely sterilized/emptied/destroyed and I will have to start again. I hope that it is normal or harmless and will sort it self out when the cycling is complete, or perhaps some thing will love to eat it such as snails or shrimps.
 
Thanks

 

[Mervin]

I found these pictures online. It looks exactly like this. I remember now when I first got the live plants I saw some small stringy things on the stems and leaves after a few days. I remember thinking it was just bacteria growing and was part of the cycle. But now I'm thinking it's a fungus and may be impossible to remove? Another thought that occurs to me is right before this stuff "bloomed" 1 of my plants seemingly disentegrated, it literally fell apart into dozens and dozens of pieces. I tried to remove as much as I could, at least what I could see. I think decaying matter in the gravel may be fueling this thing. I need advice as to how to progress. Should I stop the cycling process and start again with a fresh tank? Should I do partial water changes daily and vacuum the gravel? Should I just ignore it?
 
 
View attachment 68714


View attachment 68715

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yeah, I think a fungus is the best suggestion...  Using fishfood, it makes sense.  Fungus grows more readily when using fish food.
 
 
How much did you add?  I'd vacuum out as much of that fungus as possible, and then dose more sparingly with the food - into the filter.  Just a TINY pinch is all that you need, really.
 
 
When the ammonia drops to zero, add a TINY pinch more.

 

[Mervin]

Ok thanks for the suggestion I will get to vacuuming the gravel straight away! Will I hurt the bacteria that is already present, it was my understanding that most of it is inside the filter and gravel? Would it be a better idea to do maybe half today and half tomorrow?
 
Thanks again

 

[Mervin]

Ok so I did some gravel cleaning and got tons of the fungus out. A lot of it broke apart and is now floating around the tank, the water is very cloudy now too. When I disturbed the gravel loads of white misty stuff rose out of it. I think the fungus must have come with the plants I recently added. Do you think I should remove the plants and continue to cycle without them? Do you think it's a good idea to take all of the water and gravel out and clean it then put it back in?
 
I've read that some fruit such as bananas contain something that kills fungus, what do you guys think about this? Do you think it would be safe to add some banana to my fungus soup?

 

[David J]

Hi

This stuff is exactly what I have in my tank. I've struggled to find out what it is. Eagle, this is the stuff I was talking about in my fishless cycle thread.

It only grows on my bogwood. I first noticed it a couple of weeks into my fishless cycle. It seemed to appear just all of a sudden. I washed it all off, at least tried, but must've missed some and now I have it a little worse than before. I have 4 or 5 clumps of it in different bits of my wood. The largest is about 4 or 5cm long. It waves about in the current.

FYI, I am using ammonia, not fish flakes so can't be anything to do with that. My tank has cycled with this stuff in it so I don't think it will hinder your cycle. I haven't noticed any on my sand or anywhere else although I have just added my first few live plants a few days ago so will keep a close eye.

I tried getting photos of it but it would show up in my pics so well done for getting it. I'll keep you posted on any developments with mine. I will be doing a 100% water change on Thursday because I am at the end of my cycle so will give the wood a really good rinse and wipe.

Actually, just found this. I'm not sure if there are rules about posting links from other forums. Mods, apologies if I'm breaking any rules but I can't find any info on TFF about this weird stuff and this post might be the answer. Feel free to remove my link.

http/www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?208454-Slime-during-cycling-remove-or-dont-remove

I am sure this person has the same thing as us, albeit a much worse case. Sounds like it could be bacteria and some are reporting fish to eat it. There is some differing views on their but from what I read, I think it's harmless and I will leave mine for now. Let me know what you think.

David

 

[Mervin]

Thanks Dave,
 
Please let us know how you get on!
 
If there is an admin viewing this it may be beneficial to change the topic title to something like "fungus in fishless cycling". I can't find the option to change the title of my thread.
 
I've been doing some more reading, it looks very similar to a wood fungus (commonly found with grapevine wood). I've read that that type of fungus is harmless and goes away after it has exhausted its food supply (but we don't know what is feeding ours!). Also Mollies love to eat it apparently. If after my tank has cycled it is still around I may invest in a Molly or two!

 

[David J]

Cool, I'm at the end of cycle and adding fish on Friday. Obviously during my cycle, I've been dosing with ammonia and will be doing so until Thursday night. It will be interesting to see if this stuff goes away once I stop dosing ammonia after the fish are in as that link I posted often refers to it being something that comes up often when cycling.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The bacteria will be in the areas of highest water flow... the fungus is cutting down the water flow in the areas that its in, so its not a concern to vac it out.  The bacteria haven't really gotten much of a foothold yet, don't worry about it.


Sorry, got interrupted, so I didn't see the other responses.



A fungus growing on wood when you add it to the tank is normal... My mopani always gets some fungus on it, but it not dangerous. The one problem it caused for me was that the fungus provided food for snails that hitched their way into my tank, and then their population exploded.  It took a while to get that under control again! I wouldn't worry about the fungus Dave, if its only on the wood. The fish will not be affected by it.

Mervin, I wouldn't add a banana to the tank, honestly. The one thing to remember is that NOW would be a safe time to consider using a fungicide to kill the fungus. But, ultimately, I think the key is to deal with the CAUSE rather than the symptom. Remove as much as you can with a vac, and try to eliminate it by adding the food to the filter, where the water movement is higher. You can cycle the tank EMPTY (meaning no plants, no gravel, etc.) Just pull that stuff out and let it dry out. The plants would be the harder issue, as they could die if not taken care of. What plants do you have?

 

[Mervin]

Hi eagles,
 
thank you very much for replying. I have vacuumed some of the gravel and tried to get as much fungus as possible but I am positive there is much more that I cannot see or can't really get to without taking out most if not all of the water. I think the fungus was introduced by the plants I currently have. I did have some more plants when I started cycling but they just fell apart in the water when this fungus appeared. I'm not sure what the species is of my plant and don't mind buying new ones that are better suited to the community I have in mind (tetras+khuli loach). I was thinking java moss and something a little more thicker and fuller (the name escapes me now).
 
I've attached a picture of the plant species I have left just incase you know what it is offhand. They seem to be thriving and have grown a good 6 inches in the last couple of days!
 
I don't want to add chemicals unnecessary but If I were to add a fungicide would you mind recommending one?
 
View attachment 68717
 
edit: I believe it is Limnophila sessiliflora

 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

One option that is actually pretty simple would be to add SALT to the tank.  Aquarium salt is VERY cheap (compared to chemical fungicides), and is a great tonic for many fish, if they get fungus on them.  The recommendation for a salt bath to help the fish defeat a fungus would be 1% salt solution.  You could safely add salt to the tank to reach that concentration.  It won't affect the bacteria, and should have no affect on the plants either.  Leave the salt concentration until the fungus leaves... then you can use water changes to remove the salt before the tank is suited for fish.

 

[Mervin]

Ok well I've gone ahead and removed all of the gravel, decorations and plants. The gravel and stuff is drying out and i've put the plants in a suitable container with some substrate, I've placed them near a window so they can get some light. They are growing so fast I am really quite shocked, I've had to start pruning them! The temperature of the water for the plants is fine during the day but does drop at night so i'm topping it up with a mixture of boiled cold water and cold water to keep them at a suitable temperature at night.
 
After a week the nitrite is still at 0 and the ammonia hasn't budged (which is to be expected otherwise the numbers would be different for both), I thought by now I should have seen a small rise in nitrite. I can't see any of the slimey fungus in the tank, I think it's all been sucked into the filter.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's fine.  The initial drop can take a while.  Just be patient.  (Which is very hard, I know.)