fungus problem

Question
hi, i have a 10 gallon aquarium with an outside filter and 3 live plants i had 3 guppies in it which died with in few days...but one of them delivered almost 35 babies before dying which i seperated rightaway into a floating mini plastic tank. now i do not have any fish in the aquarium directly ( babies are in lil floating tank). fish tank is having alot of fungus on every rubber part of the tank( white fuzzy slimy stuff) i did clean it quite a few time....can u please let me know how can i prevent the fungus from growing into the tank. and when is it better to release babies into the bigger tank? i am still keeping them in the floating tank b/c its easier to clean and feed them..... some fry did die when i first time changed the water.... and some week ones do die almost every second day... but now mostly healthy ones are left and they are doing pretty good... they are 10 days old today...still no colour on them....will it be ok to release them into the big tank? there is no other fish in the tank.
       ur reply will help me to take care of fry better than what i am doing now.
  Regards
  Rashid

Answer
Hi Rashid;

The white fuzzy stuff is growing on something, maybe rotting food or waste from the dead fish. It could be deadly to those babies if they come in contact with it. Since the adult fish are gone I would drain the tank and scrub all the gunk out of there. Don't use hot water or any chemicals. You just want the crud out but don't want to kill any beneficial bacteria colonies that have started growing. Start over with fresh new water, a dose of water conditioner and the babies should be fine to release into the tank.

Live plants would be a nice addition to the tank too. The babies can feed on the tiny micro-organisms on them and the plants will help add more beneficial bacteria to the system.

Below is a link to my article on new tanks to help you with the next few weeks. It's still in the break-in period and you will need to know what's been going on in there that you can't see;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

Good luck with those little ones!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins