Mold in fish tank?

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PaiLum92

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 18, 2010
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Fort Collins
(Not sure if this goes here or not??)

I recently bought a cool rock from my lfs for my tank, and about 4-5 days later i noticed a white mold like substance growing on it, and on the sand around it. i removed the rock gently as to not stir the spores, and tried syphining the sand out, but it was to heavy, so i tried to remove it with my net. Its not all gone from the tank, im noticing it in other places.

Its not Algea, its white and coudly looking. Its not ick/ich, its not on the fish, its on the sand/substrate.

Any idea what this is and how to remove it without completely removing all of the water and sand and putting in new, uncontaminated water/sand? Could this be harmful to my fish?

I have seen no changes in behavior, except that hes gotten a bit more social, swimming in the open when i enter the room..

Any Ideas? Thanks..
 
Sorry, no pics right now, crappy cam will only get reflections, freshwater. The water is perfect quality as well.
 
Does it grow on suction cups too?
 
Was the rock from a tank? You should have cleaned it before putting it in your tank. If the fish are acting normally I wouldn't panic too much, but would still be inclined to clean as much of it out as possible and do a 20-30% water change. And keep an eye on the fish for any signs of distress.
 
Havent seen any on there yet, so far only on that rock i removed and the sand, theres a little stuff on my fake plants, but thats normal for those, at least for me it is.

I have a 10g, so i can put him in there for a couple days till i get it all cleaned out, problem is i only have 1 bag of sand (supposed to be for a 20g tank) left over, that surely wont be enough for a 72g..

Any chemicals that will kill off any fungus/molds growing, but wont harm him?

(Also, if this matters, the lfs gave me a little bag with some blue liquid in it, forgot what the guy called it, but he said it was excelent for helping repair fins and such, might this have sprouted the mold? It started with a 'M', wasnt melafix or melatonin..)
 
Sounds like "malachite green", even though its blue - that wouldn't cause any sort of growth like that, but will stain all the rocks and silicone in your tank a pretty shade of blue!
 
ok, so should it just die off, or should i save up and buy more sand/driftwood and completely clean the tank of everything and hope it never happens again?
 
I think what im going to do is just clean the entire tank out. I found more of it again, so i think the only way to get rid of it is to remove all water and all sand, and clean everything else very deeply.

(Also, what kind of sand would be ok to add to an aquarium? My Lfs only carries sand with little rocks in it, not pure sand. I want pure sand for my Bichir, so i dont have to worry about him eating a rock when i feed him smaller stuff like blood worms.. Would maybe playbox sand work?)
 
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