About Christy Expertise I can answer some questions regarding freshwater fish ranging from their care to diagnosing common diseases or problems with the fish. I can also answer questions regarding the care and maintenance of an aquarium. I haven't had much luck with live plants, so can't help in that area very much. Not real good with explaining salt water or brackish set ups too well either. Also regarding goldfish, I have some comets, and have a little experience with them but mostly just general info on them. I AM NOT THAT FAMILIAR WITH ANY OF THE FANCY VARIETIES OF GOLDFISH. YOU MIGHT BE BETTER DIRECTING THOSE QUERIES TO AN EXPERT MORE FAMILIAR WITH THEM. If I can't answer or don't know something, I'll let you know, so don't be upset if I reject your question, I'll always explain why. I would just rather not answer then give an answer I'm not confident about.
Experience All personal, first hand, general fishkeeping experience. I've had fresh water aquariums now for about 7 years. I've had tropical/community fish tanks, African cichlids, South American cichlids, brackish water puffer fish, and a lot of other varieties in between.
Education/Credentials None, all personal experience
I have a small 15 gallon tank I want to make into a plant/ light fish aquarium. I
started this tank about a week ago and now I have this cotton ball thing growing.
It's not from food I only have one betta and I don't over feed it. The white fuzz
started two days ago. When I started the tank I did all the starter agents you put in
the water. I used chlorine remover & cycle by seachem and gave the plants a COz
fizzing drop in tablet few days after I stated the tank. (I've never used one of those
drop ins before thought it might be good for a smaller tank.)
That's al the history I can give you... not much has happened. None of my fish
books have this in it and I can't find any website that talk about cotton thing that's
not related to over feeding. (Which is a big DUAH BTW!)
What do you think?
Answer Hi Joseph
It's most likely just mold growing on something that's decaying there. Either there was a piece of food there you didn't see, or maybe it came in on the plants since they're fairly new, or maybe even a piece of the plant that's rotting. Just vacuum it out with your gravel vacuum and I wouldn't worry about it. If it was something that would affect the fish, it'd be growing on them.
FYI though....Save your money, and return the Cycle, it's junk like all the other products out there that claim to be "bacteria in a bottle". The only one that was any good, was Bio Spira, but they don't make it anymore. Since you have a fish in the tank, I would probably go with some Prime by Seachem which is a dechlorinator, but converts ammonia and nitrites to a non-toxic form without removing them, so the tank can still cycle. It dissipates after 24 hours though, so needs to be added daily to the tank.
Or, another option, since it's a betta and will most likely do fine in a smaller container for a time, move him to at least a gallon container, do 50% water changes on that every few days. Then, do a fishless cycle on the 15 gallon tank. Just drop in a frozen cocktail shrimp or two to get the ammonia started which will start the beneficial bacteria growing.
Good luck with your new tank. Looks good from what I could see in the photo!
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