Hey guys. Sorry I haven't been around much. Been really busy. Anway, onto my problem. I'm not sure if it's a disease or not...

I bought a Black Knife fish yesterday along with some plants. This morning, my knife fish was dead and a whole lot of white "things" are floating on the top of my tank. I can't tell what the white things are and I don't know if they're related to the Knife fish or the new plants.

The Knife fish also had an unusual while bulge just behind it's left gill. It appeared to have a small amount of blood in it. I have a few pics...

Can anyone explain to me what's happened? Is the white "stuff" floating on the top of my tank dangerous? Should it be removed (I'm guessing yes).

These are the floating white things...

And this is my tank. It's a standard 2 1/2 foot tank. 25*C constant temp. The new plants are the 2 small ones in front, the red leafed ones on the right and the big reeds at the back. Everything else has been happily co-existing for about 3 months now.

What other fish are in the tank?

Can you scoop up the white stuff?

Can you further describe the white spot? Is it soft or hard?

Lol. yeah, sorry about my sketchy descriptions.

The other fish in the tank are 3 neons, an albino cory cat, a spiney eel, a clown loach, a bristlenose catfish and a betta. They've all lived happily together for quite some time.

The white stuff floating on the top almost looks like fish eggs but they're hard and elongated. More like seeds now that I think about it. It's a little hard to get them out because they're so small. At least they float so it makes it easier. There doesn't seem to be more of them developing. Have no idea where they came from though. I think they must of came from the new plants I put in.

The white bulge on the knife fish was soft and spongy. It almost looked like one of the fishes organs. It seemed to be connected by a stand of skin or something. It looked more like a cyst or tumor really except it was soft. And it developed overnight because when I bought him, he was fine. I'm very picky in the fish I buy now. I generally watch them for 10 minutes or so to make sure they're alright before I purchase them.

I just spent the last half hour trying to get as much of the white stuff out as possible and it appears to be more like an algae than anything else. The white "seeds" seemed to be connected together by a slimy film reminisent (sp?) of common types of algae.

Also, my pH level kinda got out of hand was up around the 7.6/7.8 mark... :banghead: Could have contributed to the Knife's death considering the other fish were used to it.

That's weird...I've never seen anything like it. :hmm:

Do you think something fell into the tank? Algae isn't white...They could be insect eggs...I don't know... :dunno:


Any pics close up?

The white spot might have been post mortem, ie the other fish tried to eat him once he was dead. How much of a pH change are we talking?

those white thing, i am about 95% sure, are insect eggs. You see them on a summers day on ponds around lilly pads.. I think they're either mosquito eggs, or they are some sort of dragonfly egg.... Ill post pictures.

Both these insects have elongated eggs, but whether or not they are white and clump like that on a pond. I have no idea. Ive seen those white clumps before... and i'm pretty sure they're not plant related.

Well, I'm pissed! I don't know what the stuff was but it came back after I scooped it out. And it came back with a vengeance...

Everything in my tank besides my fighter is now dead!!! Overnight mind you. My fighter has started to get a white spot on his lower fin but I've treated him with a general drug and he seems to be fine.

The pH before the change was 7.8 and the pH 24hr/s later (after the pH down treatment) was 7.6 so there wasn't to much change there.

What annoys me was there was no indication of sickness in ANY of my fish. Even post-mortom there was no visible signs.

All up I lost:
1 x Black Knife
1 x Spiney Eel
1 x Albino Cory
1 x Clown Loach (a good 4 inchs in size to)
3 x Neon Tetras
1 x Bristlenose (another 4 inch fish!)

They were all just starting to settle in and the clown loach and bristlenose were starting to grow nicely.

Strange that the "fragile" betta was the only one to survive...

By the next day, the white stuff was pretty much covering the top of the tank. Nothing could have fallen in because the lids were on and there isn't really a way to get into the tank without removing the lid.

For now, I've put the betta in a small container (I don't like to but everyone seems to think it's ok) and I've still got my Crayfish. I'm about to move in a couple of months so I'll wait until I get out before I start up the tank again. I want to get a bigger tank anyway.

:bye: :rip:

farout mate that sucks! i've not heard of this white plague and i hope i never see it!

Good luck with your moving and i look forward to seeing your new tank!

So sorry to hear about your losses. :rip:

Since you are going to wait until after you move to set it back up you might consider bleaching everything that was in the tank including the tank.

My mom's betta lived in a 1 gal jar for several months and was perfectly happy, we gave him a bubble stone and he became more active.

In my experience Bettas are much hardier than most people give them credit for, after all, could any other fish survive in those little cups for days or weeks at a time?

Good luck with the re-stock!