AboutChris Robbins Expertise I have 25+ years of personal experience as a pet
store employee and manager in the family pet store
business. The main part of our business was
Freshwater Fish. I can answer questions on; Fish care, diseases,
parasites and fish identification, feeding your
fish, breeding and sexing your fish, setting up
your aquarium, cleaning your aquarium, and
"what`s this weird stuff in my tank/on my
fish" questions. I am not an African Cichlid expert, Plant expert or Brackish Expert. No Pond or Saltwater Questions Please.
Experience I worked in and managed my family's fish and pet and fish store for 26 years and maintained the 35 aquariums. My experience also has included occasional in-home consultation and aquarium maintenance for my clients.
Expert: Chris Robbins Date: 4/4/2008 Subject: foreign substance on gravel
Question Tank set-up: one year
10 gallons
Some kind of barbs
Had 6, now 4
Under gravel and Bio Bag
not sure
2-3 months
2-3 gallons
My tank has been doing great this year...I have it in my office at an elementary school. I have had a tank for 10 years now and have never seen this. I have a whitish, translucent material that has grown on the bottom of the tank and on some of the artificial plants. I had several fish die of possibly ick. They had white spots on their body. What can this be?
Answer Hi Neena;
It could be a slime-mold if it's smooth and gel-like. They grow very fast and feed on waste and excess food. All tanks need a 25% water change once a week, every week. Your tank probably has a lot of accumulated dissolved waste in the water and in the gravel so the slime-mold just really likes it. Start doing changes weekly and vacuum the gravel at the same time. If the whitish stuff is kind of fuzzy, it is excess waste infected by fungus. It needs to be removed right away.
The accumulated waste would explain the sickness too. When there is waste build-up in the tank, your fish won't have strong immune systems. Doing the weekly changes will boost the immunity and help them feel better in the long run. If the spots look like salt-specks, I suspect a parasite called "ick" or "ich". Your fish store should have a remedy for it.
