Is this mold how did this happen?

[rubbersandal]

It's a freshly setup tank but after a week all this mold/fungus starts to invade. No it dosent come out from the bogwoods or gravel cos I have them conditioned with hot water scrubbed and washed for weeks before everything.

The mold/fungus on the surface of water appeared to be like a strand kind substance as you can see on the pic, another kind appeared to be patches of cotton kind covered all over the bogwoods, gravel and the tank, quite an awful sight. Has anyone experienced this before?

Does anyone know how did this happen.

http://s1137.photobucket.com/albums/n503/rubbersandal/

[Gatekeeper]

Looks like fungus on the driftwood. A pleco or oto will make short work of that, and this is pretty common.

Not sure about the stingy stuff on the water. Creepy looking.

[PlantedRich]

It is not uncommon on new tank with wood. The hot water does not kill any spores left on the wood and once the right conditions are met, they grow. On the bright side, it also doesn't usually last long before the right situation for them to grow will change. Rather than take extreme measures to change it, I would simply look at it as a lesson and next time disinfect all items before use.

If you do want to change it quickly, I would take the wood out and do a bleach water soak. Nature has many wonderful things that we just don't like to look at in our tanks.

[DarkCobra]

Could be brown diatom algae, hard to tell from the picture. Boiling driftwood is a more effective at killing spores. But both diatoms and fungus normally subside naturally. Gatekeeper's suggestions will clean it up faster if you're in a hurry.

The stringy stuff on the water appears to be roots from frogbit or similar floating plant.

[rubbersandal]

Originally Posted by DarkCobra

Could be brown diatom algae, hard to tell from the picture. Boiling driftwood is a more effective at killing spores. But both diatoms and fungus normally subside naturally. Gatekeeper's suggestions will clean it up faster if you're in a hurry.

The stringy stuff on the water appears to be roots from frogbit or similar floating plant.

Hi so even if you continously soak it in boiling water that dosent promise such outcome will happened again rite? It just depends on luck?
I got it soaked in hot water till sign of cracks on bogwoods

Nope not frogbits as I dont have any plants.

Originally Posted by PlantedRich

It is not uncommon on new tank with wood. The hot water does not kill any spores left on the wood and once the right conditions are met, they grow. On the bright side, it also doesn't usually last long before the right situation for them to grow will change. Rather than take extreme measures to change it, I would simply look at it as a lesson and next time disinfect all items before use.

If you do want to change it quickly, I would take the wood out and do a bleach water soak. Nature has many wonderful things that we just don't like to look at in our tanks.

Hi disinfect meaning soak in bleach? hmm if thats the case Im more worried the bleach might trapped inside the woods actually.

[Jules]

First, just to reiterate what the posters above me said - it's perfectly natural/safe to just let the wood molder along until the fungus has run its course.

However, if you don't want to wait things out (I rarely do), boiling water won't kill the spores but 30 min in a pressure cooker will annihilate them (if you have a pressure cooker, and assuming the drift wood will fit).

If you can't use a pressure cooker a soak in 10% bleach will also kill spores, and afterward just leave the drift wood out in the sun to dry until it's nice and crispy with no bleach smell (the bleach will all evaporate, leaving no harmful residue). You can also rinse the bleach out using long soaks in fresh water, but I find the baking-in-the-sun method much faster.

With some woods (e.g., mopani) the fungus occurs because the wood is leaching yummy sap. If your fungus is due to sap, bleach isn't going to work (it will kill your current fungus, but another fungus will just come along to eat the sap). In this case you'd have to wait until the sap is all gone, or stabilize it so it stops leaching. The way to stablize sap is heat (which will cause the sap to crystallize) - I use the pressure cooker for this too (fast and easy), but a long bake in a hot oven may work equally well (just watch out that you don't turn the wood into charcoal).

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi rubbersandal,

Boiling, scrubbing, sanitizing, really doesn't make a difference. The beneficial bacteria that start the fungus are in the aquarium. The bacteria that break down the organics in my aquarium are the same ones that are attacking the surface layer of the dead wood and causing the fungus.

+1 for the comments above, it is perfectly natural. I have the same thing happen whenever I add new driftwood to my tanks and I boil my new driftwood for 20 minutes and scrub with a bristle brush. I watch my ammonia (NH3), nitrites (NO2-), and nitrates (NO-3) when this happens because decaying organics can cause a spike in any or all of these. If my NH3, NO-2, or NO-3 are high I just wait; but if they are safe I add my cleaning crew of corydoras catfish, otocinclus, and Siamese Algae eaters. Typically after a few days to a week with the cleaning crew in the tank they have eaten all of the fungus.

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Seattle_Aquarist

... I add my cleaning crew of corydoras catfish, otocinclus, and Siamese Algae eaters. Typically after a few days to a week with the cleaning crew in the tank they have eaten all of the fungus.

Those cory's are adorable - are they schwartz's (sp?)?

[rubbersandal]

Thanks everyone, all of your inputs are much appreciated!
And Jules your method is innovative to me making use of pressure cooker thanks.

Back to Seattle aquarist, I reset my tank give a last scrub and soak in boiling water for a day. Just after 2 days mold starts to appear again, I'm quite assured this time as you guys were saying they don't pose any danger to water perimeter and soon will be gone.

My worry is in the process of cycle, it will take probably 3 weeks to go and thick mold will cover all over the bogwoods making the water cloudy which I noticed previously before I reset my tank.

So even after cycle with molds and cloudy water everywhere, is it still safe to introduce the 'cleaning crew'?

I wonder does a heater with 30 degree celsius helps to clear the mold.

Originally Posted by Jules

Those cory's are adorable - are they schwartz's (sp?)?

Hey Jules they are corydora sterbai if I'm not wrong.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi rubbersandal,

I know that you live in Singapore but pick up a water test kit that does ammonia (NH3), nitrites (NO2-), and nitrates (NO-3) and check your water. Sometime your LFS will do testing for you. If everything is near zero ("0") then start with just a couple of Corys and maybe an SAE. If after a week everything still reads zero ("0") then add the rest of your cleaning crew.

@Jules - rubbersandal is correct, those are juvie C. sterbai (F2?)

[rubbersandal]

Thanks but the cycle just took place so is impossible to add in cleaning crew, what I can do now is using a toothbrush to scrub off the mold.