Stringy White Stuff Fishless Cycling

Hi guys,

Been fishless cycling with ammonia for 14 days and I have started to see stringy/fluffy white bits on some of the items I have fiddled with more than others.

Is this normal as the tank water hasnt been changed for 2 weeks? Can I clean it off or best to leave it?

Lights have only been on for a couple hours in the eve here and there,heater set at 30 but thermometer reading just under, bubblers going, added media from friends filter 2 days ago, but it was left in a tub with tank water for over 12 hours before I could get home with it so hopefully something was still alive. Not much is happening with my cycle, I've seen 0.25 on the nitrites about 7 days ago but nothing else has changed, ammonia seems to be the same and no nitrate.

A belated welcome to the forum. 

If you do clean the white bits, a new toothbrush specifically for the purposes of fishkeeping, is ideal for use on fishtank decor.

 

I would clean it off before potentially letting anything take hold on your tank but agree with everything that has been said also.

Is your tank a Love Fish Panorama by any chance?

Ok I will have a little clean up my tank is the interpet fishpod 120.

Mixing the two dechlorinators is not a problem as long as you didn't overdose by a lot.

Leave the pH for now. Have you tested both freshly run tap water and a glass of water that's been allowed to stand for 24 hours? You'll probably find they are different. You've just filled with freshly run tap water while the water you removed was 'stood' tank water which is why you need to do those tests on tap water.
When you run out of dechlorinator again, look at API Tap Water Conditioner. It looks expensive but it uses 1 drop per US gallon - or 3.8 litres. (Get the small bottle first as that has a dropper lid, then get the bigger one and use it to refill the small bottle. Don't get the very big bottles or you'll pass the use by date when it's only half gone)

Cleaning sand is a different technique. You hold the tube about a cm above the sand and make tiny swirling motions to lift the debris off the sand to where it can be sucked up. I prefer to use just the flexible tubing without the hard plastic nozzle on the end - I start the siphon by filling the tubing with water at the sink, acrrying it over to the tank with the open ends uppermost, then a thumb over each end, one into the bucket the other into the tank and let go. To do more than one bucketful, I have two buckets and lift the tubing out of the tank, open ends uppermost again, and carefully curl it into the second empty bucket while I dispose of the  tank water.

I have never used either of the dechlorinators you mention so I have no idea if they do anything to the pH 

Probably most likely explanation is just that it as an off test for whatever reason as you say

Hi @Beckins

I have just quickly scanned this thread - so please forgive me if I've missed something.

I suspect that the white stringy stuff is not algae but a form of fungus. I don't know of any white algae. It is likely that you imported it with your friend's filtration media. And, obviously, something's amiss if the ammonia level is not reducing. I'd be tempted to add Tetra SafeStart, a live bacteria product which has proven itself to be very effective.

Returning to the white stringy stuff, if it is a form of fungus, then it will need suitable treatment. I don't know what to suggest right now.

JPC

It is interesting you mention it being fungus....I have been using the interpet safe start liquid that came with my tank....though as I work in a micro lab and from what I read about these products I have been sceptical about how much is alive in there so I plated some out onto a general growth medium at work out of interest and all that has grown was mould lol.....now I'm not an expert on these types of bacteria and maybe they need a more precise media to grow on or something. But maybe the mould could have come from that product :/

Before you mentioned the tetra stuff I had already ordered some as I read it is one of the better ones
Concerned now as to what I need to treat my tank with to get rid of the mould though?! I did worry it will just come back as there are still bits of it in the tank...

Can anyone help?

It's not uncommon to get some growth on wood when it's first put into a tank, unless it's boiled/pre-soaked. With a bit of cleaning and patience it tends to disappear after a few weeks, so I'd suggest you take the same approach with what you are seeing in your tank.
Keep us updated and we can try to work out the best way forwards if the cleaning/patience approach doesn't work.

I dont have any wood in my tank ...but I think my friend who gave me some of his filter media did, hes had his tank for years and years though...:/

I'm guessing hopefully it might go away once I'm done with the cycling n theres less ammonia in the tank, seems like that's gonna be a long way off though! hopefully my tetra start will arrive soon as this interpet one has done bugger all!

I have the interpet CF3 internal filter, it has ceramic media inside, an algaway pad and a carbon pad.

I bought the ammonia off amazon as it had reviews from people who had cycled fish tanks with it...pic attached.

For interest I have also attached a pic of what I grew at work from the interpet safe start liquid, funnily enough it's a white mould....lol...

Hi @Beckins

When you first set up the tank, what was your starting ammonia concentration? BTW, I had a look at the household ammonia that you used. It makes no mention of any other additives so it should be OK. And, as you said, others had used it for fishless cycling.

Please remind me which manufacturer's test kits you are using for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH and pH.

JPC

I dosed to 2ppm ammonia at the start and obviously just redosed to 2ppm yesterday after the water changes. I am using the API freshwater master test kit. ...I actually just bought an API test strip kit to check my kh and gh which has just arrived today...as I'm reading alot of advice for those with soft water is to add some bicarbonate or plant fertiliser to raise the kh?....my result on that were 30ppm(mg/l) on GH and 40ppm (mg/l) for KH...is the bicarb something I should do to help? apart from the weirdness yesterday with a dodgy test my ph has been steady at 7.2 so no crashes yet...