How to fix mysterious white floating flakes in fish tank:

When I was feeding my fish, I noticed weird white flakes in the tank. I had no idea where did it come from because I had not seen such a thing before. I did a net research to have a better idea about this problem & how to fix it. I searched for white flakes like particles floating in my aquarium & found that many fish keepers had the same problem. Some of the aquarists thought it could be some sort of bacterial infection while others supposed that it could be fungus.

Have a look at white floating flakes in my aquarium & how I fixed it in video below:


How to fix mysterious white floating flakes in fish tank


Rotten diet used for cycling aquarium:


Rotten food could produce the white flakes
Rotten food could produce the white flakes

If you have cycled your aquarium using fish diet then it could be the cause of producing ammonia for cycling the aquarium & rotten diet could be the reason behind this fungus growth. It could be the by-product of cycling aquarium using rotten fish food. The solution they provided was to wash the filter media, vacuum clean the gravel, clean the tank decoration & pump, & a water change of 90 percent is required if no fish are living in your aquarium.

 

Debris:


Mechanical filtration can trap white flakes
Filter sock (coarse foam) in the left pic is covered in fine foam in the right pic

White flake particles seem like debris which could have entered aquarium through multiple ways for example using water & gravels from another aquarium for fast cycling of the aquarium. The best solution is to vacuum clean your tank gravel & use fine foam for trapping all the little particles & debris, & change lots of water.

 

Calcium Buildup:

White flake particles seem very similar to calcium that builds up due to hard water, & attaches itself to aquarium glass, objects or other surfaces. However, this was not the issue but I did not know it initially. I changed 50 percent aquarium water & cleaned my filter because this white flake was floating everywhere in the tank. The next week, I faced the same issue & changed water again but it did not solve my problem.

 

How I actually fixed my weird white flakes problem:


White flakes around the hose
White flakes around the hose

I ordered a sponge filter & was waiting for its delivery. In between, I built a homemade sponge filter using a plastic bottle, a piece of hose & foam, & used it for one week. When I received the package, I removed the sponge filter but I saw weird white flakes in the aquarium. When I paid attention, I discovered that the problem was with the hose. I used the same hose as an outtake of top sump filter. After sliding my finger over the hose of top sump filter, I discovered that the white flakes were coming off the hose. Bacterial infection, fungus or calcium were not the problems but the issue was with the plastic hose.

After discovering the real cause of mysterious white flakes, I got really excited. I replaced the hose, changed 50 percent more water & washed my filter to remove the leftover white flakes.

I hope that the above-mentioned solutions would fix your problem of white flakes. Always check your plumbing & change them regularly as low-quality plastic stuff could get really dangerous.

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