I’ve never seen biofilm this intense. It’s only been three days of this tank set up and it’s off the charts. I know it’s supposed to be a good sign but like…do I need to intervene in some way.
Part of the cycle, don't feel like its a waste, the conditions needed for all that bacterial growth aren't the same as the conditions needed for invertebrates and fish. The "ugly tank" phase will pass, just be sure to dose your water with some ammonia or fish food to help the filter cycle.
I had that thick layer in one of my new aquariums, and I was contemplating what to do, it would be gone before I put any shrimps in anyway, so I could siphon it out.
But then I kinda felt it would be a shame letting all that juicy gunk go to waste, I mean, after having shrimps for so long all I could see was a wonderful delicious buffet wasting away.
So, I did what any crazy person would do, I tried to catch most of it with a tiny brush and then I fed it to my other aquariums in chunks😂
It might have been easier to siphon it, and then take the chunks from the bucket🤭
Shrimps were happy, I was quite pleased with my solution at the time, I felt the shrimps should thank me😂
I think it’s fine either way, I sometimes remove it if it’s a lot and takes its time to go away, especially if it covers the plants too much. Haven’t had any plants complaining, but, yeah, if it’s too much and I don’t have inhabitants that it’s useful for I sometimes remove it.
My otos went wild for this stuff . I don't know what it is (fungal growth?) but its normal on new tanks. There was a thin white surface on every piece of organic matter in my tank (20 gal), 4 otos had it cleaned up within a week, and had big round bellies by the time the tank was clean
Yours looks so much more subtle. This I could ignore. But my tank is right behind my desk in my classroom. Parents come in to drop their kids off and they’re like…
I had snail hitchhikers before it was cycled and they did fine, snails seem nearly indestructible if you wanted to get some ahead of the rest of the population. Might be helpful nitrogen contributors and unlikely to make enough to mess up anything. But I am no expert, I own a single planted tank that was a result of pandemic boredom. Just be sure and do your snail homework before choosing; my pest snails are a nuisance and whoever says only roaches will survive the apocalypse has deeply underestimated aquatic snails.
Leave it to mature, you need strong algae growth for sustainable food sources 👍 you're doing amazing so far, just leave it be and enjoy the slow progress 🫶
Listen, I’m only somewhat knowledgeable on Star Trek things so I needed to google this to understand the reference. I get it now but here’s something else I learned…
The AI has also been trained not to trust the slime…
If it evolves, call the government… or your god. Keep strapped with some industrial fungicide to be safe.
(In all seriousness it’ll likely dissipate in that time but if it doesn’t it’ll be a nice snack for the new inhabitants)
Ha yeah it's pretty disconcerting if you aren't ready for it. It's a shame it almost always happens on a new set up because it's ideal for shrimp, snails, oto cats and such.
I think it's pretty beautiful in a weird, alien, ethereal way. At first anyway. It's a bit like snow: nice when fresh but eventually it gets all manner of mulm and debris stuck in it and doesn't look as nice.
Spider wood is the worst of all. I set up a really beautiful Aquascape for my stepmom and she threw out the spider with because it got "fungus".... I told her it would happen and next time I called to check up on it she told me she threw it out. It was a beautiful red spider wood too
It looks like a driftwood condom! Haha Fish and shrimp will gobble it up. It looks weird, but it’s pretty harmless. I soaked my driftwoodfor about 5 days before putting in the tank. I changed the water out once or twice a day. I did that mostly for the tannins. There’s a little bit of biofilm on one of them, but the other ones still has some pretty significant biofilm, but not like in your pictures. I’m getting some shrimp and snails in the next couple days once they arrive from the mail order supplier. They will be happy to have a delicious welcome home treat like that.
Mine looked the same after about the same period of time. I did nothing to it and it eventually was eaten/degraded and was completely gone after 2 weeks
This is my applewood. The fish have even been picking at it and it remains. It honestly looks infected with something 😂 pick it off if it bothers you but it’s harmless and fish shrimp and snails love it
•
u/BearTheFerret Jul 24 '26
Much jealousy lol my shrimpies and snails and otos would be in heaven