WHAT is in my tank?

[shanna]

Okay so I've been gone since Friday from my house, to dog sit at this other lady's. I just got home and went to check on my fish. My 10 gallon is fine, but there's a strange growth in my one gallon. I have my male betta in there, with a small algae eater. They've been in there for about three weeks, with no incident. So it surprised me to come home and find the fuzzy troops in my tank.

It looks like mold, but has a brownish-grayish cast, and is otherwise seethrough. There's little black specks in them. And they're fuzzy looking. It's all over the bottom of my tank, even some on the silk plant. It's not leftover food, since I make sure he eats all his food off the top of the water. My first thought was brown algae, but I have brown algae in my 10 gallon and it doesn't look like this!

Help! (I'm going to clean out the tank, but I'd like to know anyway.)

O
r in case that doesn't work: members.cox.net/brunettebabe/WHAT.JPG


Also, it hasn't had any ill effects on my fish. Strange.

[amanichen]

Those are diatoms =)

healthybetta.proboards19.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fishdiseases&thread=1115179749&page=1

[shanna]

So even my little pond snails would work? They're all very little though.

[amanichen]

shanna said:

So even my little pond snails would work? They're all very little though.

Yeah, they'll work =)

They'll multiply like crazy until they reach a peak, and the population will then become self-limiting. Diatoms are most commonly seen in new tanks, so even without the snails they tend to disappear over time as cyanobacteria and true green algae take over.

[shanna]

No kidding. At first I had two, and I swear I have around 20 now.

But that's good! I was freaking out. Thanks for the info!