Help!!!! White slime on everything

[jlagee]

in a matter of 18 hours most of my corals are covered of partially covered by a thick white slime - sps, lps, torch head bailed yesterday am - also - small patch of hair algae (appx 3x1”) is turning paler green/gray

Terrified I used bleach then declor to deactivate a purogen bag - two nights ago!

I’m dying here! My tank just started filling in

Params have always been very near perfect - testing now then doing a water change - do a small wc every day.

Please help!!!! My heart is breaking

 

[Zack K]

Pictures? Let’s get eyes on this...
#reefsquad
@saltyfilmfolks
@melypr1985

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Major surface agitation and water changes.

So sorry to hear.

If you can, make new water with flow in a qt or bucket. Drop some of your live rock in it and get the fish in there. Corals too.

 

[jlagee]

I just did about a 30% wc - also tested water - nitrates are 60 which is off the chart for me :-(

Should I pull the bag of purogen? It was the first time I ever “re-activated” a bag. I don’t always use it but did the bleach and declor and threw it in just because I thought of it - think i May have caused all of this :-(

Going to take pics - tried with first post but the film really isn’t showing up well.

The worst affected is my softball sized micromussa Lord. Largest heads are over 2.5” across - it’s so shriveled and looking awful :-(

I have another tank waiting to be upgraded - maybe upgrade and transfer with no sand bed?? I don’t have any unless I wait for tomorrow :-( so frustrated - I’ve never had anything so sudden and traumatic happen to any of my tanks.

Thank you guys - working on pics

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yes pull filtration. Do another water change if you can.

 

[jlagee]

This is my giant 20+ Head beautiful lord. :-(. It’s heads are almost inside out?

What the heck ... it has become very firm, the other acans are all withdrawn and slightly slimed, a chunk of rainbow monti has a few slime dots, war coral slime dots, another monti frag is looking bad - but my acro still looks great! Ughhh!!!

 

[jlagee]

Also ... don’t thinks it’s relevant but maybe -
I have a biocube, I didn’t tip off yesterday (sg was still good, tank pump is a pain) pump was blowing massive amounts of micro bubbles this am when I woke up and found all of this - when the water gets slightly below its “perfect” level it does this but never this bad.

Can’t wait to upgrade to the cube with a sump - love my biocubes but ready for more wiggle room for error like this

 

[jlagee]

More pics

 

[jlagee]

A few days ago

 

[Ashish Patel]

So sorry... Whatever damage is done is done. Most of the corals are stressed and majority will likely perish. Your fighting to get your tank back to safe levels. Keep doing 30% water changes. Replace carbon, wet skim.
, add more flow, it will take awhile before everything stabilizes. Good luck

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Do you carbon dose?

 

[jlagee]

I use carbon pellets in the back sump,

So - everything is back to normal today except the acans and one type of zoa. i was upgrading to allow more room for the acans.

Should I pull them and toss them out? In all my years - I’ve never had something like this happen - the only corals I’ve lost were from pest hitch hikers eating them and I bleached my first acro. I’ve never had to toss a mostly dead coral. Sucks.

Thank you guys - keep any advice coming. Meanwhile, I’m continuing 1 galling wc several times a day

 

[Breakthecycle2]

The white slime is a carbon problem. Having scented candles or a tank close to the kitchen is also a known cause.

 

[jlagee]

Really?! I don’t burn candles and it’s in the living room around the corner from the kitchen ... could the newly refreshed purogen have caused it? I don’t use purogen on a reg basis - I bought a bag a long while back, used it til it turned brown and then tossed it under my tank. “Recharged” it according to the instructions and put it in the back the evening prior to issues beginning. Honestly, I usually only have filter floss and some rubble in the back! Otherwise, my tank stays awesome with good salt and daily wc. I also dose with Kent marine nano reef two part - 3ml daily between 7-9 am. Never had any problems until using this purigen :-(

Just added the carbon today in an attempt to help this problem.

 

[Victoria M]

The white slime is a carbon problem. Having scented candles or a tank close to the kitchen is also a known cause.

What? I see many tanks in kitchens. Any others thoughts on this?

 

[eatbreakfast]

I don't think it was recharged purigen, I use recharged purigen frequently without issue. Even if the bleach had not dissipated(which I doubt do to use of dechlorinator), it would show the affects within a couple hours and would dissipate within 12 hours, not starting to show affects 2 days later.

LPS slimes up when irritated. Most frequently it is seen when the return pump blows air. But also happens with elevated salinity and elevated kh.

 

[jlagee]

Ugh - yes! My return pump had shifter and I didn’t do my second top off the evening prior - in the morning return was blowing more micro bubbles than I’d ever seen :-(

I’m thinking I’ve lost my largest and another acan. I don’t see how they will recover. It has looked worse each day.

I’ve done wc and added carbon. The only thing high was nitrates was I believe 80 initially (super high for me). It is down to 20/30 now which is about average for me. I know it isn’t perfect - but it is for my tank on an average day All else is where it should be.

Should I toss the two that look awful? I’m afraid they will begin to deteriorate.

Everything else looks good - even all of my sps - I think the slime I saw on others in the beginning had drifter from the acans and settles on them.

Again!!! Thank you all for your time and help!!

 

[eatbreakfast]

You could try a lugol's dip on the acans that look bad. Take about a quart of tank water, add 10-15 drops of lugol's and let them sit in there for 20min.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What? I see many tanks in kitchens. Any others thoughts on this?

A number of folks have reported issues from scented candles.

In general, any significant delivery of organics to the aquarium has the potential to drive bacterial growth, although rarely is it anything more than an aesthetic problem.

Do you use a skimmer and is it sucking kitchen air? Do you use the vent when cooking things that splatter oil and such?

 

[jlagee]

No slimmer, as I’m only running a nano - maybe 10/11 g twv, 3/4 gallon wc daily, heavy turn over, 17 lbs super established lr - never a problem u til days ago. It’s always been a pristine, incredibly thriving little tank.

The slime has now turned to cottage cheese like chunks on the two it has affected (I believe permanently).

I’m getting ready to upgrade to a 30 cube and 10 sump this week - I live in the middle of nowhere however, and need to make a trip to pick up a few things.