Algae va bacteria???

[Brian Mountain]

Nitrate 0
Phosphate < 0.25

Stringy and whispy
Running GFO

 

[CastAway]

How old is the tank again?
Do you dose anything?

Guessing bacteria myself.

We'll see what the experts say.....

 

[Heather w]

Go look at my thread. It looks an awful lot like what my bacterial outbreak was. Then look up a 3 part article in coral magazine called the mystery of white slime. Then order the medicine NOW. This does not go away unless you do. I tried EVERYTHING. This treatment works. It WILL get worse until you are pulling filters covered in brown snotty, slippery, nasty slime. Please read the article. This is a picture of it in its beginning bloom. It only got worse. The slime literally smothered all but one of my fish and my shrimp. It was so viscous in the water they drown. Within 2 days. 10 dropped dead.

 

[Heather w]

Or goggle white slime. It will bring it up. It is rare and caused by, among other things air fresheners and other VOC

 

[Heather w]

Google. Sorry

 

[reeferfoxx]

Nitrate 0
Phosphate < 0.25

Stringy and whispy
Running GFO

Appears to look more like chrysophytes than bacterial.

Here is my thread on chrysophytes. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/chrysophytes-help-me-cure-it.263759/

It looks very similar to what I had and it was a result of excess po4 and lack of clean up crew. Chrysophytes are basically an algae that grows on top of diatoms. When excess silicates create diatoms, if there isn't adequate amount of snails to eat the diatoms, the results are chrysophytes.

If you think that might be what you have, just keep the GFO running and manually clean with a toothbrush. Followed by adding more clean up crew.

 

[Mark75]

How fast does it return when removed?

Bacteria returns in less than a few hours algae takes a day or so,..I don't think this is a hard fast rule but knowing how fast it returns may help decide what it is.

 

[Jeeper]

Is it brown? Dinoflagellates maybe?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Or goggle white slime. It will bring it up. It is rare and caused by, among other things air fresheners and other VOC

White slim or bacterial blooms will most likely grow more in low flow areas like a sump or filter. Usually more prevalent in areas without light. This issue looks more like a photosynthetic algae like diatoms, calothrix, golden algae or chyrsophytes.

 

[cee]

Whatever it may be the fact that it appears to grow on your rock only and not on your sand indicates to me that it is feeding off the phosphates released by the live rock. GFO isn't going to help too much with that and if it does, it is a rather slow process to leach the phosphate out of the rock.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Whatever it may be the fact that it appears to grow on your rock only and not on your sand indicates to me that it is feeding off the phosphates released by the live rock. GFO isn't going to help too much with that and if it does, it is a rather slow process to leach the phosphate out of the rock.

GFO's only purpose is to absorb po4 and silicates. IF it were a result of PO4, keeping the GFO running won't hurt much as long as the tank owner understands the risks of low nutrient setup. Despite all that, I believe it to be a silicate algae similar to diatoms. Golden algae or Chrysophytes is my guess. Running GFO will help rid the tank of silicates, thus eliminating this issue.

 

[Brian Mountain]

How fast does it return when removed?

Bacteria returns in less than a few hours algae takes a day or so,..I don't think this is a hard fast rule but knowing how fast it returns may help decide what it is.

I'll have to see...

 

[Heather w]

With mine it was white and "stringy" in the water and brown 'goo" on my filter intake and even my skimmer. I had to clean all my filters every 24 hrs in my washer with no soap. It was the only way to keep any water flow. Read the article. Google white slime/marine aquarium. The faster I set my filters and power heads the faster I had to put the filters in the washer. It's been nuts! I think I have it on the run.

 

[Brian Mountain]

White slim or bacterial blooms will most likely grow more in low flow areas like a sump or filter. Usually more prevalent in areas without light. This issue looks more like a photosynthetic algae like diatoms, calothrix, golden algae or chyrsophytes.

Best way to rid if that's what this is?

 

[alyee5]

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/mystery-white-reef-slime-part-ii

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/mystery-white-reef-slime-part-iiI

These articles suggests Dr Tim's Waste Away and Refresh.

The treatment has been reported with some successes and failures in my research on the web.

 

[Heather w]

Working for me and I am so grateful. And I haven't had a 'foamy" skimmer or refugium I have always gotten as a side affect of other treatments. Balanced against the 100s of dollars in fish it is well worth my money to try. Just wish I'd tried it sooner. Good luck wherever your research takes you

 

[Heather w]

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/mystery-white-reef-slime-part-ii

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/mystery-white-reef-slime-part-iiI

These articles suggests Dr Tim's Waste Away and Refresh.

The treatment has been reported with some successes and failures in my research on the web.

I did the first dose on Tuesday and I'll door another today. It was 36 hours before I had to wash the filters. It was disappointing. I need to discipline myself to have more patients.​

 

[reeferfoxx]

I did the first dose on Tuesday and I'll door another today. It was 36 hours before I had to wash the filters. It was disappointing. I need to discipline myself to have more patients.​

The thing about waste away, is you need to take it slow. Should take you 2 full weeks to reach the full dosage.

 

[Heather w]

The thing about waste away, is you need to take it slow. Should take you 2 full weeks to reach the full dosage.

The instructions said 1/2 dose every other day for 3 doses then up to the full dose. Look at the difference already! You have no idea how stoked I was to wake up to a clear tank and filters I don't have to wash. You bet in gonna do EXACTLY what I'm instructed! All of you folks here are so amazing and willing to put your 2 cents in.

 

[Brian Mountain]

So, I stopped NoPOx, did a black out for 3 days and then did a thorough scrub. Crystal clear and no obvious return after 24 hours. Still have some small spots to clear/scrub but so far so good.