WTF?! What is this stuff on the outside of my tank?

by **Zambize4899** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:14 am

Sorry to bombard you all, it's been a day for my tanks. I just noticed some off-whitish stuff gathering on the outside of my 6.6 gallon Betta tank. Finley, the Betta, looks fine. On the outside are several patches of this stuff, ranging from 1/4" in diameter, to an inch in diameter...it looks dry, maybe flaky, and seems to gather where the black seam of the tank "frame" at the top and the black seam of the tank "frame" at the bottom end on the glass (or maybe it's plastic), if that makes sense. There are 5 of these spots, not present yesterday. This outgoing fish gets my attention every day and it wasn't there yesterday. I've never seen anything like it. It reminds me of a fungal growth, but I have no idea. Please help, Finley really is an exceptional Betta, he has the coolest tank, and I don't want to see anything happen to him or his habitat.

Thank you
Zambize

by **spongebob4460** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:20 am

at the seams, maybe evaporated water runoffs which usually leaves cruddy white stuff on the outside of my tank. was there any of this on the tank where your fish died?

by **Zambize4899** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:27 am

Fish died in a different tank. This is only a Betta tank, the other is a 28 gallon community tank. It's not hard water stains or lime, if that's what you're thinking. We have really hard water, I know what the residue looks like, and I'm careful to clean any water off the outside of the tank. Hard water is somewhat hard to remove, but this stuff comes right off with just the wipe of a paper towel.

by **spongebob4460** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:31 am

hmm then sounds like mold as you suggest, but from what? any chance the two are related?

by **miami754** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:02 am

Zambize - I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I forgot to tell you something. You will not be able to use only r/o water as it has no gH or kH. Therefore, it will make your water very soft and you will have problems. Instead what you need to do is mix some r/o water with some of your tap water and use that for the water changes. To figure out what the correct mixture is, buy a gH and kH kit and experiment with different proportions. Sorry I forgot to mention this earlier.

by **Zambize4899** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:57 am

Thanks, what gh and kh readings am I looking for? Does the tap water have to sit out for a while first? If so, how long? I'm assuming one has to be heated either in the microwave or on the stove to bring the overall water temp to the tank temp. Should I heat the r/o or the tap water, or my mixture of both? Ahhh, doesn't this remind you of the good 'ole newbie days? :)

Thanks,
Darrien

by **miami754** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:14 pm

What temperature do you keep your tank? I would heat any water. Just raise the temp of the tap water you add to compensate for the cold r/o water. Just go to the store and you should be able to find some kits made by API to test for kH and gH. I can't remember what exact values you are looking for, but it should say in the tests. If it doesn't, let me know and I will look it up quickly. No, your tap water doesn't have to sit out for a while first like with pH.

Also, Peter's suggestion of spring water would work as well. Just be sure to test the specific brand you choose and make sure all the minerals and trace elements have not been removed. I beleive it may be a little more expensive in the long run, but I am not sure of that. It is a perfectly viable option if you don't feel like mixing water. It is up to you.

by **Sumthing_Fishy** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:08 pm

Is the white fungal growth-looking stuff fuzzy like cotton? Could be a spider nest if fuzzy. I live up north and every spring in the corner of the ceiling, there is a patch of white with a spider inside it hibernating until winter is over before he comes out or they were laying eggs in the white fuzz.

Also, do you put any salt in that aquarium? I had a small aquarium to have a lot of water come out one night, but the tank never leaked after that, just the change in the room temperature, hot one day, cold the next day, did it, but I had a little salt in it, and salt left a white finish where it run down the glass and landed in the seam of the black trim along with white streaks on the glass.

WTF?! What is this stuff on the outside of my tank?

8 posts