Fungus in aquarium

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NowherMan6

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I think this started because of excess fish food and me not payign attention to detail. yesterday I noticed that there were a few pieces of fish food sitting on the bottom of my tank in between a few rocks that had this white mold/ fungus growing on it. I immediately took them out. Then I noticed the same white moldy/ fungus stuff was growing on one of my anubias plants. When I took the plant out to clean it off, i noticed it had eaten away at the rhizome - all of the leaves fell off, and the rhizome pretty much melted off. I removed all of the soft parts of the plant, leaving only the unaffected leaves.

My question is - where do I go from here? None of the fish have it on them, but it must be stressing them out. I know to cut back feedings, and I'm going to do a vac as soon as I get home today. Is there anythign else I can do to treat the tank to kill the stuff? I'm going to dose melafix for the fish, but what can I do to kill any spores etc. that i can't see? Thanks

man, this is a real bonehead move on my part, I should know better than that... :rant:
 
Keeping the tank clean will be better than adding any medication. If it gets out of hand, some treatment might be needed, but try controlling it manually first.
 
OK, fair enough. I'm just worried because this stuff made half of my anubias coffeefolia disintegrate, and there's gotta be spores around that i can't see. Thanks OG
 
Most likely, the anubias suffered because it was closed off from water circulation--anubas get their nutrients from the water colun, and being sealed up in either a fungal growth, or gravel, can kill it.
 
I have the same problem in my 10g (fluorite substrate) but not in my other tanks. And I freaked out a little at first too. The tank only has two apistos, so no matter how little I feed there is always a little uneaten food that grows fungus. I've come to the conclusion that aside from the unsightlyness (not sure if thats a word) it has no ill effects. I've seen the fish pick at it, get it in thier mouths and even breath particles of it with not problems.

DO NOT USE MEDS!!! The meds will certainly stress your fish far more than some fungus.First, there are always spores and fungus in your tank. It's part of the system, and needs to be there to break down wastes and uneaten food. Second, "fungus" is a generic term. The species of fungus that you see breaking down food are completely different from the fungus that attacks fish. It would be like expecting a lion to eat birdseed. It just won't happen.
 
Thanks Mooman, that makes me feel a little better. My tank only has a pair of l. brevis in it, so it looks like I'll be in the same situation. The fungus was growing on food in an area of rockwork and plants that the fish never really venture into, so I'm not all that concerned about it attacking them.

What really freaks me out is what it's done to my plants. I had to throw out the remaining piece of my anubias coffeefolia yesterday because the remaining piece of rhizome with leaves was covered with the stuff and basically turned to mush when i came home from work yesterday, which was less than 24 hours after I cleaned it off and saw that that piece of rhizome was sturdy. I'll be on vacation at the end of this week and I won't be able to tend to the tank while I'm gone for 4 days - I don't want to come home to a tank filled with fungus covered plants.
 
Whacha feedin em? I use the sinking granuales and kind of put the pinch under water so it sinks right away, that way the food stays right up front, and they always know where it is. Not sure about the plant problem. Anyway, I'm sure once they start breeding, the fry will become one heck of a cleanup crew.
 
New Life Spectrum cichlid formula. I do the same technique, but what i think happened was, a few floaters popped up and then got knocked down by the filter output and wedged into some crevices in the rocks.

Speaking of fry, what do you do with yours - I'm still trying to figure out what to do once mine breed.
 
haven't had that problem yet (my largest is only about 1.5inches). The two lfs in my area sell the adults for 15-20 dollars, so i figure a one inch fry should be worth at least a couple dollars in store credit. I will probably only keep two or three breeding pairs and yank the fry when they get so big that they are being harrased. My local fish club operates a classified web site that gets a fair amount of traffic as well. Third option is a local bi-yearly auction. If none of the above is an option then wait until you have a few pairs to get rid of and then put an add in the paper, or put up flyers at a local college (near the bio dept. if possible, include a paragraph on how easy they are to keep and bio students and profs will have your phone ringing off the hook).
 
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