white slime in bottom of tank

Question
QUESTION: i have a white, cottony, slime on my rocks in the bottom of my tank.  It is a 125 gallon tank.  I have guppies, cory cat and platty.  what is this stuff and what can I do about it.


ANSWER: Hi Angie: It is probably an algae issue.  Does it lay on the bottom like a thin layer of velvet???  If so you can use a water clarifier that will help it to clot together and get sucked into the filter where the filter media will catch it.  If it is algae you can also use an algaecide on it like algaefix.  How many hours of light does your tank get??? does it get indirect light???   let me know and we will get to the bottom of this.... dave

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i put a new filter in the tank and my white stuff cleared up.  Now I have glittery, salt looking stuff on some of my fish.  I have been told it is ich.  I wanted to run this by you before I treated it.  If it is ich, how long does it take to clear up and will it return.  As far as the white cottony stuff, I think my old filter was not working properly.  This new one pumps more per hour and stirs the water a lot better.

Answer
Hi Angie: Good news about the white stuff!  If your fish have ich...then it will look like someone has put salt crystals on them.  If it is ich treat it with any of the available brands of ich medication that you can get at the local fish store and make sure you bump up the heater to 82 degrees (78 for goldfish)... I like the Jungle brand of super ich cure.... dave