silly question about convicts.

[toddnbecka]

Why is it a blessing in disguise? Fungus doesn't need cover. Providing cover for the fish makes them more comfortable/less stressed, and healthy fish aren't as likely to develop fungus if they are injured IME. I've seen cichlids, pleco's, and silver dollars with ragged fins, and my Synodontis catfish quite often bite chunks of skin off each other when they're squabbling or spawning. I never see any fungus develop, and the injuries are usually healed up in a week or less. I don't treat them with any meds, the only thing I use is salt when a new addition brings along Ich.

[promise]

Oh no the fungus is on the tank not the fish, sorry.
i posted yesterday as i have a growth of something in my tank on the silicone i didnt know what it was so i asked on here and no-one had seen it before so i had to go to my LFS we had a long chat about it and the short of the story is that i have to treat the tank for this bacterial/fungal invasion.
but i have to leave plants and animals in their while it happens and with no cover it means this thing whatever it is has no little crevices or cracks to hide in.

[toddnbecka]

So your lfs advised you to strip down the tank to get rid of fungus growing on the silicone? I've never heard of such a thing, and can't imagine there's any organism that can find nutrition in silicone caulk, it's inorganic. What are you using to treat it?

[promise]

were not sure if its a fungus or a bacteria, so were treating with melafix, try the easy and least expensive things first right.
the tank itself wasn't stripped down it just didnt have a huge amount of cover except behind the rocks here is the tank in the first picture
i started a thread on the fungi/bacterium (whatever it is) in the general forum but like me no one has seen it before but have attached a pic for you to see what im dealing with just in case you might know.
Big Als guy was very suggestive of things we can try, and dint rush me straight into the most expensive thing they have.
its not affecting the fish but as he said any bacteria that is cultivating like that aint going to be good for me or anything i come into contact with just incase it is harmful then i need to do something with it.

[toddnbecka]

Looks like some of the bacteria colonies on agar plates from my microbiology class in college. Chances of them being anything harmful to you or the fish are very slim. I don't understand what they're using for a food source though, they certainly aren't eating the silicone.

[promise]

exactly the same thing we said lol
i had a guy tell me that it was coralline algae as it was a salt water at some point, but that wouldn't survive in fresh water and also it should be hard as its a calcium based coral, it also smears when rubbed.
its not affecting anything in the tank, were just doing this as a precautionary thing incase it does start to get nasty for the animals and plants in the tank.
i agree that silicone isn't a life sustaining material but the bacteria is only growing on that and no where else, its a strange one