Fungus in vacuum tubes

[Newbie Bill]

Both of my vacuum lines are slowly growing sploches of a fuscia colored
fungus? To a lesser extent there is also some gray/green fungus/mold
looking stuff. Is it a concern? One line is a small gravel vac line short
and small ID. The other is 30 ft 5/8" ID.
Thanxx
Bill

[NetMax]

"Newbie Bill" > wrote in message
...
> Both of my vacuum lines are slowly growing sploches of a fuscia colored
> fungus? To a lesser extent there is also some gray/green fungus/mold
> looking stuff. Is it a concern? One line is a small gravel vac line
> short and small ID. The other is 30 ft 5/8" ID.
> Thanxx
> Bill


While I have to confess that I don't exactly know what colour fuscia is,
there are an assortment of different coloured growths (algaes) which will
periodically appear in the life of your aquarium, and that you should not
be concerned unless they are overtaking the tank. Most of them are
edible by certain fish, and even if you don't have fish that eat it, they
are like little water filters, removing ammonia nitrites and even
nitrates from your water. In hoses, your concern with algae starts when
they significantly restrict the water flow (imo).

For your reading pleasure:
http://www.2cah.com/netmax/basics/algae/algae.shtml

Of these 'growths' some are not true plants (algaes) and are actually
bacteria (cynobacteria is a blue-green slime) or some type of a fungal
growth (usually found on decaying organic matter). In these cases, some
effort can be made to remove the growths for cosmetic reasons, but the
fish are usually quite oblivious to the stuff. Fungus often indicates
overfeeding (it grows on uneaten fishfood), so the bad thing is the
overfeeding, not the fungus.

ps: if you are adding CO2, you can get some really funky growths around
the injector too ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Robert Flory]

My python used to try to do that, though never that color. I back flush
with hot water from the tap before I roll it up.
I doubt if it would do anything much good. Lots of fungi can be somewhat
toxic to one critter or other.
Long live penicillin ;-)
Bob

"Newbie Bill" > wrote in message
...
> Both of my vacuum lines are slowly growing sploches of a fuscia colored
> fungus? To a lesser extent there is also some gray/green fungus/mold
> looking stuff. Is it a concern? One line is a small gravel vac line
> short and small ID. The other is 30 ft 5/8" ID.
> Thanxx
> Bill
>
>

[Newbie Bill]

"NetMax" > wrote in message
.. .

> While I have to confess that I don't exactly know what colour fuscia is,
> ....
<snip>

I may not have spelled it correctly but few_sha is a brite pink.
Bill

[John Thomas]

My offhand guess is that the reddish stuff is probably yeast, and the
greenish stuff is good old penicillium...

(I used to be an environmetal microbiologist in another life)

Like the other folks said, backflush with tap water and don't leave any
of the tank bongwater in the the tubes, and it'll probably right itself
fairly quickly. It's also grood practice to suck out the backflush
before rolling up the tubing in a manner such that any and all water
gets eased out.

[Robert Flory]

By all means vac the line dry. It makes a mess otherwise ;-). A warm
plastic line is easier to rollup too.

Bob
"John Thomas" > wrote in message ...
> My offhand guess is that the reddish stuff is probably yeast, and the
> greenish stuff is good old penicillium...
>
> (I used to be an environmetal microbiologist in another life)
>
> Like the other folks said, backflush with tap water and don't leave any of
> the tank bongwater in the the tubes, and it'll probably right itself
> fairly quickly. It's also grood practice to suck out the backflush before
> rolling up the tubing in a manner such that any and all water gets eased
> out.
>
>

[NetMax]

"Newbie Bill" > wrote in message
m...
>
> "NetMax" > wrote in message
> .. .
>
>> While I have to confess that I don't exactly know what colour fuscia
>> is, ....
> <snip>
>
> I may not have spelled it correctly but few_sha is a brite pink.
> Bill


Doesn't sound good. Anything growing in stagnant water is bad, as it's
more likely to be anaerobic and producing some real nasties. I thought
the growth was in your tank. As others have said, periodically flush
your lines with hot water and try to hang them empty.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Dick]

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:06:31 GMT, "Newbie Bill"
> wrote:

>Both of my vacuum lines are slowly growing sploches of a fuscia colored
>fungus? To a lesser extent there is also some gray/green fungus/mold
>looking stuff. Is it a concern? One line is a small gravel vac line short
>and small ID. The other is 30 ft 5/8" ID.
>Thanxx
>Bill
>

Have you rinsed the lines with bleach? I get algae. Nothing so
colorful, but bleach will kill lots of things.

dick

[Newbie Bill]

"Dick" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:06:31 GMT, "Newbie Bill"
> > wrote:
>
>>Both of my vacuum lines are slowly growing sploches of a fuscia colored
>>fungus? To a lesser extent there is also some gray/green fungus/mold
>>looking stuff. Is it a concern? One line is a small gravel vac line
>>short
>>and small ID. The other is 30 ft 5/8" ID.
>>Thanxx
>>Bill
>>
>
> Have you rinsed the lines with bleach? I get algae. Nothing so
> colorful, but bleach will kill lots of things.
>
> dick

I have tried to 'rinse it' but it seems I might have to fill, then plug both
ends, and let it sit for a while. I wasn't sure if that was desirable.
Bill

[Dick]

On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 13:01:38 GMT, "Newbie Bill"
> wrote:

>
>
>"Dick" > wrote in message
...
>> On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:06:31 GMT, "Newbie Bill"
>> > wrote:
>>
>>>Both of my vacuum lines are slowly growing sploches of a fuscia colored
>>>fungus? To a lesser extent there is also some gray/green fungus/mold
>>>looking stuff. Is it a concern? One line is a small gravel vac line
>>>short
>>>and small ID. The other is 30 ft 5/8" ID.
>>>Thanxx
>>>Bill
>>>
>>
>> Have you rinsed the lines with bleach? I get algae. Nothing so
>> colorful, but bleach will kill lots of things.
>>
>> dick
>
>I have tried to 'rinse it' but it seems I might have to fill, then plug both
>ends, and let it sit for a while. I wasn't sure if that was desirable.
>Bill
>
Not sure what you refer to as desirable. Depending on your hose, I
suppose there could be a conflict, if you rinse after bleaching there
is not likely any problem. My 35 foot Gravel Vac has quite a bit of
black algae. I haven't even tried to clean it. However, I do remove
as much water from the hose as I can. I leave the cold water running
as I coil the hose to increase the vacuum to pull the water along with
gravity. It helps some. My short vacuum that I use for 10 gallon
tanks cleaned rather easily using bleach. As I recalled, it didn't go
away the same day as I rinsed the inside of the hose with bleach, but
the next time I used the hose the algae rinsed out. I guess it took a
little time for the bleach to do its thing. That hose is only used to
remove water so I didn't rinse it too carefully which might explain
the late reaction.

One time, I cleaned an intake tube to my power filter and discovered a
plant had grown inside. It looked fairly healthy, what a surprise
that was.

dick