White dots on hardscape and plants

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Anyone know what this is and what to do about it?

Seems to have appeared in the last few days. It was all over plant leaves and hardscape. It brushes off with a toothbrush. I’ve siphoned a lot off and done two water changes on consecutive days but still quite a lot of it.

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Tank has fish in it. It’s co2 injected. I dose trace and macro on alternate days. Macro is Solufeed 2:1:4. Dose less than EI but more than lean. 50% water change a week but sometimes do a midweek 30% if I have time. Very soft water where I am so I add some salty shrimp mineral and some potassium sulphate at water change. Aim for about GH 6 KH2 but it probably varies a bit. Temperature 25C.

Recently notice snails were showing shell deterioration so have removed them to another tank. Not sure if the snails were eating whatever this is before? I recently upped the fishes food intake but have reduced that again too as I was seeing lots of uneaten food. I have definitely over fed the tank recently.

 

[Scaperinc]

Snail eggs?

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Snail eggs?

I don’t think so. I’ve only ever had snail eggs laid in clutches before and these are everywhere like a well scattered dust. I’m guessing it’s a fungus or mold but not sure.

My tank is 7 months old and heavily planted.

 

[NathanB]

I don’t think so. I’ve only ever had snail eggs laid in clutches before

What snail species do you have in the tank? Nerites lay eggs in the same way as your photos, tiny white dots in random locations. Nerite eggs look slightly different however and are more difficult to clean off, But still possible that they're some sort of snail egg i guess?
When you clean them off, is it difficult? Are they stuck in place and solid? or are they quite soft?

I also don't think that they're snail eggs, but just trying to gain more info on them

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

What snail species do you have in the tank?

No nerites. I had ramshorns but their shells were falling apart (I’m guessing ph drop due to CO2 but that’s another issue) so I moved them to my low tech shrimp tank. I have one large rabbit snail left in there and he’s been there since day dot. I don’t see many baby snails anymore as my gouramis pick them off.

There’s just not enough snails to produce that many eggs in such a short space of time (I think!).

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

So here’s an interesting update. When we first started the tank we did add three nerite snails. Two died soon after but one hung on for ages. After a while I stopped seeing him and assumed he had either died somewhere or just never came out from behind the hardscape. I forgot about him.

So based on the posts above, I remembered the above and started looking for him the last half hour. I lifted the pump outlet out of the water to look behind it and noticed the flow was very slow. Some investigation later, a nerite snail just smaller than the diameter of my inlet was tucked inside.

I have removed him (definitely dead) and full flow resumed.

Still don’t know what the white dots are but I was starting to get more algae too so hopefully this is on the way to sorting that problem out.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Anyone know what this is and what to do about it?

View attachment 219793
View attachment 219794

Seems to have appeared in the last few days. It was all over plant leaves and hardscape. It brushes off with a toothbrush. I’ve siphoned a lot off and done two water changes on consecutive days but still quite a lot of it.

It looks like <"biogenic calcification">. Basically "lime scale" deposits.

It occurs in water with some CaCO3 content, when the plant extracts CO2 molecule, which reduces the amount of bicarbonate (HCO3-) that can remain in solution and the least soluble carbonate (CaCO3) comes out of solution as these deposits.

Cheers Darrel

 

[Tim Harrison]

Anything like this?

White fungus-like dots on anubias making my fish sick

Can anybody recognise and identify these white dots on my anubias plants? At first I thought they were calcium deposits or salts since I have hard water. However I have anubias in other tanks in the same water which did not show these symptoms. I've had fish (platies) growing sick...

www.ukaps.org

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

It occurs in water with some CaCO3 content, when the plant extracts CO2 molecule, which reduces the amount of bicarbonate (HCO3-) that can remain in solution and the least soluble carbonate (CaCO3) comes out of solution as these deposits.

Is this likely to occur in relatively soft water with CO2 injection? Could this occur due to a build up of minerals over time?

Anything like this?

Maybe. It’s very scattered and doesn’t have large scale deposits like in the linked thread. I’ll try to get more photos tomorrow.