OK, so my African tank has been set up for over 6 months. All water perameters are normal. The past couple months I have had "fuzz" in the water. So bad its like a cloud! I bleached all the plants and stuff to kill any algae, but it cames back! It shows up the day after I clean. Its not in my fry tank or my community tank. The fry tank is the same pH as the big tank. I use the same sand, rocks, etc in all 3 tanks, the only difference is in the big tank I have no real plants.
This "fuzz" is not an algea bloom, its not food, it is just fuzz that stays in the water column and sticks all over the glass and everything. It makes the water so cloudy you cannot tell the background is black. You can tell the difference between the sand floating and this stuff.
Here are a couple video's to show you. You can tell what I mean way better in video than in a pic.
HELP!! It's so gross! How can I clear it up??
You have to click on the "watch in high quality" underneath the video to get a good picture of it.
If you wonder where all the fish are, they have an elaborate tunnel system dug out in the sand under the rocks.
A close up of the crap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWk4_Yq7r_s
A far view. I was sitting across the room and you can still see it. You can see how the water looks so cloudy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T7SHyWKkOI
This one is cool. I had the PVC pipes lined up to see how they like them before I did anything with it. You can see the "fuzz" floating everywhere as you watch the fish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEjRQtSgFEo
UGH! someone help!!
5 posts
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Burgerking7679 - Posts: 112
- Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:53 pm
It really doesnt look too bad IMO. Did you change the filter media recently? Thats the only other thing i can think of.
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dizzcat - Posts: 648
- Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:30 am
I changed it about a month ago, cleaned it last week. I always clean my filters in tank water at least every other week. Its been going on for awhile now. That first video, if you watch it in the higher quality you can see it floating everywhere.
I have never seen this before. I have had fish for 2 years now and this is a first.
I am going to buy a new filter tomorrow, one that is twice as strong as the tank reguires and put it in along with the one already there. Maybe that and a water change a couple times a week for the next couple weeks will get rid of it.
What makes it so bad is the African's are constantly disturbing the sand. Digging, spitting etc. As you could see in the video's. But, that is what makes them so fun to watch. :-)
Hey Miami........ you have seen my setup, even gave me half the fish, any ideas?
I have never seen this before. I have had fish for 2 years now and this is a first.
I am going to buy a new filter tomorrow, one that is twice as strong as the tank reguires and put it in along with the one already there. Maybe that and a water change a couple times a week for the next couple weeks will get rid of it.
What makes it so bad is the African's are constantly disturbing the sand. Digging, spitting etc. As you could see in the video's. But, that is what makes them so fun to watch. :-)
Hey Miami........ you have seen my setup, even gave me half the fish, any ideas?
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Tmercier834747 - Posts: 887
- Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:33 pm
Well from the video its honestly hard to tell even while watching in HQ. Sometimes it looks like bubbles, sometimes like poo, sometimes like well...whatever. lol
BUT what you're describing sounds like what I was putting up with in my 16gal several months back. The stuff would seem to go right through the filter as though it didn't exist (and it wasn't clogged so the stuff wasn't running through the overflow) or it was just self-generating and coming from nowhere...I really never got an answer.
I took my driftwood out, trimmed/pulled the 4" thick mat of java moss off it and washed it off in the tub. What I can only assume to be the brown stuff...(looked like something had shredded a nerf football into a trillion pieces) and a lot of rotten moss (which wasn't getting light) went down the drain. I added a 300gph powerhead and sent everything (But the sand) into the water column, netted what I could with a net, and the rest seemed to adhere nicely to the sponge on the powerhead. (I also added amano shrimp that week). I cleaned the filter thoroughly and added new media. I haven't had problems with "the stuff" since...
I'm not saying my problem is probably what you have, or that you'll have to use those steps (Whichever applicable) to fix your problem, its just what it sounds like. I still have no idea what caused it or what the hell it was.
BUT what you're describing sounds like what I was putting up with in my 16gal several months back. The stuff would seem to go right through the filter as though it didn't exist (and it wasn't clogged so the stuff wasn't running through the overflow) or it was just self-generating and coming from nowhere...I really never got an answer.
I took my driftwood out, trimmed/pulled the 4" thick mat of java moss off it and washed it off in the tub. What I can only assume to be the brown stuff...(looked like something had shredded a nerf football into a trillion pieces) and a lot of rotten moss (which wasn't getting light) went down the drain. I added a 300gph powerhead and sent everything (But the sand) into the water column, netted what I could with a net, and the rest seemed to adhere nicely to the sponge on the powerhead. (I also added amano shrimp that week). I cleaned the filter thoroughly and added new media. I haven't had problems with "the stuff" since...
I'm not saying my problem is probably what you have, or that you'll have to use those steps (Whichever applicable) to fix your problem, its just what it sounds like. I still have no idea what caused it or what the hell it was.
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yasherkoach - Posts: 1306
- Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm
what type of filter system you have, that is, the gph in the tank?
I jave 2 200gph on a 55 gallon. More filters the better. Never enough of filtering in my book.
sometimes the water column can get cloudy like or fuzzy if too much nutrients are in the water from a water change (water plants put nutrients big time in our water supply to help us humans out) or sometimes if you are overfeeding, the food piles up creating gook that is stirried up into the water column by fish or invertebrates.
you're a pretty experiencied hobbyist - from reading all your posts over the last few months - and I am sure you will figure it out. It may just be a passing thing.
Like Tmer, it is unnoticiable in the video. But what the camcorder is not catching is probably the detail whereas your human eye can see it besides you know your tank well from day to day goings on.
I wouldn't put any chemicals in it. I used to get white fuzz all over the driftwood right after a watch change. No loonger do I have this problem because the tank builds up enough immunity against the added nutrients to rhe tank via the water change (new water).
So try to figure when you get this fuzzy white stuff, when it most likely happens, or what do you think that may have spurred it on, and go from there
but again, your tank looks fine from mytube
I jave 2 200gph on a 55 gallon. More filters the better. Never enough of filtering in my book.
sometimes the water column can get cloudy like or fuzzy if too much nutrients are in the water from a water change (water plants put nutrients big time in our water supply to help us humans out) or sometimes if you are overfeeding, the food piles up creating gook that is stirried up into the water column by fish or invertebrates.
you're a pretty experiencied hobbyist - from reading all your posts over the last few months - and I am sure you will figure it out. It may just be a passing thing.
Like Tmer, it is unnoticiable in the video. But what the camcorder is not catching is probably the detail whereas your human eye can see it besides you know your tank well from day to day goings on.
I wouldn't put any chemicals in it. I used to get white fuzz all over the driftwood right after a watch change. No loonger do I have this problem because the tank builds up enough immunity against the added nutrients to rhe tank via the water change (new water).
So try to figure when you get this fuzzy white stuff, when it most likely happens, or what do you think that may have spurred it on, and go from there
but again, your tank looks fine from mytube