uv lights sterilising dose it kill all fungi?

Question

Hi i have a fish tank with a uv lights sterilizing in it. i would like to know if uv lights sterilising kills all fungi. if not can you tell me some ways i can get ride of them.

Thank you.

Answer 1

There are some organisms that used to be considered fungi that grow on dead/decaying organic matter in your tank, especially uneaten food. This is what these look like (growing on a dead bug: http://www.visualsunlimited.com/images/watermarked/227/227311.jpg ). These are both relatively harmless organisms, but can be unsightly if you have a lot of organic matter for them to grow on. They don't attack healthy organisms, but will attack if an organism has an open wound or is stressed. A UV should kill the spores of these, but won't affect that already growing on food or other matter in your tank - that you'll have to remove by siphoning them out.

If that's not what you have, are you sure it's fungi you have in the tank and not algae? Brush algae can appear like a fungus growing on the leaves of plants, driftwood, or other objects in your tank. See the photos in this link: http://www.floridadriftwood.com/algae_identification.html I'll put some links for you at the end on eliminating the different types of algae - all the UV can do here is kill free-floating forms (that turn your water green, not those growing on objects), they won't affect anything attached.

The only true fungi that grows in your tank is this one: http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/algae/staghorn1.jpg . If this is what you have, I'm not sure how much a UV will help. This almost requires tearing the tank down and sterilizing everything in it.