# Fungus, Velvet, Something Else? Treatment?



## Whtroze (Sep 25, 2012)

Hi all and thank you in advance for ANY help.

I have a 15 gal tank that had been cycled for about a year. Substrate is aquarium sand (light beige color). Had 2 mollies, which recently passed away likely due to what's going on here. One a month ago, the last a week ago.

First...is this velvet?? To back up slightly to give a history of when this may have started....about 2 weeks prior to my silver molly's death I had noticed she appeared to be changing color. Her bright white started turning a darker greyish mostly along her back and pect. fins. She was pregnant at the time and a friend told me it could be the pregnancy. I now believe this was incorrect and wonder if it actually was velvet. It has been a week since her passing and removing her from the tank and I'm noticing a brown/rust like covering on the substrate. This was not there before her death. Is this velvet?? I heard velvet will die within 24 hours without a fish, but this brown substance appears to be increasing. So not sure what's going on. Pic is showing substrate surface....it should be ALL light beige, but you can see there is a brownish substance present.

Second....fungus??? On the decorations I am noticing a fuzzy white substance. Also, I've seen white "chunks" (small) suspended in the water. Two pictures to show, one of side of a decoration, the other is the white chunks suspended....yes those spots you see are it (not a photo glitch).

So....can fungus AND velvet be present??? Currently there are no fish in the tank. I'm hoping there is a way to fix this issue so I can get new fishies. If at all possible I would hope to do something rather than taking the whole thing down and deep clean...as this would then result in me having to recycle the tank before I can add fishies. Any suggestions??? What's the best treatment(s)???? Just a reminder...substrate is sand if that makes a difference in treatment(s). Worse case, I will take it all down and deep clean. However, if this can be avoided so not having to start from scratch to cycle would be great. What ever is best for new fish though, I don't want to get new fish and sentence them to death of course.

Again, thank you so much for ANY advise!!!!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Fist, I can't really tell from your pics what you have so these are guesses.

fungus on poop or uneaten food or dead plants or driftwood is pretty common (esp. in soft water) and usually harmless to fish.

Brown spots on decor and substrate are usually diatoms called brown algae that is also common (especially in tanks with sand) and harmless to fish.

Both of those things can indicate there are excess nutrients in the tank and indicate a need for a good cleaning (all new water, rinse substrate, scrub algae, etc.)

Diseases usually don't have any signs that you see except when they are sickening a fish. It does sound like your molly had a disease. Whether a disease will be eliminated in a tank without a fish to host it depends on the disease. This is a good place for research. The hard part is knowing what the molly had. 

If it were my tank, I'd break it down and bleach. Because you have a tank infested with algae, fungus, and something mysterious plus the possibility of disease. Bleach does a good job of killing a lot of stuff (unfortunately including the "cycle"). But if you kill it all, you may get something worse. Say: Rocksnot instead of fungus, hair algae instead of brown algae. There is no perfect solution. Take your best shot.


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## Whtroze (Sep 25, 2012)

Thank you. This is my first tank using sand...used gravel in the past. I like the look of the sand and also hope someday to get a bottom dweller type species. However, I'm sadly uneducated if sand can harbor things once they get in there. Only thing I was warned was to watch the depth to not be too much to avoid anaerobic pockets. Again thank you..especial with the potential of brown algae diatoms being common and harmless. It is looking like a bleach down will be in the future. As you stated and I agree...dont know for sure what killed the molly.


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