Two questions (rotifers and white fuzz)

[NicoleC]

The first question is: what is this white fuzzy stuff growing in my goby tank? I clean it out, and it grows back. I can't bleach the tank because it's occupied, although I suppose I could try to move the baby and half the water to a new tank and see what happened.

The second question is: what causes rotifer cultures to dwindle? Not crashing, populations steadily declining for a few weeks. No change in food, maintenance, etc. I have tried straining them through 53um and putting in new water in a sterile bucket, to reduce contamination, if I have some. No luck. Tonight I am doing again, and putting them on algae paste instead of yeast to see if that encourages them. They are still on 50% water changes daily as the routine.

Anything else to try?

 

[spawner]

Do you have a good microscope?

 

[jacob30]

White fuzz is more than likely a bacterial mat. Not necessarily harmful.

On the rotifers I find the same thing in my cultures sometimes and I just do water changes and add some ammonia remover. In a few days they take off again. How large are your rotifer cultures? I do not do 50% daily water changes. I maybe change water once a week. My rotifers react poorly to large water changes.

Good luck

Jacob

 

[Peter Schmiedel]

Nicole,

I also vote for simple bacteria mat - I also have them in my rots tanks. Once in a while I clean all the window panes and siphon them out.

I dont do water change in my Rots tanks and I have in all tree tanks a very dense culture. I belive the current water has not been changed for at least 3 weeks. And the tanks a very small. I feed selco only.

 

[NicoleC]

I've had good luck with my rotifer method so far; the water changes also help keep up pH. They are in just a couple of 3g buckets, since I don't need them to feed right now.. I use Clor-Am-X to control ammonia. I could try not changing the water for a bit -- how low of a pH is okay for rots?

The white fuzz didn't seem harmful, but I'm a little paranoid about my lone little goby. I wonder if introducing if brine shrimp would eat it? Hmmm.

No fuzz in the rot buckets or the clown tank, just the goby tank. The clown tank has a HOB filter and sponge filter, though.

No, I don't have a good microscope.

 

[S-B]

just to let you know , for a microscope you only need a low power one . I bought one in a toy store .
I use the96x and 144x to check my rotifers and it works great !

 

[NicoleC]

I have a toy, too, but I don't think it's up to identifying bacteria. It's not a bad scope, but it weighs nothing and vibrates out of focus if you breathe on it!

 

[spawner]

Nicole,

you can pick up a research grade scope on ebay that looks exactly like my $2K olympus for about $300.

I was thinking you might have a small protozoan infection causing the problem with your densities. I commonly see white stuff on the sides of my rotifer tanks, it's bacteria and seems to be more intense with yeasts. You just need to wipe it down every few days.

 

[NicoleC]

Should I just dump them, or is there something I can do to clean them? I won't be needing rots for a while yet.

 

[Luis A M]

I was thinking if your white fuzzy stuff were hydroids?
When a rot culture goes bad it is time to make a new one,thatÃ"šÃ‚´s why two of them are adviced.Much simpler than finding the actual reason of the crash.If things go bad again,question your husbandry practices.Agree with Andy that a cheap scope could help to check the white stuff or the rots.You could see if they look healthy and carrying eggs,or if many ciliates are present.