White Particles In Water...algae?

[Phishy25]

This morning I have noticed my water in the tank has lots of small white particles floating around. Looks like tiny bits of debris. Is there such a thing as white algae? I can see longer pieces coming out of the outlet pipe on the external filter. Water isn't cloudly just full of bits! Will do a large water change later.

Also on testing my tap water yesterday the Nitrate test read 40ppm. Is there anyway of getting this down? Do you think this could be causing the algae? Ammonia & Nitrite 0 both in tap water and tank. Filter has cycled for almost two months.

I also lost a fish yesterday I'm assuming Nitrates are too high

 

[ZoddyZod]

the white stuff sounds very much like debris, dont think there is a flaoting white algae.

40ppm nitrate should not be an issue. Many people have similar or higher readings from the tap. The only way to get it down would be to use a nitrate remover in the filter or have LOTS of plants in the tank. But as I said, this level should not be a problem for the vast majority of fish sold in the trade.