White Hair on Drift Wood

[Spamamos]

HI All,

My second post about Algae now.

Tank has been set up just over a week, water quality is fine and results say i am actually ready to add fish. I am here however to discuss the issue of a white fluffy algae which is growing on my drift wood, nowhere else.

After last night it seemed to of rapidly grown and so this morning I wiped it off all the wood and siphoned off what I could replacing the water lost, still quite a bit floating around and hoping the filter will take care of it for now.
I have not been able to formally identify the algae type and want to be able to keep on top of it properly.

Below is a picture, you can see a blob of it on top of the wood and then long stands just to the right which were waving in the water.

Hope you can help,

Spam

 

[Colin_T]

It's just fungus that grows on dead driftwood and is harmless. You can take the wood out and hose it off if you are worried.

 

[TallPaul]

I have the same on a large piece of bog wood. At first I was panicking about it because it's unsightly. I've scrubbed it down a couple of times but now my Otto cats are chowing down on it. I don't k ow if they are eating it or it's just being broken up whilst they are eating something else.

Colin T is exactly right. It is a form of bacterial fungus that grows on the wood. When you introduce a new item into your aquarium there is an opportunity for bacteria to grow on the surface of the wood. The wood is prime breeding ground for it.

Over time the beneficial bacteria will outcompete it for nutrients and it will die back on its own. You can take it out and scrub it off, as I have tried, but it will come back until the beneficial bacteria has taken a hold on the surface of the wood.

It's nothing to worry about.

 

[Spamamos]

Amazing.

Funnily enough I actually watched a video on this beofre coming back to check and feel a little silly for being so worried.

As usual great answers guys! Thanks!

Otto's and Cory's are on the stocking list so that's positive! (Otto's a bit further down the line)

Sam

 

[TallPaul]

Amazing.

Funnily enough I actually watched a video on this beofre coming back to check and feel a little silly for being so worried.

As usual great answers guys! Thanks!

Otto's and Cory's are on the stocking list so that's positive! (Otto's a bit further down the line)

Sam

Otocinclus are wonderful algae eaters and are generally supposed to be added to a mature tank with some algae growth. They are known to be quite delicate but that's only during acclimation. Once they are acclimated they are actually pretty tough. Most die because they have been mistreated on their way to the store and have effectively started to starve to death.