Need some help please, ID and how to get rid of once and for all

BostonReefer300

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I get the siphon part. But how do I keep the siphon hose from clogging as I know it's going to suck up the fine sand when I try to get the stringy mucous mess? Is there a trick? I have a Python but I lost the gravel vac attachement so it's basically just a hose. If I start the siphon on that I'm not sure how effective it will be at getting this tricky stuff out of the tank?
I'd recommend getting a gravel attachment for the hose. You need it anyway. That should be helpful in sucking up the goop
 
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Poisns1

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I'd recommend getting a gravel attachment for the hose. You need it anyway. That should be helpful in sucking up the goop
Ok thanks. Called around and could not find the gravel tube in stock anywhere. Guess I have to order online and put the water change off for now..
 
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Poisns1

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Ordered the gravel tube adapter by Python. I hope it works to remove the slime attached to the sand bed. I have no clue how to get all the stuff attached to the rocks off. I mean it's mucousy strands everywhere. I'm thinking maybe take out a few rocks and scrub and dip in the tank water that I just siphoned out during the major water change.

Unless there is a treatment that I could apply to the tank? Does anyone make a treatment for bacterial explosions like I'm experiencing? I'd hate to go through all this trouble of manual removal, just to have it regrow/reappear right after the water change :(
 

BostonReefer300

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You could try dosing one of the antibacterial medications to your tank, however there's no guarantee that the bacteria causing the bloom is susceptible to those meds. Personally, I would just concentrate on manual removal and avoiding "feeding" the bloom and letting it die down on its own over the course of a few water changes. If it is persistent for more than a week or two, then consider a new strategy. In the meantime, it shouldn't damage your corals or fish. Just make sure you keep good oxygenation going in the tank (eg skimmer)
 
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Poisns1

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You could try dosing one of the antibacterial medications to your tank, however there's no guarantee that the bacteria causing the bloom is susceptible to those meds. Personally, I would just concentrate on manual removal and avoiding "feeding" the bloom and letting it die down on its own over the course of a few water changes. If it is persistent for more than a week or two, then consider a new strategy. In the meantime, it shouldn't damage your corals or fish. Just make sure you keep good oxygenation going in the tank (eg skimmer)
Thanks Boston. Picking up some new salt tomorrow (Going to try Seachem Vibrant Sea) as I want to try something new to see if makes a difference; was using IO for past 5 years.

If the manual removal isn't successful I am going to look for the bottle/med approach. What do you think would combat the Bacterial Bloom I have, Reeflux?
 

BostonReefer300

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I believe Reeflux is fluconazole which is an anti-fungal, not an anti-bacterial. I suppose you could try something like chemiclean which is rumored to be an antibacterial although I don't believe the ingredients are published. Something like API melafix might work too. I'd look up the disease forum for bacterial diseases in the main disease sticky thread. They'll describe different reef-safe antibacterial treatments in there. I recently read good things about Ruby Reef Rally Pro (available on BRS) and I bought some to have on hand just-in-case.
Good move on upgrading your salt. Instant ocean sucks. Haven't tried that Vibrant Sea myself. I've been using Red Sea Coral Pro for years, but am going to try B-Ionic when I run out of Red Sea.
Good luck and let me know how things turn out!
 
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Poisns1

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I believe Reeflux is fluconazole which is an anti-fungal, not an anti-bacterial. I suppose you could try something like chemiclean which is rumored to be an antibacterial although I don't believe the ingredients are published. Something like API melafix might work too. I'd look up the disease forum for bacterial diseases in the main disease sticky thread. They'll describe different reef-safe antibacterial treatments in there. I recently read good things about Ruby Reef Rally Pro (available on BRS) and I bought some to have on hand just-in-case.
Good move on upgrading your salt. Instant ocean sucks. Haven't tried that Vibrant Sea myself. I've been using Red Sea Coral Pro for years, but am going to try B-Ionic when I run out of Red Sea.
Good luck and let me know how things turn out!
I found a few threads that had similar conditions including pictures when googling this stuff. It seems that at least 1 person was able to get rid of it using a 2 week period of Dr Tim's Refresh first, followed by waste away. I'm contemplating buying those 2 and giving it a shot?

Can you provide a link to this spot please "disease forum for bacterial diseases in the main disease sticky thread." I tried looking but only found this forum; coudln't find anything in there about Bacterial diseases..

Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

 

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Tank and equipment was brand new in January so sand bed etc. new (Carib Sea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink sand).

Nothing has stirred the sand bed, did not add any live rock etc. and I'm not dosing anything. I was dosing Microbacter 7 and a few doses of Vibrant but stopped both of those months ago after the first bloom occurred.

I'm not sure how to siphon off this stuff though? It kind of sticks to the sand and I believe the stuff attached to the rocks will be impossible to remove from all the nooks and crannies on this Marco Rock? One you touch it, it breaks up into pieces and floats across the tank.

I only feed the chromis and damsels a few flakes per day, that's it.
If the slime on the rocks breaks up easy then floats away maybe put toothbrush on end of your hose with elastic band and buy a pair of womens tights ( i think americans call panty hose or something like this) get pair tights with a high denier so more holes in if understand me and place over hose with elastic band and see if it sucks up the slime through the tights but the sand doesnt.
I did this few times in my freshwater tanks when had green slimy algae on my plants and rocks/substrate etc.
Just an idea or some mesh of some description, anything that will stop sand getting siphoned
 

BostonReefer300

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I found a few threads that had similar conditions including pictures when googling this stuff. It seems that at least 1 person was able to get rid of it using a 2 week period of Dr Tim's Refresh first, followed by waste away. I'm contemplating buying those 2 and giving it a shot?

Can you provide a link to this spot please "disease forum for bacterial diseases in the main disease sticky thread." I tried looking but only found this forum; coudln't find anything in there about Bacterial diseases..

Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

Sorry for my delay. I'm no longer getting notices about posts on this thread. I'm not sure why. Anyway, those Dr. Tim's products are bacterial cultures. You'd just be adding more bacteria to your tank.
Here's a link to a sticky thread regarding anti-bacterial treatments:
 
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Poisns1

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Sorry for my delay. I'm no longer getting notices about posts on this thread. I'm not sure why. Anyway, those Dr. Tim's products are bacterial cultures. You'd just be adding more bacteria to your tank.
Here's a link to a sticky thread regarding anti-bacterial treatments:
Yeah I know Dr Tim's is bacteria but it seems that at least a few have knocked the dreaded white slime out using the "Refresh" and "Waste Away" regimen so thought I'd give that a chance to see if it works. If the white slime gets worse I can just stop the treatment and go for another approach. At least it's an all natural product.


Just put 1st dose of Refresh in yesterday so will let you know how it goes. I was told to follow Cyano/Algae recipe for dosing instructions. Fingers crossed...

 
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We basically are reefing twins. I had this outbreak in my first tank about 2 years in. Crashed it due to a combination of what I think now were crystophates that were growing over corals and off the rock. The white stringy slime doesnt seem to be harmful to corals right away atleast. Didnt mind much about the first crash because I knew I was moving cross country anyways.

However now 2 months in on my new tank and Im getting this bacterial white slime outbreak again. I cant believe it, especially with all my knowledge I have now.

All my research online basically breaks down into two camps:

A) Overfeed and add bacteria to outcompete. This is more of the camp I am in right now.
B) Starve the tank of everything in hopes it dies off.

Im running a 9W UV currently but my water is clear and this stuff sticks to rocks so it doesnt seem like a UV in the water column helps a ton.

i am trying to get some green algae/ other bacteria growing to outcompete this stuff however most bottled bacteria reduces nutrients that Im trying to add? Its slightly confusing.

Regardless Im starting a Refresh/Waste away regime as well in addition to upping feeding. I work from home so I can blast the new growth frequently but this stuff really does come back every few hours.... I am only running filter floss and my UV since carbon sources sound like they could feed the bloom as well and Im trying to run the tank dirtier anyways.

We do have crazy smoke out here in the west currently and it seemed like the night I left my window open to air out the house the bloom started. Curious if these wildfires have anything to do with it as a carbon source.
 
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Poisns1

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We basically are reefing twins. I had this outbreak in my first tank about 2 years in. Crashed it due to a combination of what I think now were crystophates that were growing over corals and off the rock. The white stringy slime doesnt seem to be harmful to corals right away atleast. Didnt mind much about the first crash because I knew I was moving cross country anyways.

However now 2 months in on my new tank and Im getting this bacterial white slime outbreak again. I cant believe it, especially with all my knowledge I have now.

All my research online basically breaks down into two camps:

A) Overfeed and add bacteria to outcompete. This is more of the camp I am in right now.
B) Starve the tank of everything in hopes it dies off.

Im running a 9W UV currently but my water is clear and this stuff sticks to rocks so it doesnt seem like a UV in the water column helps a ton.

i am trying to get some green algae/ other bacteria growing to outcompete this stuff however most bottled bacteria reduces nutrients that Im trying to add? Its slightly confusing.

Regardless Im starting a Refresh/Waste away regime as well in addition to upping feeding. I work from home so I can blast the new growth frequently but this stuff really does come back every few hours.... I am only running filter floss and my UV since carbon sources sound like they could feed the bloom as well and Im trying to run the tank dirtier anyways.

We do have crazy smoke out here in the west currently and it seemed like the night I left my window open to air out the house the bloom started. Curious if these wildfires have anything to do with it as a carbon source.
Glad I'm not the only one. Misery loves company!

Ya know I was wondering if my stuff is Chrysophytes as well, but the fact that I had 2 serious tank clouding (I mean less than an inch of visibility) episodes during the initial start makes me lean towards the bacterial camp. I just did the 2nd dose today but I had to order more Refresh since I ran out from the 4oz bottle; didn't plug in the daily dosing for my tank before I purchased the smaller bottle :(

I also agree on the UV. My water is pretty much clear so the UV seems like it has no effect on this stuff at all.

Crazy that it started after you opened the windows, I believe you might have something there with the contamination in the air.

I haven't run carbon at all in this tank, nor GFO etc. Just running felt filter sock, skimmer and occasionally UV.

I'm also wondering if the ReFresh/Waste-Away will work on Chrysophytes if that's what this white/stringy/mucusy stuff turns out to be? All I know is that I am totally sick of this stuff and want it gone at all costs..
 

MNTNReefer

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Glad I'm not the only one. Misery loves company!

Ya know I was wondering if my stuff is Chrysophytes as well, but the fact that I had 2 serious tank clouding (I mean less than an inch of visibility) episodes during the initial start makes me lean towards the bacterial camp. I just did the 2nd dose today but I had to order more Refresh since I ran out from the 4oz bottle; didn't plug in the daily dosing for my tank before I purchased the smaller bottle :(

I also agree on the UV. My water is pretty much clear so the UV seems like it has no effect on this stuff at all.

Crazy that it started after you opened the windows, I believe you might have something there with the contamination in the air.

I haven't run carbon at all in this tank, nor GFO etc. Just running felt filter sock, skimmer and occasionally UV.

I'm also wondering if the ReFresh/Waste-Away will work on Chrysophytes if that's what this white/stringy/mucusy stuff turns out to be? All I know is that I am totally sick of this stuff and want it gone at all costs..

Same, high key stressing me out since you know its so fast moving.

I noticed Crystophates moved super slow in my old tank. I noticed a very fine fuzz for months on the rock before it became a issue where corals were affected. I think they grow only on lighted surfaces. The bacteria bloom strings tend to get stuck under the rocks (in addition to everywhere). So that might be an easier way to tell if youre dealing with them also.

I dont know if the wildfire smoke has anything to do with it, Im going to call my LFS and see if they deal with this when wildfires are bad. There was an article that said its usually caused by some major airborne event like a fire, mold event, or Aerosols. I obviously removed the aerosols but torn on airing my house out with the wildfires. If its unhealthy for humans to be outside in, its probably not great for a reef? Looking like a break in the weather out west atleast later this week so I can test out a 48 hour window of airing the house out.


Some others have said they noticed smaller version outbreaks when they overdose MB7 or similar. Im going to have to see if this dosing makes things better or worse. I havent heard Vibrant mentioned however. Anybody have experiance testing vibrant out? I figure some cocktail of bacteria will have to eventually outcompete it.
 
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Poisns1

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Update:

I did a 33% water change and vacuumed as much of the sand bed as I could to remove the stringy slimy stuff. I just finished my first treatment of ReFresh and will start the WasteAway tomorrow. The remaining stuff that was attached to the rock appears to have fallen back a bit and I don't really notice any new growth on the sand as of yet. Pretty excited that this Dr Tim's regimen might just work. Per the instructions it suggests to start the WasteAway at 1/4 of full dose, and the slightly increase the subsequent doses. So I'm going to start at 1/4 dose (2.5ml instead of 10ml/gallon full dose), increase to 1/2 dose (5ml/gallon) and then final at 3/4 (7.5ml/gallon). Hopefully that will knock this stuff out. Instructions state that retreatment might be necessary but I'm hopeful that this initial treatment will suffice.

We'll see what happens after the 3 WasteAway treatments, and report back...
 
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Poisns1

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Update:

I finished the first treatment and then did another 33% water change. Tank looking much better but several of the rocks still had the slimy stuff attached and couldn't get that off during water changes.

Per Dr Tim's instructions, additional treatments may be necessary if dissolved organics are still in tank.

I decided to do another short treatment. So far 2 doses of ReFresh and 1 1/4 dose of WastAway. I'll do one more dose of WasteAway at 1/2 dose and see where I'm at. Hopefully the second treatment will push this stuff into remission.

Advice needed regarding my fish please:

I have 3 chromis and just added a small Royal Gramma. I only run the lights at blue spectrum ( no whites) and only 3 hours a day for fish to come out and eat. Because I've done extensive work in the tank vacuuming the sand and rinsing the rocks in tank water, the fish are skittish and mostly hide.

The chromis ate a bit of flake but the Gramma has just stayed in one of the rocks and will not come out to eat. I tried adding a bit of mysis with a drop of Selcon right in front of him but he still didn't come out and eat.

Any advice for getting a stubborn or scared fish to eat?
 

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