White slime EVERYWHERE!!

[Spagz25]

Hey guys first time posting in here hopefully I can get some answers as I can’t get any in my usual Facebook groups. So basically I started noticing this white “film” all over the substrate one day, I didn’t know what it was but didn’t look like it could be beneficial so I then syphoned all the gravel and it was gone. Next day I wake up take a look at the tank and it is so cloudy I can’t even see a couple inches into the tank. I then did a 50% water change. That cleared it slightly still very cloudy. All the fish and coral seemed completely unbothered. Next I noticed there was what looked look hair algea covering all the rocks except it was white/transparent. I proceeded to try to blows as much as I could off the rocks and let the sock pick it up. Iv done quite a bit of research and I pretty positive it’s this white slime bacterial bloom I see other people have had and that makes sense because in most other people problems with this they state that they were dosing some king of carbon source, as was I and I know I was definitely overdosing for a little while because for the longest time iv had high po4(about 3.00ppm) normal dosing wasn’t doing anything since I started overdoing the nopox a little iv got it down to .23ppm(lowest it’s been) obviously I didn’t take how strong nopox was seriously because I had been dosing more then advised for a while with no problems and was lowering the po4 like I wanted. And then this white slime started and I now realize. From what I read is it’s a nutrient deficiency although po4 is still .23? But my no3 is undetectable as it has always been so that part makes sense. My question is what do u recommend to clear this up? Iv been told I need to get nutrients back in the water and I could turn off the skimmer and feed a little more.... Still no change a week later but corals still look fine as do fish.
parameters-
Temp-80
Ph-8.0
No2-0
No3-0
Kh-12
Po4-0.23
Salinity-1.025
Calcium-430
Tank size-100g

 

[Spare time]

Keep the skimmer on. This often happends when the skimmer isn't skimming (wet) enough when carbon dosing. I would try dr tims waste away or similar products (like vibrant or pristine). Also, nitrate at 0 is going to cause a lot of problems. Carbon dosing is not something to mess with since you can end up suffocating your fish. You can also get a UV sterilizer and blast that stuff off the rocks and what not. Try brightwells nitrate or similar supplement to get nitrate back up without raising phosphate and stop nopox in the mean time.

 

[Spagz25]

Keep the skimmer on. This often happends when the skimmer isn't skimming (wet) enough when carbon dosing. I would try dr tims waste away or similar products (like vibrant or pristine). Also, nitrate at 0 is going to cause a lot of problems. Carbon dosing is not something to mess with since you can end up suffocating your fish. You can also get a UV sterilizer and blast that stuff off the rocks and what not. Try brightwells nitrate or similar supplement to get nitrate back up without raising phosphate and stop nopox in the mean time.

Yes 10mins after I turned off the skimmer I said wait this bloom is going to suck all the oxygen out of the water and I just turned off the skimmer... so I turned it back on but took off the collection cup off. Second I have also tried the Dr Tims but saw other people saying dr Tim’s also lowers the no3 and no4 which is not what I want to do so I stoped after one dose. I will definitely try brightwells nitrate like you said once this is over to keep no3 up, I don’t want to keep putting so many chemicals in the tank like iv been doing but thankfully since I took off the skimmer cup and feed heavier and also added some reef foods mixed with fuel I can now see the back of the tank and the slime is still there but not as long and stringy as it was I suspect by next week this should be gone. Hopefully... ps no more carbon dosing for me unless it gets really out of control again I made the mistake everyone says not to do by chasing numbers and they ended with this either way this is a learning experience and thankfully haven’t lost anything.

 

[Spare time]

Maybe try to get nitrate back up and then dose something like waste away or similar?

 

[Spagz25]

Maybe try to get nitrate back up and then dose something like waste away or similar?

That’s my plan I’m just going to wait until this clears up first. I’m going to buy a couple more fish if that doesn’t raise it then I’ll try the neonitro, or maybe even the stump removers people talk about.

 

[Spare time]

That’s my plan I’m just going to wait until this clears up first. I’m going to buy a couple more fish if that doesn’t raise it then I’ll try the neonitro, or maybe even the stump removers people talk about.

If you want a cheap but decent UV, consider the green killing machine

 

[Pete Hammersley]

I’ve got the exact same problem with mine. Mine has grown bigger and bigger and is now on the verge of taking over my tank. I’ve been blowing mine off the rocks every day, it has now bypassed my filter sock and smothered my entire sump and everything in it too.
I don’t think your no3 or po4 is the problem, as mine are fairly normal no3 - 3, po4 - 0.03. And mine has still gone crazy.
I have a 55w uv coming in Thursday, I hope this sorts it. Please keep me informed if you find a solution, as I’m still struggling.

 

[Spagz25]

I’ve got the exact same problem with mine. Mine has grown bigger and bigger and is now on the verge of taking over my tank. I’ve been blowing mine off the rocks every day, it has now bypassed my filter sock and smothered my entire sump and everything in it too.
I don’t think your no3 or po4 is the problem, as mine are fairly normal no3 - 3, po4 - 0.03. And mine has still gone crazy.
I have a 55w uv coming in Thursday, I hope this sorts it. Please keep me informed if you find a solution, as I’m still struggling.

I’m still struggling to find a solution if there even is one besides just more and more time but I have hope because it this point I was really considering just starting completely over drain all the water scrub everything which I really didn’t want to do so my last effort was try some chemi clean. So I mixed up some of that last night and turned over some of the substrate to see if it still it’s still growing(days before I I’d turn the gravel it it would cling to it and start to spread over a few hours) and woke up to a fairly clear tank best it’s been so far and and clean substrate. Went to work and came back to a clearer tank around 80% clear I’d say, and still clean substrate, then did a water change because of the chemi clean (50%) and got slightly clearer again. At this point the slime inside the tank doesn’t bother me to much because I know it will go away with time but I can not stand to see a constantly cloudy tank and know that it’s just getting worse. At least I think the stopped the slime from growing. I’ll give you a update tomorrow on what happens

 

[Pete Hammersley]

I’m still struggling to find a solution if there even is one besides just more and more time but I have hope because it this point I was really considering just starting completely over drain all the water scrub everything which I really didn’t want to do so my last effort was try some chemi clean. So I mixed up some of that last night and turned over some of the substrate to see if it still it’s still growing(days before I I’d turn the gravel it it would cling to it and start to spread over a few hours) and woke up to a fairly clear tank best it’s been so far and and clean substrate. Went to work and came back to a clearer tank around 80% clear I’d say, and still clean substrate, then did a water change because of the chemi clean (50%) and got slightly clearer again. At this point the slime inside the tank doesn’t bother me to much because I know it will go away with time but I can not stand to see a constantly cloudy tank and know that it’s just getting worse. At least I think the stopped the slime from growing. I’ll give you a update tomorrow on what happens

I understand the agony, I’m living it daily at the moment. It seems like every person has a different Diagnosis, and a different bit of advice to go with it. They all cost money too, to do a full water change alone costs over £100 on my 210 gallon tank, let alone all the potions to go with it.
hope you get it sorted, and hope I can learn from it too.

 

[Deschutes541]

I actually had similar issues not once but twice. First was ignoring the instructions while I was carbon dosing. The second was ignoring the instructions on biopellets. Are you seeing a pattern? Lol.

Honestly, I didn't do anything fancy to recover. I just backed off dosing and used the correct amount of pellets. Lots of water changes as well. I'm sure you can use an additive to make it clear quicker but that's up to you.

 

[Osler]

This looks like a bacterial bloom to me.

Skimming and filter socks will help to clear this after you stop carbon dosing. You may need to change filter socks twice a day. Set your skimmer to skim wet. Check the skimmer Venturi and clean it as this stuff gets everywhere. Run an air hose to one of your prop pumps cages and inject a ton of air into the aquarium to sort of skim the tank for 4-6 hrs at a time. Only do this while you have a filter sock in place. Give it 5-7 days and you should be good to go.

Osler

 

[Spagz25]

Okay quick update I was sent a picture of the tank while I’m at work looks like the bloom has went away and I’m just left with some brown hair algae on the rocks and substrate appears to be clean as well no longer clinging and spreading. I can’t tell for sure if the chemi clean fixed it but it’s definitely came a halt after I used it. I’m satisfied with they way it is now I am just going to suffer the algae on the rocks as a punishment for overdosing lol. I’ll check the levels when I get home. I’m also going to add few more fish once stores open again to try to keep my nitrates somewhat detectable instead of more chemical dosing.

 

[Spagz25]

Okay tested just for the “bad” stuff turns out i now have nitrates at 5 first time iv ever got a hint of pink. And po4 is at .26 definitely not ideal but I’m no longer playing mad scientist lol. Fish and coral seem happy whether or not there’re calcifying or not. Once I get a new gasket for my reactor I have fresh gfo for it too. I hope this whole thing is over. Hopefully anyone else with this problem can maybe get some ideas from it.

 

[Spare time]

You should get a lawnmower blenny and some phosphate media

 

[DanTheReefer]

What’s the latest? I had a white slime blowup this week. A lot of what I’ve come across says scented candles/ aerosols can do it... I just switched to open top and we’ve been using a lot of Lysol with Covid going on and little ones.

I have 0 nítrate despite adding more fish, .25 po4.

Do you think I should give chemiclean a shot?