White transparent cottony things in the tank.

[bunny27]

Hey guys, just a general tank question. Both my axolotl tanks seem to have some white cottony transparent things floating in the water. They cling to the decorations in the tank and onto the filter tube that sucks in the water. I do notice that their decorations are kinda slimy.

I've had this before when I had my bettas, but I didn't know what it was. Anyone know what these white things are and are they normal for a tank? My water parameters are fine for both tanks.

Thanks!

[Martin]

I wouldnt be warried about

[A. Macxicanum]

I worry about EVERYTHING. Got any pictures?

[Perry]

Sounds like either mold or some kind of hair algae, do you do partial water changes regularly?

[bunny27]

Here are some pictures. It's kind of hard to see, but I did my best with my fail camera. These are ornaments found in my 3 inch axie's tank. It's mostly on the cave and the leaves if you can see them. They look like webs. In my 8 inch axie's tank, she doesn't really have webs on her ornament, maybe because she's in a bigger tank, but she has them in her filter tube and some floats in the water when the water is disturbed.

I have no idea what these are. I do about 10-20% water changes each time they poop, so that's like once a week. I only feed the big one worms adn I usually do it when she swims to the top. The little one gets fed live blackworms, but I usually feed it through the turkey baster to avoid a mess in the sand.

Maybe I should also mention that my water is dechlorinated with Api's Stress Coat (http://reviews.petco.com/3554/2896/reviews.htm) and let sit for at least 1 day or more before use.

My bettas 10 gallon tank used to have these, but they were worse. The web things were on the glass and made it slimy and they were on the ornaments and huge amounts were flowing in the water. I hope this doesn't happen to my axie's tank.

What's causing this? What can I do to reduce it? IS it normal? Is this bad?



Thanks so much for replying guys!

[Eric]

Stop using the stress coat, leaving water out for 24 hours will take care of the chlorine in the water. What size tanks are the axies in?

[bunny27]

Wow, are you serious? Stop using the water conditioner? People always say to dechlorinate the water first so will it really be okay if I let it sit for 24 hours without the stress coat or water conditioner?

Anyways, my small one is in a 10 gallon and my bigger one is in a 20 gallon.

[Shannon]

I agree with Eric that this is related to the stress coat.

However, while leaving water out removes chlorine, it does not remove chloramines. If you are on town/city water, the water is being treated with one of these products. Chloramines can be removed with a dechlorinator (it will tell you on the label if it handles chloramines or not). If you know your water system uses chlorine, then Eric's method will work.

I stopped using Stress coat because of a similar problem but do use aquasafe and AmQuel+. I discovered my tap water has a trace of ammonia in it (.25) and after seeing a copy of my water report, I discovered it had a lot of other nasties that I had never even considered so I don't trust sitting my water out without treating it.

I would say to get a copy of your water report if on town/city water. This report can be obtained through your public works department or sometimes even at your local library.

[Seona]

Interesting re: Stress Coat. That's what I have been using in my new Axy tank and have noticed a lot of white filmy build up over the last week or so on the plants and decorations. We're also struggling a little bit with trace ammonia in the tests so we're still doing daily or every second day water changes. We're just about to go and get a 3ft tank so we can get a second Axy and move our first one into bigger accommodation, so when we stop at the aquarium supplies on the way home will ask for a dechlorinator other than stress coat.

I don't trust the town water here either, I used to keep Bettas and found that I needed to treat the water for all kinds of stuff since my bettas kept getting sick :/ It's hard, and acidic, and very high in chemicals like chlorine and lately, flouride. What kind of effect would flouride have on an Axy? Or should we be going down the RO path, since our esteemed state leader has decided to poison our water? I mean, we won't drink town water ourselves, probably a big ask for our little one to live in it!

[A. Macxicanum]

I just got some conditioner that handles Chloramines (thanks Dragonlady) and will ditch the stress coat.

[bunny27]

Yeah, I kind of don't trust my water just standing without any dechlorinator, so I'll probably ditch the stress coat and get AmQuel+, which gets rid of chlorine, chlorimines, etc. and not add any slime coat.

So, do you guys recommend me to not touch the decorations and filters, or should I rinse them?

[Eric]

I would rinse them, and dry them well....if you want to use conditioner, use the Amquel, it's a great product, But I will tell you that I personally never use conditioner and always use the method of allowing water to sit out for a day or two.

[bunny27]

Thanks everyone!!! It has just gotten out of control with my bettas and I noticed it in my Axie's tank, so I was just wondering what they were. These are great information. Thanks you guys!!