White mold on my filter?

Question

Hey, I have a 20 gallon tank with a very small Green Terror in it. I've had him for a few months now and he seems very happy and is growing at a nice rate. I don't feed him a ton of food so I'm pretty sure that there is no over feeding. I change the water and the filter carbon/cotton every other week.

Today I noticed a puffy white mold like substance growing on my filter. I have never seen this before and have no clue what it is. The mold is not in the water, it is surrounding the inner portions of the filter above the water line and has grown a touch out of the small vent like things on the filter cap.

I am using a Whisper power 30 and have had no problems up until this white puffy stuff. I use water conditioners when I change the water and keep the ph level at or around 6.8-7.0

My fish seems happy and healthy but I am concerned about the mold, my nephew has pretty bad allergies. I had an issue with Ich a few weeks back but that is ok now.

Any help would be appreciated

It looks like cotton growing on the filter casing, it's not growing in the water. I suppose it could be mineral or calcium deposits, but not sure.

Answer 1

I do not think this is ich or mold. I think it might be algea though. ONE time, I mean just one time, thats all it took, i screwed around with my ph to make it balance at 7.0 figuring this would be a good thing. Well it balanced at 7.0 like 4 days later, but in the mean time, the water looked like someone poured a cup of milk in the tank, and I had this white filmy looking thing, that semi clumped build up in my filter as well. I deduced this to be algea as my readings on ammonia and nitrite had not dropped, and when I rinsed it out of the filter, my readings did not raise either. The only deduction I came to it had to be an algea growth. I will confess this much, I am no expert on disease or molds/fungus's either, and many times I'll shoot a mail to MM or Copperhead because they excel in the Biochemistry end of things where as I'm more of a applied chemistry person. I think this is a very interesting question, and I think my 2 cents here isn't as likely to help you out as some others your going to get. In either event I just wanted you to know, you're not alone in getting this occurance and I hope you'll get a much better answer from the others. All the best to you.

JV

Answer 2

Are you sure its mold and not calcuim or salt build up? You say fluffy, I'd give the filter a good cleaning. Watch fish behaviour for signs of stress. If it isn't bothering them I wouldn't worry too much. Keep up with your water changes and filter cleanings and see if it doesn't clear up on its own.

Answer 3

Clean the tank at least 2 times a month. Get the fish out into a small bucket or if you have another aquarium. Then get half of the water out and refill it with water. If its dirty do the same thing again. Keep your fish in the bucket for 24 hours and let the chemicals and other ammonia-related stuff.
Then put the fish back in.



PM

Answer 4

i'm having the exact same problem and have not been able to figure it out. The mold has also started growing on the aquarium lid. I'm curious to see what might be causing it.

Answer 5

were on the filter is the mold growing ?
if its on the water intake inside the tank its probly old food . take it out and put it in the trash.

Answer 6

You did say it's out of the water, right? Did you accidentally drop a piece of food there a while ago, then it got wet? I hate to admit it, but that's happened around my aquariums before.