First thing is a question...I wasn't sure if it fit into one of the other forum categories so hopefully this is ok.

I have stuff growing on my airline tubing that looks kind of like algae but is totally white. The fish seem to like to eat it and it grows VERY fast, although it seems to stop once it has covered the tubing. Then the fish eat it off and it grows again. The main thing is that this was brand new airline tubing, I put it into the tank and the very next day it was covered with this stuff. Everything else in the tank is normal, the white stuff is not on the ornaments, filter, gravel or tank sides. This is a cycled tank, (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 10 nitrates, 7.2 ph) that has been running about 9 months.

Any thoughts on what that is? Is there such a thing as white algae? Is this a problem or just something extra for my fish to munch on?

As for the update, I have not picked out a new black moor yet but I plan to soon. I have a new filter coming for my 55 gallon tank, so I can take one of the smaller ones off the 55 and set up a 10 gallon qt for the moor. Jerry, the calico telescope that has survived two moors, seems to be doing very well. Swims all over, eating well and VERY cute. I got her to eat from my hand yesterday.

My four giants in the 55 gallon seem to be doing very well too, although Soda has some visual issues I think. He was doing well in the crowded 20 gallon for ages, and then when I moved everyone but him over to the 55 so he could stay behind and heal his torn dorsal fin, something happened to his eyes. Well, one of them anyway. He now has one pupil that is WAY smaller than the other and it seems like he can't see as well as he used to. He still gets plenty of food and all but he just seems like he is visually impaired a bit-but he still sees better than my telescope Jerry! So perhaps he went blind in that eye or something. His fins are great now though and he is very happy being back with his buddies. All of the fish in the big tank think they are still in the World Cup running the way they play "rock soccer" every night...

So that is about it for now...

Wow, white stuff, hm? Never heard of that one. I'd take the tubing out, soak it some in either bleach or PP (whatever you have at home of those two) for a little while, then rinse, rinse, rinse, and rinse some more, and then an overnight soak in some clean water with double dechlorinator. If the bleach doesn't take care of it, then I don't know what will. Strange, just on the tubing and nowhere else...

With Soda, the whole eye got bigger? Did he run into something maybe?

I have the same thing only it grows in my filter tube and compartment. No matter what i do, It always comes back. Eventaully it gets too big so it breaks off and clogs the filter

I have it too and am really wondering what it is. It is inside the filter tube and when I turn the filter off for water changes the back rush of water throws it in the tank. I've been worried about it. Is yours like paper thin and a clear white? Very hard to describe, kind of like a film that would build on a glass of liquid that would have been left sitting. I took my filter apart trying to figure it out but didn't see anything.

As far as I know,most new tanks start up with that,and sometimes if do a few big water changes on an older tank ,I have that happen. My opinion is that basically-it's the beginning of an algae thing happening,like a "bloom" of sorts.It stays around for a while and then all of a sudden,it just seems to move into the next stage,and disappears. I tend to clean off only the front glass so that I'm able to see in tank clearly.The rest of the glass is left to bloom and mature into good bio-stuff. There's probably a better way of explaining it,but as I am working,and have only had about one hr. sleep today,my brain is sort of fuzzy at the moment.

it's not algae but actually the beginnings of a bacterial colony. well... at least it has been so far in my experience, and at least they're beneficial bacteria too (again, in my case). The fish do sometimes like to chomp on it but i've never observed any negative effects. Alternatively, some planted-tank enthusiasts that use a CO2 sugar-yeast reactor also report the development of said growths from the airline tubing that delivers the CO2 to the tank so an alternative explanation could be that it's a residual build-up from the gaseous CO2 reacting with the pH of teh tank water.

Thanks for the answers...I did do several large water changes recently, plus the waste amount in this tank has gone WAY DOWN with only one tiny fancy in there compared to four huge single tails.

And Andrea, with Soda, both of the eyes themselves are the same size but the pupil on one of his eyes is MUCH smaller than the other, like almost pinpointed. It was not like that before so I am not sure what happened. There wasn't much in the old tank for him to hurt himself on...I have a Whisper in-tank filter but it is all rounded edges, and I have smooth, river rock gravel and a tiny skull ornament that is all smooth. When I noticed the eye, Chery was still in the 20 gallon with him, then I moved her over to the 55 and he was in there alone for awhile. Around the same time he had a tear and some worn spots on his dorsal fin, which is why he got left in the 20 for awhile, so he could be in some salt. Maybe he got stuck between the filter and the glass or something and that is how the fin and the eye happened? But he is doing ok, I jut think he maybe can;t see out of that eye anymore.

Here is a thread about it from aways back that has a picture-look at the last picture though, it is the only one where you can really tell.

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...c=47800&hl=soda