white dots in fish tank

by **mwrzos** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:25 pm

I have a 20 gal. freshwater tank. Recently, i've noticed what looks like microscopic dots at the surface. The dots seem to be attracted to light because in the morning before the lights come on , there is no dots at the surface. After the lights come on the dots are like a cloud at the surface. Sometimes they coagulate and drop to the bottom in little balls. The fish seem healthy, does anyone have any ideas as to what the dots are and how to eliminate them?

by **mro2you2** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:33 pm

young stage of ick????

by **yasherkoach** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:02 pm

ick would be on the fish itself...so not ick

probably a form of mineral deposits (too much calcium caused by too much lighting) or a form of algae...if it is algae, algae need to be feeding off something like phosphate (you can do a phostate water test, it may be too much of this; if this is the case, a good 50% water change will help).

But most likely the dots are calcium deposits caused by too much lighting. So what type of lighting does your tank have? Do you have live plants? All in all, don't be too bothered by the dots, they are not harmful whatsoever to your fish, just unsightly.

Hope this helps

by **Tmercier834747** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:07 pm

I'm having a lot of difficulty imagining a clear picture of what you're looking at. Is your tank well covered? Honestly it just sounds like dust or some sort of surface gas transfer or something. Unless you're actually introducing something to the tank it doesn't really sound like anything harmful. When the surface of the water is completely still do you still notice your ''white dots'' -- say after turning filters/aeration/etc off for several minutes?

by **yasherkoach** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:11 pm

true tmer, it could be excessive gas exchange at the surface causing the "white dots". It may be just an illusion of too much white "suds" at the surface. Nothing wrong with this. Actually, the more gas exchange at the surface, the better...gas exchange (surface agitation) equals plentiful oxygenation.

Nothing ever wrong with too much oxygenation especially if you have live plants for the plants will absorb any excess oxygen at night.

But I agree with Tmer, possibly a little more detail about the tank.

by **mwrzos** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:30 pm

i have a cover over the tank and i do have live plants. The dots seem to be attracted to light. Try to imagine a tank with baby brine shrimp in it, and when the light comes on they all swarm to the light. This is what i have going on, i don't think its any kind of gas transfer. When you aggitate the dots they cluster together and start to fall through the water, then my rams eat them. I just did a 75% water change. We'll see what happens. Thanks for your ideas

by **mro2you2** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:44 pm

so its alive.

by **mro2you2** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:45 pm

shrimp like light. do you have any shrimp of any sort?

by **yasherkoach** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 10:53 pm

may be either snails eggs (they are swarming would be impossible...so I guess we can elimnate this)...so you have a form of bacteria growing in your water column, probably due to overfeeding or an excess of nutrients in the water column. But your rams get free food...again, nothing beats nature taking care of its own balance.

it don't sound too bad...Rams get a free feeding and you get to watch another form of life breeding in your tank...nature, gotta love it

Happy fishing!

by **Peterkarig3210** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:11 pm

Take some and check it under a microscope or at least a magnifying glass. I'm interested in what these things look like.

white dots in fish tank

10 posts