# White fluffy bacteria/algae???



## beth1954 (Aug 20, 2007)

I searched to try to find an answer for this, but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. 

I have a 5 gallon tank with 4 platies and one "oto" catfish in it. 

Lately the tank really STINKS. It also has a white, fluffy algae/bacteria in it. It seems to develop fast. I took out all the fake plants and washed them. Within a day there was more of it. The part of the filter that goes into the water (intake?) gets alot of that white stuff stuck in the bottom of it also. I washed it out and it was slimy. In the tank though it looks kind of fluffy and stringy.........what is going on? 

Oh by the way, I'm new on this board and fairly new to fish altogether.


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## fish_4_all (Nov 13, 2006)

I have never heard of such a thing but someone surely has. If you can get a picture of it that would help immensely. 

Also, how long has the tnak been set up and do you have a test kit to check for nitrates, ammonia, nitrites? And do you add salt to the tank?


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## jones57742 (Oct 31, 2006)

Ditto F4A!

Additional items which would help me are:

1) do you have a heater in the tank and

2) do you have filtration for the tank?

TR


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Welcome to Fishforum.com, Beth.:wave:

But the white stuff seems neither algae nor bacteria. It sounded to me on first glance as molds. How frequent and how much food do you feed your fish? Do you siphon off the leftovers? What is your tank maintenance regimen? Please answer these questions aside from fish_4_all and Jones.


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## K4x9 (Aug 20, 2007)

I have the same problem! I made a video. Does it look like this? I dont know what it is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zoA1dm4NkY


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