# white fungus...?



## gkFins (May 9, 2011)

*Housing *
*What size is your tank? *10 gallon
*What temperature is your tank?* 80 degrees F
*Does your tank have a filter?* yes
*Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? *no
*Is your tank heated?* yes
*What tank mates does your betta fish live with? *one other male-divided

*Food*
*What type of food do you feed your betta fish? *Topfin Color Enhancing Betta Bits
*How often do you feed your betta fish?* one pellet twice a day and bloodworms every other day for dessert (my betta is tiny) 

*Maintenance*
*How often do you perform a water change? *once a week
*What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? *20%
*What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? *prime

*Water Parameters:*
*Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?*

*Ammonia:*0
*Nitrite:*0
*Nitrate:*0
*pH: *6.8
*Hardness: *n/a
*Alkalinity: *n/a

*Symptoms and Treatment*
*How has your betta fish's appearance changed? *none
*How has your betta fish's behavior changed?*none
*When did you start noticing the symptoms?*none
*Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? *I have put both fish in their cups while I do an 80% water change
*Does your fish have any history of being ill?* no
*How old is your fish (approximately)? *about half a year

okay, so I was sucking up the protein film from the top of my tank when I saw some white stuff on my ornament. my little brother has the same ornament on his side of the tank, but it's not showing any signs of fungus growth. right now my sister is helping me with a water change. we are cleaning all the ornaments and marimo balls with hot tap water. will someone please tell me what caused this, what I need to do to make sure my betta doesn't get sick from it, and if I'm treating this correctly. I will post pictures as soon as I can.


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## Gizmothefreaky (Apr 10, 2011)

I dont know what the fungus is, but the Marimo balls are live plants and the hot tap water will kill them!


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

We need a pic...but if its on items in the tank thats usually not problematic for the fish....it may be some type of algae, decay/decomp food/waste/mulm/protein based...etc.....

I don't know how big the pellets are-and unless they are really big...... you may need to feed the Bettas more than 2 pellets a day and decrease the amount of freeze dried food to 1-2 times a week as a treat along with the staple diet

I agree...hot water could kill the plant...cool water should be fine...was the mold/fungus on the plant too......


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

She feeds them frozen bloodworms, not freeze dried, and the pellets are regular sized, but when presoaked, both boys have issues keeping down two pellets. Her bettas are no joke a little bigger than half the size of my boys. 

The marimo balls had pieces of fungus on them too, and she didn't rinse them in hot water for more than a few seconds.
















I'm not sure how well you can see it, but it was like a goopy and semi-clear glob with some fuzz on top. As far as I could tell, it was not mulm nor was it caused by decaying food. It was mainly on the decoration itself and had spread a bit to surrounding surfaces. GkFins bought that decoration one week ago and had rinsed it well before adding.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

...good that you took it out and scrubbed it well-odd shaped items like that can be a challenge to vacuum/clean around while in the tank....looks organic to me.....could be a combo of proteins still on it along with the natural shedding of slim coat or if the conditioner has aloe in it.....it is drawn/gathers on/to the textured item and build up...its alive and will spread and grow but usually harmless-and needs manual removal.....sounds like you have it under control.......


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## gkFins (May 9, 2011)

thank you oldfishlady for the advice, and thank you JKfish for explaining to a fuller extent and posting those pictures for me.


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## callmeconfused (May 4, 2011)

I've had that before to, I just rinsed/scrubbed it off. Never had any problems with my fishies. 

BTW, love the decor. took me a minute to see that it's a campfire with a pan of eggs! ROFL


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

ugh, looks horrible.

Is your tank cycled? Because your readings show no nitrate I am assuming its not. If so a ten gallon with two bettas needs much more than a 20% water change weekly. I'd say it would need a 100% wc weekly and a partial in between. Pardon me if this is not the case and it is cycled. Infrequent water changes causes the white fungus to grow-could be your problem (Believe me I know from recent fungus nightmare, even though I had low ammonia-arg! ) Just checking. Eradicating this stuff has become an great task for me. I noticed it on a plant bulb and then found it on my betta's tail. I tore down the tank (twice) bleached it (with great care) and have had to throw all my plants away.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Sjones, we're in the middle of a fish in cycle~ she's got four live aponogeton bulbs in there growing like weeds.... so we might have to cut back on the water changes in order to let the ammonia actually register.

We had ended up removing all the fungus; most of it was in that picture, but when we went to take it out, a lot of it fell off and was floating in the water. It took a little while to find all the little pieces, and afterwards we scrubbed down all the ornaments in hot water and let it dry in the sun, so I think that'll do it.


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## trono (Mar 30, 2011)

sjones said:


> ugh, looks horrible.
> 
> Is your tank cycled? Because your readings show no nitrate I am assuming its not. If so a ten gallon with two bettas needs much more than a 20% water change weekly. I'd say it would need a 100% wc weekly and a partial in between. Pardon me if this is not the case and it is cycled. Infrequent water changes causes the white fungus to grow-could be your problem (Believe me I know from recent fungus nightmare, even though I had low ammonia-arg! ) Just checking. Eradicating this stuff has become an great task for me. I noticed it on a plant bulb and then found it on my betta's tail. I tore down the tank (twice) bleached it (with great care) and have had to throw all my plants away.


I would not ever recommend a 100% water change on any cycled or cycling tank.


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

JkFish- I hope that gets rid of it. Keep us posted.
I am really bummed out but am giving up on plants for a while because I feel like keeping them alive was possibly putting my bettas at risk with the mysterious white stuff. I an not sure where I went wrong but when I set up the tank and began cycling it w/ammonia the white stuff came back and started growing on my plants. I actually think the ammonia burned the plants and then the white stuff started growing on them because they were rotting maybe. Two of my betta were really affected by it, Clampy is recovering but my cellophane DT is a mess right now with bitten fins after being treated fo the white fuzz. I think they both hate their QT tanks so I can't tell if that is contributing to the fin biting..


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## Thunderloon (Feb 6, 2011)

As best as I can find that white fuzz actually comes from our hands + bad water conditions.


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

Thunderloon said:


> As best as I can find that white fuzz actually comes from our hands + bad water conditions.


If you know of any good articles on it I'd be interested to read them!


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