bacteria slime from topoff to display?

[jamesamantha]

Hello,

I have a dt that is four months old. I have been getting bacterial snot on some tank walls and rock and sand. It is a whiteish film that is goey and comes off in sheets.

It is a marco rock tank and i seeded my sand with a cup of sand from two healthy tanks.

I noticed a bacterial slime in my topoff tank. Is the topoff slime what is feeding my dt slime? I cleaned out the topoff just in case. I wasnt sure if bacteria in rodi would survive once put into salt water.

Thanks.

James

[kgross]

What water are you using for your top off? you should have very pure water for your top off, so there should be very little nutrients for growth in your top off.

[jamesamantha]

It is rodi from a good unit and zero tds.

[kgross]

You should not be getting very much growth of anything in your top off container than. I would suggest cleaning the container out very well and see if that stops your growth. I don't know if that is causing the problems in your display tank, since I have no idea where you are getting the nutrients to grow the bacteria in your top off.

[bertoni]

The bacteria slime in the display might be fed by the rock. I agree that you shouldn't see much slime in the top-off container, so I'd look into that.

[TampaSnooker]

I have seen clear slime in some of our top offs and really bad in one Dr's tank. We traced it in the Dr's office to alcohol vapors from a chemi-clave allowing airborn alcohol consuming bacteria to produce it. The biologists that helped analyze it basically left us thinking it was bacteria poop residue. I've looked at ours under a microscope and there are no defining organelles or structures. If it is the same stuff, there could be a carbon source in the area allowing airborn bacteria to thrive. Certain carpet cleaners have also caused a sudden appearance of clear slime.

Lance Ichinotusbo was most helpful and published more: http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/mystery-white-reef-slime

[TampaSnooker]

The only other place I've seen it is in discussions with vodka dosers that have OD'd but that is a bacterial film. Either way, it seems to be related to a carbon source.

[jamesamantha]

Very interesting. I am not sure about carbon sources in my home. I will just keep my topoff container clean and siphon the slime out of the dt with water changes. Thanks for the inputs!

[Bugger]

GET your nitrates to zero and the problem will go away/ worked for me

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What salt mix are you using? You might avoid those that claim to add organics, such as Tropic Marin Bioactif.

[jamesamantha]

I use reef crystals. I think I finally beat the slime. I yanked the Marco rock and sand....I think the rock was the source of my problem. I replaced that rock with some dry live rock that had an ocean origin. Lots of water changes, a few lights out for 3 days at a time, carbon/gfo, and plenty of patience.

The Marco rock was weird from day one. It had these mushy soft spots inside the rock itself.in will never use that type of rock again.

I just wanted to close the loop on this.

Thanks again,

James

[bertoni]

Thanks for the update. I'm sorry that you had to replace the Marco rock.