White 'fuzz' on old food...

[ishar]

Well I have searched the net and could not find any answers, so I will bother you all here for yet more answers .

I notice that whenever I have old food in my tank (old as in even a few hours) if it is not eaten it gets covered in this white fuzz looking stuff and I wondered what it is, and if it is hazardous to my fish...

 

[d3sc3n7]

Thats a new one to me...before I read the whole thing, I was wondering if you ever cleaned off your substrate!

 

[Lotus]

It's most likely bacteria colonizing the food. It's also a sign you're feeding too much. If there's still food in there an hour or more after feeding, it's time to cut back.

 

[ishar]

it is spirulina discs that are there after a while. The shrimp eat them slowly, so I feed partial discs every other day.

 

[Lotus]

If they're not on it right away, they're not that interested in it. Maybe cut down to 1/4 disc. My Amanos always seem to prefer meaty foods.

 

[ishar]

hm. Ok. They do eat it it just takes a day or two. I will cut it down to a quarter than.

 

[Lotus]

No uneaten foods should be in the tank that long. I'd stop feeding those completely. They're most likely eating flake that drops down. Or, you could cut down on flake food and see if the shrimp eat the wafers faster.

Overfeeding is one of the worst things you can do to your fish.

 

[ishar]

yeah I know...

I bought these discs to feed my guppies, but they don't even touch them, and I found the shrimp eat them, just slowly. Is there any drawbacks of overfeeding other than the amo and trite that are produced?

 

[Lotus]

Feeding your fish too much over the long term causes poor health, the same way that obesity in humans causes poor health. The usual problem fish get is with their livers.

Of course, if the food is rotting in the tank, then it's like feeding moldy food, not a good thing.