Help! White stuff in tank! Algae? Fungus? Bacteria colony?

[Kuja]

Hello everybody!

This is my first post here.

I have one 2" long fantail fish in a 8 gallon tank.
His name is Fluffy

The tank is fully cycled.

Ammonia and nitrites are 0,
nitrates prior to regular weekly water change are also close to 0.
Ph is 8.

On the bottom there is a thin layer of gravel
and there is a one floating Anubias Nana plant.

Filtration is done by Eheim Ecco pro 130 external canister filter.

Aeration is done by a long spray bar that agitates the water.
It is placed one inch below water surface and it points upward.

The tank is placed few feets from the window that is facing north, so there is no direct sun light.


I'm feeding Fluffy sparingly twice a day, the amount he can eat in couple of minutes.
I'm feeding him flakes or sticks in the morning, shelled peas in the afternoon.
During the day he is eating algae that are growing in the tank.

I try not to clean too much of the algae, since they are also a part of a healthy eco system.



Fluffy is perfectly healthy and happy, eats well and swims around.



But few weeks ago, something strange started to take algae's place.

It is growing on plant leaves, on the filter plastic plumbing (inlets and outlets), inside the filter hoses, on

the glass thermometer.

It grows mostly on glass and plastic, and on the hard Anubias Nana leaves.

I can not see any on the gravel, beacuse I have lots of algae on it.

It seems that it likes the most the areas with the strongest water flow and near the water surface.

So it seems that it likes oxygen?


It does not look like any algae that I have seen anywhere, because it is completely white almost

translucent.

But it also does not fit description of fungus.

It is said that fungus forms on food leftovers and/or decaying organic materials like dead plants leaves

or fish, fish injuries, etc.

This white stuff in my tank is found exclusively on hard plastic and glass surfaces and healthy leaves!

So it is not fungus?





It looks like this, note the left side of this leaf stem:



More pics:





Here it is inside the filter inlet, the white stuff is waving in the water stream:




Outside on the filter inlet:






My biggest problem is that it forms a layer inside the filter tubing and hoses
and it is significantly reducing the water flow.

After hoses cleaning, the water flow can be reduced up to 50% just in a couple of weeks!



Does anybody now what is this?

What is the cause of it?

How do I fight it?


Thanks in advance,
Aleksandar

.

[homemadepopcorn]

Welcome to the forum!

That white stuff just seems like some kind of algae... it should clear up as the tank matures.

On another note, I suggest you read the Goldfish sizing chart in one of the subforums... Your fish will surely outgrow that 8 gallon tank. Something more along the lines of 30 or 40 gallons are more appropriate for your fantail.

If you don't rehome your fish, it will be stunted which is a painful and usually fatal condition for fish.

[luv2sk8te17]

goldfish are the messiest and therefore require the most often water changes/cleaning and maintenance.