# Wierd Clear-White film on rocks



## nauTik (Mar 18, 2009)

Alright so I've had my tank running for about 5 days now and I just noticed this clear white film growing on all my lace rock in my tank. It's literally everywhere, almost has a spiderweb like look to it. I have no clue as to what could have caused this and I've never seen or heard of this before. It almost looks like clear algae, the tank also does seem to have a smell to it as if this is a fungus of some type. Oh and when viewed from the side of the tank to the other side the water is definately cloudy almost as if I have a bacterial bloom.

The really wierd thing is I haven't started my cycle yet, I cleaned off all my rock plants and sand (everything) really well before adding it to the tank. The only thing I've added to the water was some dechlorinater. I just have my filters (penguin 350 / emperor 400) and heaters running on the tank, it's at about 78 degrees. I did buy a test kit, but found out the hard way that it's cheap and doesnt give any exact information (lol wal-mart). So I'll be going to the store today to pick up a better water test kit, as well as a few other things to get my fishless cycle started.

I'm just really concerned as to what this wierd fungal growth could be, and if I would have to redo my whole tank or take any sort of drastic measures to remove it before I begin cycling my tank.

Could anyone explain to me what this wierd growth is? and how to get rid of it or w/e?

edit: I tried to take some pictures but my camera sucks and you can't really see the clear filmy fungus in any of them.


----------



## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

since your set up is so recent, and no life has been added to the tank, you should assume this problem originates from the rock itself. for immediate clean up, i would suggest to drain all water, scrub the rock aggressively (again), and restart.
i'm curious how you prepped the rock previous. did you use anything other than water and brush? did anyone bleach it before you got it? or soak in ammonia? that would bump the establishment of a bacteria within days, and explain you water cloud issue. assuming that, it is most likely harmless, but might still interfere with your cycle progress. HTH.


----------



## nauTik (Mar 18, 2009)

lloyd said:


> since your set up is so recent, and no life has been added to the tank, you should assume this problem originates from the rock itself. for immediate clean up, i would suggest to drain all water, scrub the rock aggressively (again), and restart.
> i'm curious how you prepped the rock previous. did you use anything other than water and brush? did anyone bleach it before you got it? or soak in ammonia? that would bump the establishment of a bacteria within days, and explain you water cloud issue. assuming that, it is most likely harmless, but might still interfere with your cycle progress. HTH.


just used tap water and a brush( which had not been used with any chemicals and was thoroughly rinsed before using).

I'm curious if this dechlorinator could be the culprit, as it claims on the back it helps to establish good bacteria, perhaps I used too much or something and it caused this?


----------



## nauTik (Mar 18, 2009)

no idea what the source of the problem was but I just got done draining all the water rocks and sand from the tank and it absolutely wreaks  my whole house smells like dead beach. Anyways I'm rewashing the sand and rocks again hopefully this time I wont have the same problem. lol and I thought I went overboard with washing the sand and rocks the first time.

Do you think I need to rinse out my tank too or should it be fine?


----------



## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

nauTik said:


> Do you think I need to rinse out my tank too or should it be fine?


 i would fill and empty the tank a few times, while siphoning the rock, just because you mention an intense odor. you might as well reduce the odds of future complications as good as possible. the last thing anyone wants, is past suspicion and complications, if/when things don't move forward well from here. IMHO. HTH.


----------



## nauTik (Mar 18, 2009)

been scrubbing and washing the **** out of my rocks but I've noticed its the rocks and sand that are carrying the odor still. I'm sure the water did as well, because the empty tank has no horrible smell to it at all. Guess I'll soak the rocks overnight in hot water, till then back to washing them, luckily the sand is fine and just needed a quick rinse.

thanks for all the help lloyd


----------



## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

nauTik said:


> ...Guess I'll soak the rocks overnight in hot water, till then back to washing them, luckily the sand is fine and just needed a quick rinse.


 here's a kooky (read as 'cookie') idea: try baking the rock. dry heat has the potential, to penetrate deeper into the pores of your rock, than most any water temperature you could provide. 250-300 degree, for an hour, should be a safe, effective experiment. 
(how do you make a 'degree' sign via type? :? )


----------



## nauTik (Mar 18, 2009)

lloyd said:


> nauTik said:
> 
> 
> > ...Guess I'll soak the rocks overnight in hot water, till then back to washing them, luckily the sand is fine and just needed a quick rinse.
> ...


Yeah I was thinking about that but the rocks have such a horrible odor to them I just went with bleaching them. They're soaking right now going to have to take a few days to make sure they are thoroughly rinsed something tells me getting bleach completely out of lace rock may be tough with all those holes.


----------



## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

neutralize bleach by washing/rinsing in a 1:6 vinegar solution.


----------



## Joea (May 25, 2004)

This is completely normal for lace rock. Don't bother trying to clean it off. The fish will likely eat it and it will disappear on its own eventually.

Do a search for "white stringy lace rock" and you'll see this is extremely common.


----------



## nauTik (Mar 18, 2009)

Joea said:


> This is completely normal for lace rock. Don't bother trying to clean it off. The fish will likely eat it and it will disappear on its own eventually.
> 
> Do a search for "white stringy lace rock" and you'll see this is extremely common.


is it normal for it to smell that bad though?

I feel really dumb now for taking everything out and recleaning rofl


----------



## SupeDM (Jan 26, 2009)

Where did the rock come from? any chance it was used in saltwater. If you have ever brought any rocks or coral home from the ocean you will notice that they stink like ****. I soaked and soaked them the last time I brought some home and they still stunk like crazy. If this was once used as saltwater rock It will have all kinds of microorganisms living inside it and They will die off and stink pretty bad.


----------



## nauTik (Mar 18, 2009)

SupeDM said:


> Where did the rock come from? any chance it was used in saltwater. If you have ever brought any rocks or coral home from the ocean you will notice that they stink like #%$&. I soaked and soaked them the last time I brought some home and they still stunk like crazy. If this was once used as saltwater rock It will have all kinds of microorganisms living inside it and They will die off and stink pretty bad.


I got it from my LFS and it had no smell to it at all when I bought it. I rinsed it and scrubbed it thoroughly with just warm water and then put it in my tank. Had no smell to it until that wierd fungal growth started appearing.

I mean there is a chance that it was used in salt water, the LFS I bought it from did sell salt water as well as fresh. I suppose there is also a chance that I missed something deep in the rock (since it has so many holes and crevices) that could have maybe caused this.

Whatever it was it's definately taken care of now, thanks to that bleach . From what I've read dechlorinated water removes bleach pretty easily too. Although I also heard about vinegar so I might end up trying it all just to be 110% safe.

Still wish I could figure out what caused this, all the cases I've seen of this from googling have involved overfeeding to an extreme and already having fish, but my tank didn't even start cycling yet. Oh well.. thanks again though guys, really been a good help through this mess


----------



## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

Joea said:


> This is completely normal for lace rock. Don't bother trying to clean it off. The fish will likely eat it and it will disappear on its own eventually.
> 
> Do a search for "white stringy lace rock" and you'll see this is extremely common.


 i'm sorry for putting you through all that unnecessary work, nauTik.


----------



## nauTik (Mar 18, 2009)

lloyd said:


> Joea said:
> 
> 
> > This is completely normal for lace rock. Don't bother trying to clean it off. The fish will likely eat it and it will disappear on its own eventually.
> ...


oh no I definitely am glad I'm cleaning up everything on second thought I really don't think it was entirely normal. I've had lace rock before and never had slime like that before, not to mention it was all over the 2 fake plants i had in the tank. Oh and the smell, as I was removing the water my sister even complained how bad it smelled and she was in another room lolz

So I am glad I'm re-cleaning this out, not really any rush or anything, better safe than sorry


----------

