# Can anyone identify this please



## kellyboy47 (19 Jan 2013)

Hi,
I have a 54 litre tank consisting of 4 Corys, 1 Krib, 3 Danios, 3 Penguin Tetras and am plagued with
snails for which I bought 8 Assassin Snails to eradicate however I fear some of the Assassins have died. The flora includes Anubias on rocks / wood, Crypts, Elodea and Java Fern.
These unsightly white deposits which remnd me of chewing gum only started appearing after I introduced the Assassins.

Any help or advice would be gratefully received
Trev


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## jack-rythm (19 Jan 2013)

Very interesting, unfortunately I cant help but I would like to watch this tread to find out..


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## kellyboy47 (20 Jan 2013)

Hi Jack,

Thanks for your reply and yet I still cant believe that with so many experienced aquascapers, fishkeepers, experts on the forum that I cannot get any suggestions on what the problem might be


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## jack-rythm (20 Jan 2013)

kellyboy47 said:


> Hi Jack,
> 
> Thanks for your reply and yet I still cant believe that with so many experienced aquascapers, fishkeepers, experts on the forum that I cannot get any suggestions on what the problem might be


Hang in there  

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## LondonDragon (20 Jan 2013)

Very bizarre substance!! never seen anything like it, plenty of water changes I would suggest for now!


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## kellyboy47 (20 Jan 2013)

Well Paulo...I change the 40% of the water weekly....I am sure its got something to do with the snails whether it be the Assassins or the ones they are trying to assassinate !


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## jack-rythm (20 Jan 2013)

kellyboy47 said:


> Well Paulo...I change the 40% of the water weekly....I am sure its got something to do with the snails whether it be the Assassins or the ones they are trying to assassinate !


Try 40 percent every other day! See if that clears it up  

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## LondonDragon (20 Jan 2013)

I suggest you do a water change more often till that is gone, how are the fish?


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## kellyboy47 (20 Jan 2013)

Well worth a try I suppose and think I will remove the affected plants and try and get the stuff off somehow


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## jack-rythm (20 Jan 2013)

kellyboy47 said:


> Well worth a try I suppose and think I will remove the affected plants and try and get the stuff off somehow


I wish u the best but of course I would still like to know what this is! Ha! Someone must know?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## kellyboy47 (20 Jan 2013)

Fish are fine...think I might have lost one of the Penguins though


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## LondonDragon (20 Jan 2013)

Looks like a fungus! you added any pieces of wood in there recently?


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## kellyboy47 (20 Jan 2013)

No


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## nayr88 (20 Jan 2013)

Have you been ripping it out?
 Removing any effected leaves and chucks whilst having the filter turned off then doing a water change. Over a week I would suspect it to go. 

Where did you get assassins from? Have you been back to check the tanks to see if they are having same problems?


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## kellyboy47 (21 Jan 2013)

Ripping it out ?....No I havn't started yet but I intend to remove the plants today,clean them off and do a 50% water change...what are chucks and why do I have to turn the filter off 

I got the Assassins from Maidenhead Aquatics in Kent but as I live over the water in Essex so it is not all that convenient for checking to see if they had a problem....mind you I am sure the sales assistant in MA didn't check very thoroughly the condition of the assassins as when I got them home I am sure not all were alive. I bought 8 Assassins which should have wiped out the snail infestation that I had in next to no time but the unwanted snails are still appearing.
BTW this 'chewing gum looking' type substance also gets smeared acroos the front glass but not on the filter casing or heater


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## nayr88 (21 Jan 2013)

Sorry mate I meant chunks not chucks. Yeh pulling out what you can from rocks ect and cutting off any leaves it's securely attached too is a start, I mentioned turning the filter of when you do this so that you don't have small amounts of the stuff getting chucked around your tank and then starting up again. 

Where abouts in essex are you I'm in Romford 

Where all the snails in the same tank? I always try to buy from separate tanks and ones looking most active . When there all together you usually find there pretty starved.


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## dw1305 (21 Jan 2013)

Hi all,


LondonDragon said:


> Looks like a fungus!


 I think it is fungal as well, we used to get a lot of these sorts of things growing in the flowing sections of the trickle filter  when we worked with the landfill leachate. It is a horrible term, but they are usually referred to as "Sewage Fungus" (often mainly bacterial but with _Leptomitus lacteus_), as they are often a marker (in reasonably clean water) of where there has been a sewage based (or other organic) pollution incident: It is probably not the sort of thing you want to read, but details are here: <http://www.ibiologia.unam.mx/pdf/directorio/z/introduccion/biologicaleffect.pdf>


> Sewage-fungus outbreaks are associated with the presence of biodegradable organic matter in water and thus in turn with effluents which discharge such materials. Outbreaks in the United Kingdom are mostly of limited extent except where a river has received a succession of polluting effluents. Of the sanitary measurements at present in use BOD and soluble organic carbon provide the most reliable guide to the slime-promoting properties of a water, but they are hot infallible since heavy slime outbreaks can be associated with low BOD values and vice versa


cheers Darrel


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## nayr88 (21 Jan 2013)

Your saying is poo poo related


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## dw1305 (21 Jan 2013)

Hi all,
Not necessarily poo, but definitely some form of organic pollutant that has produced a lot of carbon-based substrate, so probably not a dead fish (where the proteins will be broken down to ammonia), but possibly decomposing material from the wood, particularly if it had a lot of sap left in it when it was cut and dried. 


dw1305 said:


> Sewage-fungus outbreaks are associated with the presence of biodegradable organic matter in water


 
cheers Darrel


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## kellyboy47 (21 Jan 2013)

Well, I have cleaned all the plants, wood and stone that the plants were attached to...the plants have been placed in a container and anti snail treatment added to the container to try and rid the plants of any eggs..the 'chewing gum' was more like slime or decomposed food matter and I have even had to hoover the gravel which was covered in this substance which obviously then clouded the tank...I have replaced 20 of the 54 litres of the water so will see how things go. As far as the wood goes Darrel none of the pieces were new and had been used without any problems before in my larger tank...I have a couple of snails that were not there at the beginning to 'google' when I get the chance to find out what species they are..


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## dw1305 (22 Jan 2013)

Hi all,


kellyboy47 said:


> the 'chewing gum' was more like slime or decomposed food matter and I have even had to hoover the gravel which was covered in this substance which obviously then clouded the tank...I have replaced 20 of the 54 litres of the water so will see how things go. As far as the wood goes Darrel none of the pieces were new and had been used without any problems before in my larger tank...


Bit of an unknown then, but probably nothing to worry about. I'd carry on with the water changes try and keep the oxygen as high as possible for a while (just in case there is some pollutant source still present which will raise the BOD) and hopefully it will disappear as mysteriously as it appeared.

cheers Darrel


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## kellyboy47 (11 Feb 2013)

dw1305 said:


> but possibly decomposing material from the wood, particularly if it had a lot of sap left in it when it was cut and dried.


 
Hi Darrell,

I did clean the substrate quite thoroughly and although I didn't as was suggested do more water changes the white substance albeit only slight smatterings are still appearing on the glass (which I find quite confusing as to how it gets there) and on the plants..Do you still think then that it could be the wood that some of my plants are attached to leeching the substance ? The tank is heated obviously but it is outside in a cold garage...I assume the temperature couldn't be the reason for this ? and it wouldn't be from the Assassin snails ?


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## GHNelson (11 Feb 2013)

What ferts are you dosing?
hoggie


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## kellyboy47 (11 Feb 2013)

Hi Hoggie,

I havn't been using ferts in this tank


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## GHNelson (11 Feb 2013)

Hi Trev
What filtration are you using?
hoggie


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## kellyboy47 (11 Feb 2013)

Well when I had the original problem I was using the Juwel Bio Mini filter that came with the tank but I am now using an AllPondsSolution 450 LPH filter with spray bar


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## GHNelson (11 Feb 2013)

Is this a hang on filter or a internal/external?


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## kellyboy47 (11 Feb 2013)

Internal


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## GHNelson (11 Feb 2013)

Trev
I think it could be a combination of a few things.....snails,uneaten food.....slow filtration.
Cut back on the feeding...try upping your filtration and get some more flow around the substrate.
Clean the filter inards not just the sponges.
Cheers
hoggie


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## kellyboy47 (11 Feb 2013)

OK Hoggie thanks for the advice....I have still got the Juwel Mini Filter so will add this as well...I do clean the inards of the filters weekly but I am also going to change the substrate from gravel to a part (something like TetraPlant Complete) and Playsand for the well being of my Corys


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## GHNelson (11 Feb 2013)

Yea go with that Trev...see how it pans out.
hoggie


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