# What's the white slimy formation in my shrimpy tank?



## thezenmaestro (Jul 6, 2018)

I put this Fluval Mopani wood in my 10G tank, after boiling for almost 6 hours. There wasn't any more leeching but I realized that the surface has developed some sort of fungus/slime. My albino cories don't seem to like that and haven't seen any shrimp liking that either.

How do I get rid of this? It looks so bad.


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## LaceyRen (Mar 22, 2018)

I had the same thing when I put in a piece of teddy Cholla in my shrimp tank. A thick film of mold that seems to noticeably double in size in a few hours. Does it smell bad? Like rotten eggs/sewage? I took it out and was able to break off soft pieces of rotten wood. That was the source of my mold. The shrimp weren't interested in eating it. I ended up moving it to my pleco tank. They ended up grazing off whatever slime and rotting wood I missed. I probably could've moved it back to my shrimp tank, but the plecos seem to love it so I kept there. 
My suggestion is to take it out, dig out whatever soft pieces of wood you can and give it a good a scrub with a heavy duty bristle brush. 

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## thezenmaestro (Jul 6, 2018)

I glued a lot of expensive buce on that wood. The wood itself wasn't cheap either. Don't really want to throw it away. This sucks. I boiked it heavily till the tannins stopped. Still this.

Looks like I got to get hold of few otos.


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## LaceyRen (Mar 22, 2018)

Good luck, I attached a few pieces of anubias to mine, but I ended up removing them because the slime got worse. I didn't glue mine, but threaded them, it was still a painstaking process. If there are pieces of rotten wood, you need to get rid of them. The otos may take care of the slimy mold but I doubt they will eat the rotten wood, that's the source of your problem. 

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## lemuj (Dec 7, 2006)

This white fussy algae looking thing usually goes away in a week or two. I've been told and quick Google search tells me they're harmless to inhabitants. I've used toothbrush to remove them and vaccum it out. This usually happens to the wood that hasn't seen water in while.

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## thezenmaestro (Jul 6, 2018)

lemuj said:


> This white fussy algae looking thing usually goes away in a week or two. I've been told and quick Google search tells me they're harmless to inhabitants. I've used toothbrush to remove them and vaccum it out. This usually happens to the wood that hasn't seen water in while.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk


Your assessments seems to be true. I found it reduced a bit. Will try the toothbrush over the weekend, if it doesn't clear by then.


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## QWC (Mar 27, 2017)

Yeah that stuff usually grows on all newly added wood. Just keep brushing it off during regular maintenance and it'll stop happening eventually. Boiling may help with the tannins but soaking the wood for a week or two and scrubbing it occasionally should help the most with that growth. Though too late now that you've already added it to your aquarium, I've found it to be harmless too.


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## thezenmaestro (Jul 6, 2018)

I used a toothbrush today and picked up as much as I could. Added few qdult shrimp and they seem to be liking the leftovers.

Will post a picture once it's totally gone.


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## thezenmaestro (Jul 6, 2018)

That thing pretty much cleared up on its own. Didn't have to do much either.


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## QWC (Mar 27, 2017)

Looks really nice now


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## thezenmaestro (Jul 6, 2018)

Thanks man. Just waiting for it to get little more dense. Need the shrimps to start breeding.


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