# cold water tank



## ginge1965

Hi everyone, newbie here.:scared:
I have a cold water tank, recently i've noticed bits of what look cotton wool floating around and attached to one of the live plants. Just wondered if anyone could tell me what it is?
Also i've discovered a few tiny snails starting to appear in the tank, have these got anything to do with it and how can i get rid of them?
If anyone can help, i'll be very grateful.......Thanx:thumbup:


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## hope

hello and welcome to pf 

with the snails if you have live plants in the tank they would have come from them the only way you would get rid of them is to not have the plants in the water .

and with the wool like stuff is it on any of the fish?


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## ginge1965

hi,
no it doesnt seem to be.

could the cotton wool stuff be rotten old food?

UPDATE: i've removed all the live plants, quite alot of snails in the bowl i put them in. gonna do a 50% water change and wash the filters in the dirty water, also all the decor. the only problem i can see me having is getting any snails left in the gravel. advised not to put any chemicals in to kill them, as when they die they will ruin the eco system and kill my fish. was told to try putting a bit of cucumber in at night, then get rid in the morning. will this work? also if i see any on the glass, i remove them by hand. hopefully 1 day i'll be rid of the little gets, lol


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## ginge1965

hi hope, could you help me out again plz. ive got what looks like bubbles on the side of my tank, but when i touch them they feel slimey, any idea what these are? thanx


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## hawksport

That's algae with gas trapped under it


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## hope

yeah was going to say that but wanted to see a picture first before i said it incase it was somthink else lol you can get treatments for algae


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## ginge1965

thanx guys, ive got a sucking loach and a weather loach, are they not ment to eat that? mind they are both still quite small yet.
i'm still picking out loads of snails, was reading on here last night, this guy had a snail problem, so introduced a killer snail, is that not just replacing 1 problem with another, or are they easier to control?


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## ginge1965

hope said:


> yeah was going to say that but wanted to see a picture first before i said it incase it was somthink else lol you can get treatments for algae


ive tried taking a pic, but it doesnt show up


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## Fishyfins

ginge1965 said:


> thanx guys, ive got a sucking loach and a weather loach, are they not ment to eat that? mind they are both still quite small yet.
> i'm still picking out loads of snails, was reading on here last night, this guy had a snail problem, so introduced a killer snail, is that not just replacing 1 problem with another, or are they easier to control?


sucking loach and weather loach do not really eat algae. weather loach not at all (their mouths arnt designed for it, they dig for detritus and invertebrates in the substrate). sucking loach will, but in very small amounts. and if well fed with aquarium food, probably wont touch it at all. as well as this, the sucking loach is really a tropical species, and shouldnt be in there at all. they can tolerate more temperate conditions such as a coldwater tank, though tolerate is a far cry from thrive.

as for the snails. the only real issue with snails is population volume. most snails are actually benefitial in in aquarium in that they eat detritus and uneaten fishfood, thus cut down on algae causing nutrients in the water (therefore may even help with the algae problem). its just an issue cos they can reach plague proportions. if your worried about them, the best way to remove them is to put a small piece of cucumber at the tank at night, just after lights out, and wait a few hours. most snails are nocturnal, and will come out at night... a tasty piece of cucumber will tempt them towards it, and it will soon become a writhing mass of snails. then simply get a net, and net them all out in one go. it wont remove all of them of course, but it keeps the population under control, without resorting to snail eating fish, or chemicals, which can cause more harm than good.

hope this helps
Fishy


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## gav5

Take precaution. This is exactly the same bad experience which I had with my previous goldfish tank. After I noticed the white cottony film hanging everywhere (on the plants, filter inlet, tank overflow pipe), the whole group of goldfish started to develop some kind of fin rot that engulf the tails and fins. 

I never did identify where the source of the problem was from but I remembered I did change to a new fish food brand a week prior to the incident. All I could remember was that I discarded the food, added salt, raised the temperature, use liquid medicine and after that everything was okay. The result: lost a goldie but luckily the rest were fine.


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