Has Anyone Seen This Before

[Phil]

About 1 month ago, this white hair like stuff started to grow on my rock. This tank is about 7 month old. All water parameters check out good. Tank is 105 gallons and I change 25 gallons every 3 weeks. Bio-load is very small, 2 clown fish, 2 firefish and 1 dwarf angelfish and 2 cleaner shrimp. I run 200 micron filter socks and a bubble king mini 180 skimmer.

I feed very sparingly every other day and yet the filter socks will clog within 24 hrs. They fill with a clear slime like substance. This is a FOWLR tank. The white hair like stuff is only growing on the rock, nothing on the gravel, powerheads or overflow box. At its longest it may be 3/8 of an inch. It does not have any oxygen bubbles attached to it like Dinoflagelates. It is growing on top of and underneath the rock.

Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated. The nearest I can come up with is Chrysophytes but I am not sure.

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[Salty Cracker]

Type of bryopsis perhaps.
Could also be small tubeworms.

I don't know as if it would concern me too much if it was in my tank, just let things progress. Your rock is crazy clean for being 7 months old...

What micron socks are you using, I usually acn go a couple of weeks before socks plug up, and I double them up (mesh inside and cloth outside).

 

[Phil]

I agree, it is clean. I use 200 micron felt socks same ones I have always used. When I had a full reef tank going I too could go for at least a week before having to clean them and I bet I could have gone longer. It is this clear slime crap that is clogging up my socks. I have no idea if it is a bi-product of these white things but the clogged sock issue happened when these white things appeared so I would say they are related.

 

[AdInfinitum]

I would still vote for Dino's. There are many many species and forms and it tends to be the coloured/photosynthetic species that form lots of bubbles. I also agree with Salty.....that rock looks freshly bleached not 7 months old.

 

[Salty Cracker]

If they can be blasted off the rock with a turkey baster, and float in the water, then I would agree dinos. If they are firmly attached then probably not.

I'm still not sure what finally got rid of my dinos, kind of just worked themselves out after 3 separate bouts with them.

 

[TORX]

I agree, there is no way that rock should be that white on a 7 month old tank. Especially on a 7 month old tank I should say. You should have gone through a cyano bloom as well as dinoflagellates. At this stage, the rock should be a nice brown and green color. Being that white does not make sense. That said, it leaves a lot of things out there about what could be on the rock. First we need to find out why it is so white.

As for the clear slime in the socks, check if there are any aerosols being used in the house. Spraying Lysol, AirWick or other air fresheners will get in the water column and is a popular/leading cause of slime mold/bacteria. Removing it and cleaning the socks often is required. Keep in mind that it is a bacteria, not algae, so much like cyano, light does not affect it.

 

[Phil]

Not sure what to say about the white rock. Being a FOWLR tank, the LED lighting is not intense and only on for 7 hrs a day with a 1 hr ramp up and down setting. The blues were off here so I can show you the issue easier. The lights are 2 Radion Gen 3's running at a max of 45 percent with no reds or greens and blues and UV at 35 and white at 15. I have gone through a diatom bloom around month 3 where the substrate and rocks were quite brown. No Cyano outbreak. The rocks don't have clear slime really, it is just those white hair like strands. It does blow off the rock using a turkey baster and I have been brushing them quite often. No changes to air freshner or spraying anything in the room. I did a 3 day lights off period with no affect at all.

I was of the impression from my 7 years as a reef keeper that Dinoflagelates are not at all a part of a tank cycling. Some people get them but many do not. This white stuff is only on the rock and not anywhere on my substrate. Flow is quite high, I am using 2 MP40's and a vectra M1 return pump. The Dinoflaggelate images I have seen show it to be a light to golden brown colour with lots of small air bubbles in it and growing all over the substrate and rocks. This clear slime is only found in my filter socks.

 

[Phil]

Any thoughts on if this may indeed be Dinoflagelates? Those that have had that issue, did your filter socks clog in a day with slime ?

 

[Josh]

i have a theory, maybe your cleaner shrimp has ocd

 

[Nonuser]

looks like fibers and I would have bet my house on the rocks being less than a month in water

 

[Phil]

looks like fibers and I would have bet my house on the rocks being less than a month in water

Seriously everyone this tank has been online since October 5th 2016. Have none of you ever had a problem with you filter socks getting coated in a clear slime in 24 hrs and then overflowing?

 

[Phil]

i have a theory, maybe your cleaner shrimp has ocd

Funny but not helpful bud.

 

[AdInfinitum]

Whether it is an NPS species of Dino's or a bacterial bloom. (Clear "snot" is almost inevitably one of the two) and since there are no corals to worry about...check ph, if it is on the low side try raising it up as high as 8.5 as both pests are quite susceptible to ph changes...

If you are fairly certain that it is bacteria rather than Dino's you could try some Red Slime Remover...I know it is meant for Cyano but it is really just a broad spectrum antibiotic that will knock it back and help break the cycle.

Then you need to address the root cause... In this case IMO you need to figure out what is preventing the growth of "normal" aquarium flora and fauna on the rocks that establish a balance and prevent these mono-culture blooms. Are you dosing anything for algae control? Was the rock or substrate exposed to a lot of copper in the past?...any other factors that you can think of that is keeping the system looking so sterile? Once there is enough life in the tank to establish a balance that's when the crazy blooms so common in young tanks essentially end...and that lack of balance is BTW is why young tanks experience the various blooms.

 

[shamous113]

just wondering When you cycled your tank did you dose a bacteria culture like Dr. Tim's or seachem stability? or did you add a seed rock or sand?

 

[Josh]

Ok basically i talked to a buddy of mine who just doesnt do "online" he says its a silica based bacteria diatom. Whatever you are using for your water changes whether its a used 5 gallon pail or what not you need to change ALL of your water changing methods. New siphon, new buckets, and make sure u keep lids on them. Its picking up silica somehow and it feeds the bacteria called "Chrysophytes" I would get some new pails and do a 10% water change every 2-3 days and increase your flow if you can in the tank and see how it goes. In the meantime continue cleaning the sock and manually remove it. Torx mentioned the cleaning products and stuff. Do you use old house cleaning buckets etc etc etc. For what it costs its an easy thing to try to simply change buckets. I use canadian tire ones and they cost very little. I also never mix my salt and fresh buckets/siphons/nets etc etc.

He said his ATO would do this every once in a while if he didnt keep it cleaned. So if you have an ATO look at that being an issue as well.

Also do an ammonia test if you have a tester. Low bacteria load causing ammonia to be 1ppm or higher will also cause this. Can possibly dose the bacteria like shamous113 said above.

I beleive he used GFO to remove his but not 100% sure. I bet you anything salty will know that answer hes the GFO master.

Good luck.

 

[Josh]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2439205
^possibly helpful link

 

[Phil]

Whether it is an NPS species of Dino's or a bacterial bloom. (Clear "snot" is almost inevitably one of the two) and since there are no corals to worry about...check ph, if it is on the low side try raising it up as high as 8.5 as both pests are quite susceptible to ph changes...

If you are fairly certain that it is bacteria rather than Dino's you could try some Red Slime Remover...I know it is meant for Cyano but it is really just a broad spectrum antibiotic that will knock it back and help break the cycle.

Then you need to address the root cause... In this case IMO you need to figure out what is preventing the growth of "normal" aquarium flora and fauna on the rocks that establish a balance and prevent these mono-culture blooms. Are you dosing anything for algae control? Was the rock or substrate exposed to a lot of copper in the past?...any other factors that you can think of that is keeping the system looking so sterile? Once there is enough life in the tank to establish a balance that's when the crazy blooms so common in young tanks essentially end...and that lack of balance is BTW is why young tanks experience the various blooms.

Thank you, my pH is around 8.1 but I certainly can raise it to 8.5. I assume dosing alkalinity will be safe for this. I'am a little leery of doing too much all at once. How long do you think I should keep the pH high before thinking of dosing Red Slime Remover? I am not dosing anything for algae control. The rock was brand new from Reef Supplies.ca I honestly do not know why the rock is so sterile.

 

[Phil]

just wondering When you cycled your tank did you dose a bacteria culture like Dr. Tim's or seachem stability? or did you add a seed rock or sand?

Yes, I used Dr. Tims back in October.

 

[Nonuser]

Does the rocks have a film on it as well? The threads I've read does point to water and bacteria. Do you use RO water ?

 

[Phil]

Ok basically i talked to a buddy of mine who just doesnt do "online" he says its a silica based bacteria diatom. Whatever you are using for your water changes whether its a used 5 gallon pail or what not you need to change ALL of your water changing methods. New siphon, new buckets, and make sure u keep lids on them. Its picking up silica somehow and it feeds the bacteria called "Chrysophytes" I would get some new pails and do a 10% water change every 2-3 days and increase your flow if you can in the tank and see how it goes. In the meantime continue cleaning the sock and manually remove it. Torx mentioned the cleaning products and stuff. Do you use old house cleaning buckets etc etc etc. For what it costs its an easy thing to try to simply change buckets. I use canadian tire ones and they cost very little. I also never mix my salt and fresh buckets/siphons/nets etc etc.

He said his ATO would do this every once in a while if he didnt keep it cleaned. So if you have an ATO look at that being an issue as well.

Also do an ammonia test if you have a tester. Low bacteria load causing ammonia to be 1ppm or higher will also cause this. Can possibly dose the bacteria like shamous113 said above.

I beleive he used GFO to remove his but not 100% sure. I bet you anything salty will know that answer hes the GFO master.

Good luck.

I've used the same pail for syphoning the tank for a few years now. It gets rinsed with tap water after use and then wiped dry. No cleaning products ever used in it. I will do a full set of water tests this afternoon and report back. I had a fresh batch of High Capacity GFO in a TLF 150 reactor that was only about 2 weeks old. I just took it offline as the slime clogged up the sponge pad and the flow basically stopped.