Slime forming

demonr6

I have a newer tank setup and have this slime coating forming on a piece of Mopani wood. The substrate is by Activ Flora and the tank has a number of plants. It is a heated tank, no filter and it gets about eight hours of light. I tested the water yesterday morning with my API and everything was normal. I am about to test it again while I wait to see if I can get some advice. I will post results when I get them. Thanks in advance!

Eylisia

It's a type of bacteria that eats remaining nutrients in the wood, it's not dangerous and will go away as they use up the nutrients there. Lots of fish will eat it, it really is quite normal.
If you really hate it, use your siphon to vacuum it off :)

demonr6

Nooo defintiely don't want to do that! The slime can stay in that case. Water params were just ginchy. 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, a little over 0 Nitrate and pH is on the high side at 7.8 but so long as it stays constant I think Mr. Betta and the ghost shrimp will be fine. :)

Byron

I must caution on this. If it is white and rather fuzzy in appearance, resembling fungus, it can be highly toxic to fish. We've had threads on this a while back.

I've personal experience with fish breathing very rapidly when this white fungus appeared on a new piece of Mopani wood, and I removed it and did a 70% water change. I scrubbed the wood, and left it in a tank wiith no fish for several weeks to ensure it was gone. I know of other aquarists who had their corys all die from it.

You photo doesn't look the same as the white fungus, but just in case, keep an eye on it.

demonr6

Great, well.. that is good to know. This is like a gel looking outer shell covering the wood. I have seen similar before when there is a pellet that sits on the bottom too long.. Not sure what this white fungus would look like but for the most part this looks completely clear. We know how things can change though.