Fungus on driftwood

[frogmanjared]

My piece of driftwood is getting a clear/whitish fungus growth. It hasn't affected the ferns or moss on the wood, so should I be concerned? Will it go away after time, or what could I do to get rid of it without putting chemicals into the tank?

[thief]

Hmm looks like this in my thread?

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ge...wood-help.html

[lauraleellbp]

It goes away on its own after a while. I did have a few leaves killed (ones that were always in direct contact with the fungus) but it didn't spread other than just on the driftwood, or do any other damage. Mine grew, went away, grew again, went away again, and now I haven't seen any in several months. When I had cherry barbs in the tank they would eat it. Didn't seem to harm them at all.

[airborne_r6]

Looking at the pictures in the other thread it reminds me of oomycetes, a type of protista that closely resembles fungi. It is commonly called water mold. It is most closely related to brown algae (kelp and other similar seaweeds) and diatoms. I am not sure if that is what it is but it sure looks like the pictures I have seen. If indeed is what it is, it's a decomposer of dead animals and algae, which could explain why it seems to go away on its own. It could be decomposing some old dead algae and goes away when the dead algae is gone.