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Killer white slime consuming tank


Havok_9

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Yea it really threw me off that it's killed some of my mushrooms, and the ones that are still surviving have detatched from the rocks and are now free floating. My feather duster either shed its little fan/head or it died, I scooped out the feathery part yesterday after I saw it floating near the surface. Most of my coeals are attached to the main pieces of large live rock so I figure I may as well sit tight with that. Good to know dr. Tims is well reviewed, thanks. Def investing in some.

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Not sure the sand would be the source of it. I started my 15g tank with a whole bag of live sand, no rinsing, and established live rock. Never had any noticable cycle or anything. But every tank is different and I'm sure there are different bacteria present in all tanks.

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I'm sorry. I hope your tank gets better soon. I know it's heartbreaking

Thank you, I appreciate that :) it's tough.

 

Getting Dr. Tims refresh, waste away, and eco balance delivered on Friday. Will update with any changes.

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jamescstein

The problem with the bags of aragalive sand is you don't know how they were treated. Could be new..could be old... could have sat out in the sun for a day or in a hot truck for several days.

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The problem with the bags of aragalive sand is you don't know how they were treated. Could be new..could be old... could have sat out in the sun for a day or in a hot truck for several days.

 

This was something I was initially afraid of, and was really hesitant NOT to rinse it. But the odd thing is that my water was super clear for two to three weeks after the addition of the sand, and only when I added a few coral frags did this bacteria bloom show up get out of hand. It must have somehow been because of those additions. Or freak coincidence. Getting the dr Tims tomorrow and I am so anxious, its frustrating every time i walk by that milky white slimey tank...

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The problem with the bags of aragalive sand is you don't know how they were treated. Could be new..could be old... could have sat out in the sun for a day or in a hot truck for several days.

That's very true. I'm not sure how "live" that sand is actually. Never seen a study on it. I just dumped mine in, water and all. Haha. If you were going to rinse it why get the "live" sand at all, why not just get the regular old sand?

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Okay, Just got my delivery of Dr. Tims Re-fresh, Waste Away, and Eco balance. Starting today off with the re-fresh per the articles advice and using that every other day for about a week, starting the first few treatments at half dose per the article as well.

 

QCrXF8J.jpg

 

I've been spot siphoning the slime out and I noticed that there hasn't been as much growing, but the tank is still very "snowy". First treatment today. Fingers crossed.

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That's very true. I'm not sure how "live" that sand is actually. Never seen a study on it. I just dumped mine in, water and all. Haha. If you were going to rinse it why get the "live" sand at all, why not just get the regular old sand?

i rinse my live forever before i use it. i would buy regular old if i could find it local. it seems for the grade like oolite etc... all i can find is live, but i dont trust that live stuff sitting in bags for god knows how long.

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Murphs_Reef

Sounds like a potential bacterial bloom I agree... A little strange that it's been like that for a week though.

 

Typically bacterial blooms are caused by heterotrophic bacteria as a response to excess organics.

 

Here's a video of my bacterial bloom - happened shortly after setting the tank up - though can happen at any time.

 

Do you have any pics you can upload?

 

Another thought is that the xenia let off some toxins... If they get pissed it can happen.

Don't know but that video was ace when you had the flashlight on, it was like the start of a space movie lol

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^^ exactly what mine looks like now! Billowy snow, you can see the particles hitting the glass with the return flow. My pics don't show it clearly but his video is great.

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I have seen cases where rock that is mature and has algae on it is moved into a system with very low nutrients and this slime appears because there is literally nothing at all to feed the algae it begins to die rapidly. Bryopsis will create a clear to milky colored slime that will feel like snot. The amount of slime produced from one small growth of bryopsis is astounding and some will inevitably get chopped up by your powerheads and create a snowing effect. This can go on for quite some time until all the algae is dead or finds something to eat. Manual removal will expedite the process. I am not saying this is what is going on in your aquarium but it seems extremely similair.

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Kind of sounds like that, it's pretty much what I did as well- mature rock in a new/nutrient poor system. But I don't have power heads to really mince it up this fine, though I guess it could get chopped up in the return pump. My hopes rest with Dr. Tim now.

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SquishyFishy

You know I'm wondering...does your clown stay at the surface like that all the time????

 

That may be an oxygenation problem...I don't know anything about that but have read about it here...Hope the Dr. comes through for you.

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You know I'm wondering...does your clown stay at the surface like that all the time????

 

That may be an oxygenation problem...I don't know anything about that but have read about it here...Hope the Dr. comes through for you.

Na, she swims to the surface when anyone comes near the tank and begs for food. I'm making sure to keep the tank well oxygenated thru this bloom, I've got the return nozzles facing almost facing directly upward to create huge water surface turbulence. So far I've done three doses of the dr. Tims re-fresh and no noticeable difference yet. I will post another pic when this dosing is done it's time to switch to the waste away formula for progress comparison.

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I just went through a little battle with this stuff. Completely took me by surprise. I learned the hard way about having plug-in air fresheners in the same room as the tank. At first I thought it was vermetid snails gone wild so I went on mad manhunt for them, but that didn't help anything.

 

It doesn't look like my outbreak was nearly as bad as yours is, but here is what I did: I turned off my filter but left my powerhead on, I used a turkey baster to blast it off the rocks (and lightly on the sand) to suspend in the water and used a fish net to remove as much manually as I could (this stuff is seriously slimey!), then I added Re-Fresh for 7 days straight and by the 3rd day it was retreating.

 

It's been another week now and no new signs of it. Hope you have success with Re-Fresh, just make sure to manually remove as much as you can while you can. And no, water changes did not help, the bacteria just came back within the day.

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Okay so it's been a full week dosing Dr. Tims Re-Fresh.

Here's the before shot-

iWaxwq7.jpg

 

And then today-

eU6nisL.jpg

 

I'd say it's about 90% clearer, one or two more routine water changes and I think it'll look back to normal (some of the clarity issue is micro bubbles while trying to fight oxygen depletion). I will be switching to Dr. Tims Waste Away for this week, dosing every other day, to follow through then after that once a week for regular maintenance. I gotta say I am incredibly pleased with the results and would highly recommend this product.

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Thank you guys so much for your help and advice, I would have been in way worse shape. I love this forum.

 

Also most everything survived. The only thing I lost was a torch coral that melted during the worst of the outbreak. My feather duster survived, it had shed its fan/head and didn't have much hope for it but just today I saw him poking out with the beginnings of a new mouth

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