# Edit: White Mold/fungus On My Driftwood !



## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

I bought treated driftwood about a year ago and a couple days ago it looks like fungus grew on it...idk what to do should I scrub it ?



Now it looks like its gray ?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

Probably more of an eye sore than anything, you could take it out and clean it off tho.


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

oh ok, would it affect the water parameters ?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

If it's the typical slimy white stuff that sometimes starts growing on driftwood, it's nothing to worry about.


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

yea, it looks almost like cotton


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## MPG (Mar 14, 2010)

Yeah I've had that once. It'll go away on its own.


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

thanks for the input guys I was gettin a little worried lol


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## fury (Nov 30, 2003)

take it out and boil it in water . if you have a pot for it


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

I have the same stuff grow on my wood before it wont harm you fish and it is just ugly. Should change your parameters either.


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## BuckeyeGuy777 (Oct 30, 2010)

THE BLACK PIRANHA said:


> I have the same stuff grow on my wood before it wont harm you fish and it is just ugly. *Shouldn't* change your parameters either.


he means


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

you should be fine. just give it time and it will go away


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## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

i had it on a majority of my driftwood algae eaters took care of most of it but i did take it out and wipe it down...........most of it will go away.....My tank being cycled I just left the lights on and a lil algae grew on it made it look like moss.....kinda cool looking.....but no worries nothing to be worried about


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

edit: added a picture in the first post, looks like the fungus is gray ?


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## HGI (Oct 27, 2009)

That photo looks like _Brush/Red Algae (Black-brush algae)_, google it.

Aside from mold and what not on driftwood it's normal. My piece of drift took about 6 month to finally stop snot-ing, I'd just whip it off in the tank and python it out while doing a water change.


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

Black brush algae


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

Lifer374 said:


> Black brush algae


Ohhhh, not harmful right ?


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

Not harmful as long as it isn't left unchecked and go COMPLETELY crazy. Even with a large case of it, I don't believe there are any harmful effects on piranhas. 
I don't know what your stocking but chinese algae eaters will eat it. I was actually able to keep them with my rhom but after a while he did eat them. Took him about 4 or 5 months to get all of the half dozen I put in there. For a while I thought I'd actually found a species of fish that I'd be able to co-hab with him...
Took him some time, but he proved me wrong. 
http://www.aquariumslife.com/algae-control/brushalga/


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

give it time, it will go away


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

Idk if it's gonna go away...I cut my lighting time too, looks like it's spreading all over the wood


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## Sylar_92 (Dec 15, 2010)

balluupnetme said:


> Idk if it's gonna go away...I cut my lighting time too, looks like it's spreading all over the wood


I had that in my arowana tank before last year, It grew in the groves of the drift wood and started white but slowly turned black. The cause of the fungus was due to the left over algea disks my royal pleco did'nt finish. I took the peice of wood out and placed it into a pot of boiling water for 20mins ( the wood was completly sumerged ). After the 20 minutes of boilng the drift wood I let it dry out in the sun for 2 days and placed it back into my tank. To this day I have never seen the fungus growth ever again. You can try this but if the fungus growth occurs again you might want to think about upgrading your filter or just buy new filter media. Good luck.


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

I have anubias barteri that grew on em, I don't want to detach the plants...or I'll just take em off and boil the wood

I also have an algae outbreak on my sand...idk what's causing it...


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## HGI (Oct 27, 2009)

Ok give us a full shot of your tank (the measurements from the lights to the top of your sand), and close ups of the algae that's growing in there..

We need to find out what type of algae are actually growing in your tank in order to be able to tackle it.

Ph?
Alkaline?
Nitrates?

From what I can guess right now is your tank is a low tech planted tank, you have real plants, low to mid lights, no c02, no ferts.

How many hours a day are your lights on for? How many Watts bulbs you using?

I'm going to guess the reason you have this Brush algae is because your oxygen level is really high, though this is with a rough guess.


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## Sylar_92 (Dec 15, 2010)

oh i see, I also have a lower budget planted tank. My tank is equiped with silica sand drift wood and hornwort which I just leave floating on the srface which looks surprisingly pretty nice. I never ran into this problem before with this tank then again I sorta of a clean freak when it comes to my water conditions and paramiters.


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

HGI said:


> Ok give us a full shot of your tank (the measurements from the lights to the top of your sand), and close ups of the algae that's growing in there..
> 
> We need to find out what type of algae are actually growing in your tank in order to be able to tackle it.
> 
> ...


Ph 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nittrites 0
Nitrates 20-40

Rena xp4 filter, tank temp at around 82 degrees
Low tech planted with 4 anubias berteri
2 pieces of driftwood, 1 plant on 1 and 3 plants on the other
4" rhombeus
Substrate is sand
110 gallon tank, 60"x18"x24"
Lighting is a power compact lights 48" 144 watts, 1 actinic bulb and 1 daylight bulb
Lights are on for about 7-8 hours daily








Sorry for the horrible photos, I took em with my iphone


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## HGI (Oct 27, 2009)

Short Dumbed Down Answer:

To much Lights and Nutrients and not enough Plants.

Long Explained Answer:

What we see is a Nutrient imbalance, both plants and algae need the same things to grow,(light, nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium) and right now in your tank there's to much nutrients for the plants to absorb leaving plenty for algae to thrive off.

Lights are lights, plants require red and blue lights, and you have a very good light set up, useing both actinic(mostly blue) and daylight, 2x72Watt(144w) bulbs are a great amount for low tech planted as well.

Ammonia(Ammo) + Nitrates(NO3) = Nitrogen(N) + Phosphate(P): Plants love this stuff and so dose algae and it's a consent battle between Plants Vrs Algae for the Nitrogen(N) and Phosphates(P). Plants can consume these nutrients faster than algae though in you case your plants can only consume so much of it leaving the rest to the algae to feed off. You can reduce this by doing more water changes, you only have one fish in that tank so your NO3 shouldn't be over 20ppm and your P should be less than 0.05ppm. On a side note, do you have any Carbon or pH buffers in your filter? Carbon and pH buffers can add P to your tank.

Potassium(K): Potassium(K) plays a huge roll with plants in a tank, it's not linked to algae so to much of it wont feed algae though plants can only consume so much nutrients at a given time and you'd be flushing your money down the drain doing during water changes if you over dose K. Read this http://aquabotanic.blogspot.com/2008/06/potassium-in-planted-tank.html

I don't run plants so if I ever get algae I just flick the lights off for the day and call it a win







Though you can't really do that, so first thing I would do is set the lights to 4hours on in the morning, 2-4hours off at noon, 4hours on for the evenings, then 12-14hours off during the night. I've heard people say that algae doesn't like the break of lights during the day like this and that the plants don't care so it wouldn't hurt to try. 2ndly get your NO3 under 20, around 10 at the most would be an ideal area, and grab a Phosphate test kit, it'll come in handy for planted tanks. Last get your hands on some Potassium(K) if you get raw powder and mix it yourself all the better and will be cheaper in the long run though commercial liquid frets also contain (K) but in a small amounts and will cost you more in the long run. You'll be able to find raw Potassium(K) at hydroponic stores, and commercial liquids at your fish stores.

Best of luck though, you have a really nice tank so don't give up.


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

Thanks for the advice









I think I'm gonna get more plants...idk if I should get anubias...what would u suggest ?


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

Idk y my nitrates r high...I only feed once or twice a week...


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