Strange Growth

jjkremp · Nov 20, 2009

was checkin my tank this morning my 10USG planted and i noticed these white specs on the glass as i looked from a side view i saw lil ghost like fingers extending outward and on my heater and rock i have at the bottom not my gravel but a large 3pound rock there were ghost like mushrooms growing and swaying in the tank.. any idea what these two things are? harmful to my plants? harmful to fish if/N when i add them. or are these just temp blooms as my tank matures? passerby so to say

loraxchick · Nov 20, 2009

jjkremp said:
was checkin my tank this morning my 10USG planted and i noticed these white specs on the glass as i looked from a side view i saw lil ghost like fingers extending outward and on my heater and rock i have at the bottom not my gravel but a large 3pound rock there were ghost like mushrooms growing and swaying in the tank.. any idea what these two things are? harmful to my plants? harmful to fish if/N when i add them. or are these just temp blooms as my tank matures? passerby so to say

probably algae that is losing the battle with the plants...which is why it looks "whiteish" or "ghostlike" as you describe...doesnt have lots of chlorophyll so appears white. scrape it off and do water changes to get rid of it. many times in planted tanks the more plants you have that grow really fast, they "out-compete" the algae for resources(nutrients) and cause it to die off.
possible pic? im sure its nothing to worry about unless it starts to cover the plants so badly that they get no light.
cheers

OohFeeshy · Nov 20, 2009

Possibly hydra? Only potentially harmful to fry, fish will probably eat them.

drobbyb · Nov 20, 2009

Sounds like Hydra to me. Some describe them as little white flower like growths.

jjkremp · Nov 20, 2009

well luckily its not on the plants nor blocking light but after just waking up and checking it again it has spread more so gonna do a water change if it is hydra what fish should i put in for a day to eat it up/ i have varies tetras,gobies, plecs, chinese algae eaters, gouramis, bettas, danios any of them do the job of clean up on it?