So our yellow tang that we've had since like 2014 went MIA about 2 months ago and then we started to get green hair algae (had been lucky that we'd never had it in the 9+ years we've had a tank). Then about 3 weeks ago I noticed the filter socks were covered in slime. (I replace them every 3 or 4 days)
About 2 weeks ago I noticed this spider web goo started appearing.
(That green leather toadstool is really unhappy with all that snot on it)
About a week ago the water in the sump was overflowing the socks so I thought our 9-year-old pump was croaking (not realizing it was because the socks were caked in goo) and I ordered a new pump. The old pump started giving me shocks so I took it out and just pointed a few powerheads at the surface. The next morning the Coral Beauty we've had for years was dead in the sand and I also noticed the other fish were gulping for air so I threw everything I had on hand and made the surface look like a wash machine. Mind you -- this was for about 3 days waiting for the new pump to arrive -- the only one the LFS had was too big. In the process, our two new baby fish (a foxface and a sailfin -- both as long as my thumb is wide) died, plus the coral beauty, and then a day or two later our engineering goby that we'd had since Day 1 in 2013.
Since the refugium had a fair amount of gha in it, and since the water had been sitting there with no flow getting smelly for days, I took this as an opportunity to drain and scrub out the sump. I put the new pump in and replaced two of our old powerheads with new ones.
Last night I get home and the water was lower in the return side of the sump than usual and the water was overflowing the socks and the sump had globs of this mucus-like substance in it so I used a net to scoop out as much as I could, put new socks in, turned on the pump and topped it off to the line. I spent about an hour trying to find answers to this snot problem and went back to the tank and the water was about a half inch below the line. The socks were clogged already. In an hour.
Also, my nitrates are at zero. They are never at zero. In 9 years of reefing. Even with feeding fish for days with no filtration - just powerheads running. So this funk is sucking all the oxygen and nitrates out of the tank.
In all my research I couldn't find any definitive answers. Some say vermitid snails but I don't see any tubes. Some say it's an algae and to use Dr Tim's Re-Fresh and Waste Away so good bacteria outcompetes the bad - some claimed that worked, others said it didn't.
So... I just happened to order Dr Tim's One-and-Only hoping that would help with the gha. I put about half the directed dose in a few hours ago.
I also ordered Sodium Nitrate per all the threads here an hour ago so I can raise the nitrates. Guessing it won't arrive until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest.
We do not use any kind of air fresheners in the house. I make sure to wash my hands and arms before I put them in tank. Nothing has changed except for adding the two baby fish (that were not quarantined).
The tank is as basic as it gets -- live rock, socks, a bag of ChemiPure, chaeto. Tank has been better since I quit using skimmer a couple years ago. No reactors, no dosers. I make my own water and use Tropic Marin Classic.
Does anybody know what this is, how it got there (so I can avoid this nightmare again), and how to get rid of it?
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S.
I don't know if this is related but we started getting brown funk on the sand maybe 2 months ago. I vacuum it and the sand turns brown again within a few hours. I bought a Diamond Sleeper Goby to clean it but my starry blenny took him out in no time. (Didn't see that coming)
About 2 weeks ago I noticed this spider web goo started appearing.
(That green leather toadstool is really unhappy with all that snot on it)
About a week ago the water in the sump was overflowing the socks so I thought our 9-year-old pump was croaking (not realizing it was because the socks were caked in goo) and I ordered a new pump. The old pump started giving me shocks so I took it out and just pointed a few powerheads at the surface. The next morning the Coral Beauty we've had for years was dead in the sand and I also noticed the other fish were gulping for air so I threw everything I had on hand and made the surface look like a wash machine. Mind you -- this was for about 3 days waiting for the new pump to arrive -- the only one the LFS had was too big. In the process, our two new baby fish (a foxface and a sailfin -- both as long as my thumb is wide) died, plus the coral beauty, and then a day or two later our engineering goby that we'd had since Day 1 in 2013.
Since the refugium had a fair amount of gha in it, and since the water had been sitting there with no flow getting smelly for days, I took this as an opportunity to drain and scrub out the sump. I put the new pump in and replaced two of our old powerheads with new ones.
Last night I get home and the water was lower in the return side of the sump than usual and the water was overflowing the socks and the sump had globs of this mucus-like substance in it so I used a net to scoop out as much as I could, put new socks in, turned on the pump and topped it off to the line. I spent about an hour trying to find answers to this snot problem and went back to the tank and the water was about a half inch below the line. The socks were clogged already. In an hour.
Also, my nitrates are at zero. They are never at zero. In 9 years of reefing. Even with feeding fish for days with no filtration - just powerheads running. So this funk is sucking all the oxygen and nitrates out of the tank.
In all my research I couldn't find any definitive answers. Some say vermitid snails but I don't see any tubes. Some say it's an algae and to use Dr Tim's Re-Fresh and Waste Away so good bacteria outcompetes the bad - some claimed that worked, others said it didn't.
So... I just happened to order Dr Tim's One-and-Only hoping that would help with the gha. I put about half the directed dose in a few hours ago.
I also ordered Sodium Nitrate per all the threads here an hour ago so I can raise the nitrates. Guessing it won't arrive until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest.
We do not use any kind of air fresheners in the house. I make sure to wash my hands and arms before I put them in tank. Nothing has changed except for adding the two baby fish (that were not quarantined).
The tank is as basic as it gets -- live rock, socks, a bag of ChemiPure, chaeto. Tank has been better since I quit using skimmer a couple years ago. No reactors, no dosers. I make my own water and use Tropic Marin Classic.
Does anybody know what this is, how it got there (so I can avoid this nightmare again), and how to get rid of it?
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S.
I don't know if this is related but we started getting brown funk on the sand maybe 2 months ago. I vacuum it and the sand turns brown again within a few hours. I bought a Diamond Sleeper Goby to clean it but my starry blenny took him out in no time. (Didn't see that coming)
