# White Translucent Fuzz



## Largesse (Apr 4, 2007)

I've just setup a nano tank with no fish and an aponogeton madagascariensis. It's been a week and the leaves have stopped bubbling and a white translucent fuzz has appeared over the surface of the bulb and some of the stems. I am really new to planted tanks and am wondering whether this is fungus or a kind of algae. What should I do? Thanks


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

it could be fungus.. It's usually a sign of something dying. If you can syphon it off or wash it off.


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## Largesse (Apr 4, 2007)

Oh dear! I guess I'll have to shipshape the water quality.

Thanks for the info.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

I'll admit that I don't know much about El Natural style, but it sounds like you have the same funk my driftwood has. At least you were better able to describe it than I. I just couldn't find the words, so I took some pictures...they're at the bottom of this thread - http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquascaping/39066-critique-on-50gal-oceanic.html

If that's what you have, adding aquarium salt seems to work, as does shutting off your filters and squirting some H2O2 on it. However, since your fuzz is on a plant bulb, you may want to skip the H2O2 unless you only put a very small amount on it.

Good luck!


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## Largesse (Apr 4, 2007)

Troy,

That thread was a bit of an eye opener, I don't feel alone! I went about attacking the white stuff in an 'El Natural' way(no chems.). I've done frequent water changes, installed a power head with a siphon hose (water current) and thrown in starving snails. Bottom line - no fungus. It worked!



J.


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## yoyo22 (Apr 10, 2006)

I think I had some of the fungus you are describing, a few times. It was a translucent, white fuzz about 5 mm (1/4 in) covering a whole section of newly added driftwood. As an experiment, I bought two pieces of "vinewood" at the store, similar sized and seemed to be of the same composition. I boiled each twice for 20 minutes each and soaked them for a week with daily water changes. I then put one into a newly set up 29 gal npt and an established 30 gallon npt. The 29 gallon had 1.5 wpg, while the 30 gallon had 2 wpg and a longer light cycle (10 hrs per day vs. 12), same soil/gravel substrate. The bottom line, the 30 gallon had much better conditions for plant growth (emprirically it is easy to see that, even after a year!).

Result: The more plant-friendly 30g tank had only a little fuzz, and it lasted about a week. The other tank had a much thicker coat of fuzz, which persisted for about 6 weeks.

Discussion: I would expect that the fungus requires nutrients to grow, which it takes from the wood. The wood must have a lot of detritus attached from it (probably from the sanding process) which then enter the water column. If there is an established bacterial, algal and plant population in the tank, these will outcompete the fuzz for the nutrients, and therefore fight it.

So your filtering/water change method would accomplish the same thing as the plants, so that was why you were successful, and it seems that the non-low tech solutions would have probably not been as effective, or caused a lot more problems in the tank.


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