# My tank is slowly driving me insane!



## eddie79 (Apr 15, 2011)

Here is my tank breakdown:
55 gallon, fluval filter(can't remember model but big enough for my tank), two air stones, hood lights are Aqua-Glo (ideal for freshwater and planted aquariums), and a heater (set at 74 degrees).

All tests are now perfect or very near perfect--of course this was not the case while cycling!

My problem is that I have this terrible, white, goo all over everything. If I don't disturb the tank, or stand far away, it looks pristine and beautiful. But get close or begin vacuuming and the nasty stuff is very visible. IT closely resembles when a fish dies and you leave it in the tank, it turns to a gelatinous goo. It grows on everything. It grew on live plants, so I took them out and replaces them with fake log/plants. It grew on those. It grows on the tank walls, but not as much. It grows on tubing, the gravel, the filter suction tube...everything. I have done water changes, I have replaced and cleaned all filtering, I have vacuumed--when I do white pieces of this stuff are everywhere, but soon everything settles and everything looks ok. Some fish die very quickly, while others survive. For example, I bought 8 red tail platys and after 6 or 7 days 3 died and the rest are still alive and, from what I can tell, are doing well.

Sorry for this long message. If there is more you need to know I will get the information. If anyone can help I would gladly appreciate it!


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

Pictures would help. It may be some form of bacteria or fungus. hard to tell. How long has the tank been running (could be bacteria colonies)? What is your feeding like (i notice sometimes in low flow tanks white stuff builds up on old food laying around)? What were your acclimation procedures for the fish? What are the parameters for the tank (sometimes its easier for people to know the numbers especially when it comes to fish deaths)? Did you rinse off all the equipment, substrate, rocks etc? Still have fish in there? Sorry for the questions.. just some things to help figure it out. 

You could try turning the lights of for about 2-3 days and see if it starts to disappear. With more info or pics, we'll be able to help you out better.


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## eddie79 (Apr 15, 2011)

phys said:


> Pictures would help. It may be some form of bacteria or fungus. hard to tell. How long has the tank been running (could be bacteria colonies)? What is your feeding like (i notice sometimes in low flow tanks white stuff builds up on old food laying around)? What were your acclimation procedures for the fish? What are the parameters for the tank (sometimes its easier for people to know the numbers especially when it comes to fish deaths)? Did you rinse off all the equipment, substrate, rocks etc? Still have fish in there? Sorry for the questions.. just some things to help figure it out.
> 
> You could try turning the lights of for about 2-3 days and see if it starts to disappear. With more info or pics, we'll be able to help you out better.


I will take some pics, however, since taking out all the decorations it is not as pronounced. the tank has been running for over a year. It was a beautiful tank until I planted it using live plants; that's when things went down hill. I feed twice a day, being watchful of what the fish will consume in 5 minutes.
I acclimate my fish by floating the bags for 15-20 minutes, then adding 1 cup of tank water and let them float for 10 minutes. I also add "stress coat" to the bag at his time. After this I net out the fish and add to the tank. I vacuum the tank depending on the conditions of the gravel. I also do my water changes at this time. Since the only thing living in the tank, I could turn the lights off for a couple of days and see what happens. 

Lastly what do you mean by the tank parameters? The measurements of the sides? Also, I will try to get a couple pics of the junk.

Thanks, Eddie


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## pringleringel (Apr 3, 2011)

Tank parameters= Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, PH, KH etc.

Vacuuming based on conditions of the gravel leaves a lot of room for speculation. I vacuum my gravel and do water changes 2 times a week, I don't like seeing poop in my tank. Some people only vacuum 1 time every 2 weeks. Tanks generally need a weekly partial water change.

I'm no expert so I have no idea what you have growing in there but it sounds like you might be over feeding if you let your fish eat for 5 minutes and not vacuuming or doing frequent enough water changes resulting in funky water parameters...


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

pringleringel is correct. You should try feeding less, whatever can be consumed in one minute may be more helpful. If you stop feeding for 2-3 days, does that help the weird stuff go away? If you havent tried that, you could try it to see what happens. Your fish will be ok without food for a few days. 

It may not be pronounced as much because its not showing as much bc there's not as much stuff to show up on. Its strange the plants started everything downhill. Maybe they had something on them when you brought them in and that's this stuff you're seeing. 

You should try doing a slightly slower acclimation. Here's one method: float the bag for 15-20 min to get the temperatures equalized. Then, pour some of the water out of the bag and replace it with your tank water. Do about 1/4 of a cup if you have about 2 cups in the bag, more if you have more water in the bag. Do this about 4 or more times over the course of another 20 min. Then let it sit for another 10 min and then release by submerging the bag with your hand over the opening to keep it open (lspread your hand wide inside the bag) and let the fish swim out at its leisure. The bag may want to stick together inside so that's why you keep your hand over it. If the fish doesnt want to swim out, move the bag a bit to let it go out. This reduces the stress of the fish quite a bit i've noticed. I've done this with all my fish (except at the beginning until i learned about it) and havent lost a single fish due to acclimation. Its a lot longer method but could be a lot better. Just something to try. 

How much water do you change and are you sure the parameters are the same between the new water and old (minus the bad stuff like nitrates of course) and are you using water conditioner to help with new ammonia or chlorine? Most people do between a 10-50% water change with about 25% being the average.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

NEVER release the water that comes in the bag when you buy fish from your lfs into your tank. A poor practice. All you do is invite whatever may have been wrong with that tank into yours. Continue to net them out of the bag. Drip accilimation is a much better method and doesn't require you to float the bag. But...some acclimation is much better than none at all.

Just do a good cleaning of the tank and a decent water change, 35-50% for the next couple of weeks and it should go away. Stop feeding for 4-5 days. When you say goo, do you mean slimy stuff?

Drip acclimation is the safest and best method to get your fish ready for your tank. It is extremely important when adding ph sensitive fish and can increase the chances of the fish living. Fish dying a few days from the store is fairly common.

http://www.aquariumforum.com/f2/drip-acclimating-fish-11327.html


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## eddie79 (Apr 15, 2011)

GH 0
KH 0
PH 6.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0.25


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## squishy (Apr 13, 2011)

I agree with the above posts that the best thing to do at this time is reduce feedings and keep the tank lights off. Also try n block any direct natural sunlight hitting the tank. I think weekly gravel vaccumings and 25% water changes would help drastically. Try It more frequently in the beginning and see it it helps


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

jrman.. i've heard people say you shouldnt mix tank waters, but nobody ever says why. Explain?
Also, i left out saying, i do not put the bags water back into the tank. That goes down the drain. but lets wait to see what jrman has to say before going further.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I said it in my post. Would you my tank water if you weren't sure what was in it? How healthy it was? Not too tough to realize the logic. Your method still has water from the bag getting into the tank.


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

sounds sane but still incomplete. I dont see how a small amount of water that the fish was in in the first place can infect the tank. I would see things being in the water as also being on/in the fish in some way. I think the best thing to do is to put it in the hospital tank. But as you say, its safer not to add the water into your tank for whatever reason things could go wrong.. safer than sorry.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

phys said:


> sounds sane but still incomplete. I dont see how a small amount of water that the fish was in in the first place can infect the tank. I would see things being in the water as also being on/in the fish in some way. I think the best thing to do is to put it in the hospital tank. But as you say, its safer not to add the water into your tank for whatever reason things could go wrong.. safer than sorry.


There is nothing incomplete in the method. Small amount of water? Can you see bacteria? Does it really take a lot? Whether it is main tank, qt, pond, or other, a drip acclimation necessity doesn't change. What matters is the environment they are coming from is probably not the same they are going to.


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

that's why i'm asking....


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

phys said:


> sounds sane but still incomplete. I dont see how a small amount of water that the fish was in in the first place can infect the tank. I would see things being in the water as also being on/in the fish in some way. I think the best thing to do is to put it in the hospital tank. But as you say, its safer not to add the water into your tank for whatever reason things could go wrong.. safer than sorry.


Some parasites like ich have a free swimming stage so the fish might not be infected yet but the water is. The problem is that it only takes one free swimming parasite to cause an infestation. Also there are algae and bacteria in the water which are not on the fish, even if it's only a small amount that you cant see a change in environment can cause them to thrive. Most of the time the risk is small but it's still better to avoid adding water from the fish store if possible. However if it works for you and you get your fish from a place you trust with healthy tanks you might feel the risk is small enough to carry on that way.


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