White spec on heater?

I noticed this stuck to the heater in the 5 gallon that I am cycling. I looked around and it's the only place I see it. No fish in the tank either. Anyone have an idea of what it is?

 

is it bubble?

 

No, it's kinda fuzzy and white

 

From the wire?

 

It's right there on the very top, looks like a white puff on it.

 

Could be some type of fungus growing there, or its just calcium build up. Will it wipe off easy?

Edit: tea that looks like some sort of fungus.

 

I wiped it off and it kinda just floated around in the tank. What should I do about it? There is no fish in it currently, its going through cycle.

 

My daughter had that in her guppy tank. I had to do a very large (70%) water change and treat with Melafix. We still lost 3 guppies. If you do that I think you l have to 're start your cycle. If that is the case you'd be better off emptying the tank, cleaning everything. Toss the old media and start over. I'd wait for other options. But that's what I would do.

 

Well, it's got a sponge filter.. how would I go about cleaning that out to start over? I am having some issues with cycling my tanks, which is on another thread, and had bought some stability to start adding so it wouldn't be a total waste to restart that tank at this point I think.

 

I would say calcium buildup.It won't harm the fish though

 

If it was a calcium deposit, I agree it wouldn't
be harmful. Unfortunately that's not calcium. Calcium is hard and needs to be scraped off. It doesn't wipe off easily. Post that picture on your cycling thread and see what everyone says.

 

Perhaps another picture so we can make sure?

 

I wiped it off last night and the debris floated around like a little cloud in the tank before it settled on the bottom somewhere

 

I wiped it off last night and the debris floated around like a little cloud in the tank before it settled on the bottom somewhere

Tell me you didn't leave it in the tank?

 

I did but figured I was tearing it down that it didn't matter. I just need to know how to clean my sponge filter

 

Ok good.lol ok thought you just left it there.
Sorry I can't help you with a sponge filter I've never had 1