White Algae?

[chgogoodgirl]

"I have a 7.9 gallon Fluval Ebi Nano, freshwater tank. It is fairly new (2 months) but it has completely cycled. It is a well planted tank (7-8 mid light plants of varying heights.)

I have:
1 male crowntail betta
1 amano shrimp
1 adult mystery snail
3 baby mystery snails (Thanks to the place I got my last couple plants)
8 fairly small red cherry shrimp

My water levels are:
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
GH -75
KL - 80
KH - 53.7
PH - 7.0
chlorine - 0
temp. - 78

In other words, as far as I know, the levels seem to be right where they should be.

All that being said... what the heck is this white fuzzy/cloud like stuff growing in my tank?

I only feed once a day as much as they can eat in 3 or 4 minutes.
I do about 20% water change once a week, and lightly vacuum the substrate during that time to remove any visible waste.
The light is on for about 13 hours a day.

The fish don't seem to be bothered by it and the shrimp hangs around it so I thought maybe it's some kind of algae. It's not all over everything only the floating betta log and the fake mangrove root decoration.

I've searched online and can really only find a lot of similar questions but no real answers, so any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[KcMopar]

I have never seen this in a maintained tank, this is usually due to over feeding and lack of cleaning. It appears to be mold but its hard to say by the pics. Just a suggestion, not a for sure answer to your problem. You might want to do a really good vacuum and see what happens and reduce the feeding to two small feedings a day instead of one larger feeding. Also note: either you tank has not cycled or your way of testing the water is inaccurate. A cycled tank will always have a nitrate reading, nitrate is what ammonia and nitrite turn into so you have to have nitrate. Try two small meals and a better vac job and you should be on your way to getting rid of it.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Looks like some sort of fungal growth. That it is only on the two items mentioned suggests that a quick fix is to remove them. Should these things be very important to you a thorough cleaning while they are out of the tank can be tried. Sorta seems that these two items have some organic content that the fungus is feeding on.

By the way, what is a betta log?

 

[exhumed07]

it's mold, I had a similar problem when i started my 55. I was overfeeding and had alot of nutriants in the water and it was growing on my driftwood, cut back on feeding did water changes and took out the wood and scrubbed it with steel wool and poured boiling water over it to kill any spores. have never had a problem with it since.