# HELP!!! Is this normal?



## JTull89 (Nov 20, 2008)

Ok, well I'm cycling a 29 gallon tank right now and i have added a few aquatic plants because I have heard that they speed up the cycling process. I came home from work today only to find some white/somewhat clear slime starting to grow on them. Is this the benefical bacteria starting to grow from the cycling process, the decay of the plants allthough the plants look bright green and healthy, or is this some type of mold growing on them. Should I just take the plants out right away or what. I dont know, please help!!


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## alicem (Jul 26, 2007)

I've read:
In a new uncycled tank all kinds of strange things can show up...
Slime can come from phosphates in the water (residue from the first cycle attempt?)...
Slime can develop on new driftwood added to the tank...
:fish: 
Can you slough it off with your fingers and syphon it out?

It's probably harmless, but I don't know for sure.
Maybe someone has more ideas/explanations.
Alicem


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## JTull89 (Nov 20, 2008)

Ok well I got all the slime of the plants and vacuumed it out of the tank. I have kept an eye on the plants for the past few days and it doesnt seem that the slime is growing back right now. Although I have noticed that I had a few stow-aways on the plants. I have like 5-8 baby snails crawling all over the tank, dunno if thats good or not but at least I got something to look at while the tank is cycling. :lol:


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## Stickzula (Sep 14, 2007)

once it is through cycling, get a loach or two and they will eat the snails and prevent any future snail epidemic.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

I don't think the plants help a cycle, but they don't hurt it.

Putting a few plants in, though, can be the wrong approach. You need a certain amount of light for the plants to live and if you only have a few the algae then can take advantage of the light and grow much more than you'd like. Good advice I've received is to plant heavily from the onset to avoid algae problems.

If you really have a very low-light set-up, then you might be OK. But you'll be limited to java fern and anubias mostly . . .


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## 748johnd (Jun 30, 2007)

I never put plants in my tanks without sterilizing them first because you may not get only snails, which are bad enough, but worms and hydra or other unseen critters. I use potassium permanganate to sterilize mine, but you can also use a very weak bleach solution or alum.


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## JTull89 (Nov 20, 2008)

I never thought of sterilizing the plants, but anyway none of the the plants regrew that slime so i think im good for now...hopefully. I added some Buenos Aires Tetras i think on the 13 of Dec, and the next day all the snails were gone. Didnt think the snail problem was gonna be solved that easily. Tetras are now destroying the plants but that doesnt really bother me much though.


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