Cichlid Fish Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

Fungus Appearing in Filters

1 reading
Jump to Latest
1.9K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  hisplaceresort1  
D
#1 ·
So my fish aren't really sick yet, but I wasn't sure where to post this so I went with here. This is my first time keeping cichlids, and it's been a number of years since I've kept fish. After finishing college and moving in with my girlfriend I wanted to get back into it since I've always loved fish. Just some background, I cycled my tank for about 4 weeks prior to adding any fish. Everything was fine for the first couple days after I added my fish, water was crystal clear and the fish loved it. They're all Mbuna. 55 Gallon tank, 21 fish for now until they sex, 3 different species. Iodotropheus sprengerae, Labidochromis caeruleus, and Metriaclima estherae. Everyone gets along for now, and everything seems great.

So after about 2 days of having the fish in the tank, I see the water start to get a little cloudy. I wasn't too worried at first, but after it didn't improve I started looking more closely at the tank. I opened the filter hoods and noticed this gray like fungus growing in them. I figured there's no way this can be good. I'll attach a picture at the bottom so everyone can see. Also, I haven't seen the fungus anywhere else in the tank. I've done 3 water changes in about the past week, taking out 25-50% of the water each time. I also cleaned out the fungus I could see in both of my filters. I'm running two. Things have gotten slightly better, and the water has cleared up a little but is still cloudy. I just retested everything this morning and here are the results:
Ammonia: .5-1ppm (I'm bad at color discrimination haha)
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm (this is actually down from when I last tested, or at least the color is less orange in my opinion)
pH: 8.0
GH: Way too high??, >215ppm (I just got the test kit in the mail the other day so now I know it's possibly too high and will work to lower)
KH: 107.4-125.3ppm (Changed when I added both a 6th and 7th drop, so not sure which, but this seems to be acceptable??)

So does anyone have any ideas on what this could be?? The fish all still seem to be doing fine, but I'm worried things will get worse. Could it be some kind of fungal infection in the filters themselves? I got the tank and equipment used, and admittedly could've done a better job making sure the filters were thoroughly cleaned, but they did get some amount of a wipe down and rinse before I started up my tank. The inserts in the filters were all new out of a bag however, they weren't already in the filters. If so, should I get new filters? And how would I go about implementing them without completely wiping out all the beneficial bacteria that I assume is already in these ones. I don't want the ammonia and nitrites to spike up even higher and kill my fish.

Thanks for any help you guys have to offer.

 
D
#3 ·
Yeah. I have no idea what this is. I'm inclined to say overfeeding and the waste getting into the filter, but I know it's not overfeeding. My fish are voracious. Doesn't matter how much I feed them, all the food is gone in less than 30 seconds flat. They rip the flakes I give them to shreds and gobble it all up. I watch them feed every time. Even with the elevated ammonia they're as active as they have always been, and they're completely comfortable by the looks of it. Aren't scared of me at all, and if I put a finger in my tank and leave it there, within 5 seconds they're nipping at it and swimming all around it trying to figure out what it is.

I think I'm going to order a canister filter, the Aquatop CF-UV400 and replace the filter that appears to have more of the fungus with it. See if that makes a difference. The other filter is an AquaClear 70 so I'm inclined to keep it and just possibly try all new media in it, but not until the canister has been up and running for a bit. I guess my biggest worry with putting in a canister is that if this is something that is infecting the filters from the water I don't want to infect a brand new canister filtration with it.
 
H
#5 ·
This may sound like a crazy idea, but unless you have another tank, you don't have a lot of options... Aquarium salt might kill it, and Pimafix might kill it. Take out and clean what you can with vinegar, and run a dose of Pimafix through your tank. Maybe not a full dose, like 50% strength... like you said, that can't be good, whatever it is, and since Pimafix kills fungus, and won't hurt your fish... what have you got to lose? just a thought... I'd keep those water changes up, more like 50% every 2 days while you're doing this, though... I'm a newbie however, so you probably should get a second opinion from a moderator on this idea, but it would ensure you clean it out of the tank/filters, etc. Good Luck!
 
F
#6 ·
are these areas with fungus above the water line , if so can you not cut the sponges so they are submersed, anything that is damp and in the air above the water line is susceptible to going moldy
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
D
#7 ·
I have seen that cob webby stuff before but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.

I was going to suggest decaying food but I see that it is mostly on the output side of the filter cartridge insert so unless that is where you are feeding your fish, I don't think that is what it is.

Is the white stuff easily wiped off the plastic parts of the filter?
 
D
#8 ·
Ok. So updates.
I added some aquarium salt, and cut off the parts of the foam insert that were above water. I plan to do a 50% water change tomorrow. I also wiped down any new growth I saw appearing on the filters. So in answer to the question, yeah, it wipes off pretty darn easily. It is mostly occurring in just this filter as well. It's a Whisper 60. The other filter, Aquaclear 70, gets a small amount of growth around it's water line but very minimal compared to the Whisper. I've also gone ahead and ordered the cf400uv to replace the whisper with anyways. I've wanted a canister, just hadn't gotten around to ordering one until this fungal growth prodded me to finally do it.
 
D
#9 ·
So I got the Aquatop CF400UV and completely ditched the filter pictures in my first post. Within less than 48hrs my tank was almost crystal clear. So while I still have no idea exactly what it was that was infecting the filter/tank it seems to be something that had completely infected the filter as a whole, or the UV sterilization is killing it off. Anyways, all problems seem to be solved as of now. Thanks for the help and tips from those who gave it!
 
H
#10 ·
that's good to know... but I had a thought... what if the source of that mold had nothing to do with your tank? What if it came from spores coming through your central air system or...?

What if the moisture, above the water line, gave those floating spores a place to take hold... I don't know how you would even begin to test your house for that, other than keeping a wet sponge sitting in a bowl of dechlorinated water on your counter for a few days, maybe...

On the off-chance it is coming from your air somehow... It's something I don't think you'd want to be breathing in... sorry, that's a terrible thought, but what you experienced is so off the wall to begin with...
 
Cichlid Fish Forum
posts
949K
members
56K
Since
2002
A forum community dedicated to Cichlid Fish owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about breeding, health, behavior, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Lake Malawi Species Aquarium Setup Lake Tanganyika Species South American Cichlids Central American Cichlids