What is this white slime on the suction cap?

**14litre** · 25th Feb 2015, 21:57

Does anyone know what is this white slimy thingy?

Attached are the pictures of it.

Below are the videos.

White Slime on the suction cap:

Capturing the slime from another angle while trying to remove it:
http://youtu.be/oGbSYCXgoNw

Adding another image from the Gallery:

**14litre** · 25th Feb 2015, 22:26

This is a full view of my tank:

**14litre** · 25th Feb 2015, 22:51

*deleted*
Duplicate image deleted because i am testing some image loading in tapatalk.

**14litre** · 26th Feb 2015, 18:51

This is another video when I tried to "tear" the slime apart yesterday.

**IrvineChen** · 26th Feb 2015, 19:28

I also have this when setting up new tank... they only appear on the air tube(rubber) and suction cap...
I don't think they would cause much damage, as my shrimp love to pick at those slim..

**14litre** · 26th Feb 2015, 21:37

I see. Yup, mine was only seen on the suction cap and it's a new tank too. Thanks for sharing. I'll monitor further.

**Urban Aquaria** · 26th Feb 2015, 23:38

I tend to sometimes find similar slime fungus or mold on newly introduced driftwood (even after boiling and sun drying them), fortunately after manually removal it usually disappears for good.

Could just be fungus/mold spores that happen to hitchhike in with plants or hardscape, and simply grow rapidly due to higher levels of nutrients in the water column.

Maybe the ones that appear on the air line and suction cup could be those that feed on trace chemicals released by the plastic/silicon materials? That might explain their appearance only in those areas.

**14litre** · 27th Feb 2015, 18:29

Originally Posted by Urban Aquaria

I tend to sometimes find similar slime fungus or mold on newly introduced driftwood (even after boiling and sun drying them), fortunately after manually removal it usually disappears for good.

Could just be fungus/mold spores that happen to hitchhike in with plants or hardscape, and simply grow rapidly due to higher levels of nutrients in the water column.

Maybe the ones that appear on the air line and suction cup could be those that feed on trace chemicals released by the plastic/silicon materials? That might explain their appearance only in those areas.

I see. I'll remove the suction cap if the slime is back. I'm feeding the shrimps only once a day. So I can put the feeding pipe manually each day instead of fixing it permanently.

Thanks for sharing once again.

**Urban Aquaria** · 27th Feb 2015, 19:28

Originally Posted by 14litre

I see. I'll remove the suction cap if the slime is back. I'm feeding the shrimps only once a day. So I can put the feeding pipe manually each day instead of fixing it permanently.

Thanks for sharing once again.

I think once the suction cap material is "seasoned" in the water, it probably wouldn't encourage anymore of the fungus or mold growth, so can actually just leave it in the tank.

**14litre** · 28th Feb 2015, 10:57

Originally Posted by Urban Aquaria

I think once the suction cap material is "seasoned" in the water, it probably wouldn't encourage anymore of the fungus or mold growth, so can actually just leave it in the tank.

Understood. Thank you.