"fuzzy little dots" in tank,Looks like pants fuzz

[Jyynx]

My sister-in-law is in Germany for six weeks and her mother is staying at her place. I went over to check on her fish (her mom just feeds them) and noticed in her 30 gallon (which is home to two 2''convicts and two 3'' Four-lined pimelodus) that there are all of these little white, circle shaped things that kind of look like cotton, or maybe a type of fungus. The best way to describe them would be those small fluffies you get on your clothes after you take them out of the dryer.

These things are on the part of the filter in the tank, the glass, the rocks and the piece of drift wood. It isn't ich because there isn't anything on the fish, they all seem healthy. I was looking online and read about something called hydra(?). I have never experienced this before.

Any idea what's going on? I'd like to treat her tank if I need to, I was also going to do some water changes for her this weekend.

[Diana]

Could the fluff things be rotting food?

Yes, do a water change, and have a look at the food situation. Many fish-sitters have no idea how to feed fish and overfeed by so much the fish cannot eat it all and fungus moves in on it. Vacuum out all the bits, and show the mother how much to feed. If she has any problem with 'Just a little pinch, like this' then measure a days worth of food into baggies.

[Jyynx]

Oh my, it turns out the filter had died! I didn't notice this at first because of the aeration she has in there; it was still giving lots of water movement. I'm not sure how long it had been out for (possibly 3 weeks!). But I did a thorough water change and set up a working filter. There was so much junk in that tank, those poor fish. So far the fish are alright.

[Diana]

Glad you were able to help out! What a terrible thing to happen when on vacation. Good that you were able to step up and help!