Bacterial outbreak

Kenmx10 · Jul 14, 2016

I have what appears to be a bacterial outbreak thats been going on for almost two weeks now. It looks clearish white in color, and stringy and slimy looking. And in some spots it looks like a light fuzz growing on the rocks. It clogs up my filter socks in about 2 days. Every day I try and get out as much as i can but it still comes back.

Im not sure what caused it, the only thing that I started doing different was dosing Red Sea Coral Colors. I only dosed 1/4 of the manufactures recommendations to start off with for 2 weeks, and then stopped because I wasn't sure if it had anything to do with the bacterial growth. Also started dosing Strontium at the same time and stopped it till I get rid of this issue.

I have read articles that stated air fresheners and scented candles could cause a bacterial outbreak. I did switch laundry detergents from tide powder to Tide liquid, but don't see how that could effect anything.

Also it is a frag tank and the only fish I have in there is a Diamond Goby, so the nutrients are always low. Ive been feeding it Hikari Marine A pellets and frozen Brine shrimp. I have no problems with algae and can go for weeks without having to clean the glass.

Any Ideas , or suggestions how to get rid of it? Or should I just ride it out and do weekly water changes ? Thx.

Joeganja · Jul 15, 2016

Photos would help to figure out which type of bacteria it is and find what makes it grow if its excess bacteria or poor filteratio nor something else.

Tahoe61 · Jul 15, 2016

Stop dosing the Red Sea product and see if the bacterial growth will dissipate.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 15, 2016

Strontium wont impact bacteria, but organics usually do. You are dosing no organic carbon?

IMO, Red Sea way overdoses iron, but that doesn't usually lead to or bacteria.

Often a fine filter or a UV will get rid of it if it does not go away on its own.

Kenmx10 · Jul 15, 2016

Thx Randy. The only other things I'm dosing is 2 part ALK and Calcium and Mag as needed. Ill give it some more time and see if it clears up on its own. I took my carbon/GFO reactor offline about three months ago because Im not having any problems with algae. Do you think the carbon reactor might help, or will it just get clogged up pretty quick?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 16, 2016

Carbon as in granular activated carbon? It might act as a substrate and get the bacteria growing there instead of the water column.

Whether that is good or not depends on the goal.

Kenmx10 · Jul 16, 2016

Yes, granular activated carbon. Thats what I was thinking. It might just clog up the carbon in a few days and be worthless. But, Im not sure whats feeding the bacteria , so I wasn't sure if the carbon may eliminate the food source. Over the past 2 days its seems to be receding, so hopefully Ive seen the worst of it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 17, 2016

OK, let us know what happens.

Kenmx10 · Jul 17, 2016

Thx Randy, Have you seen this article which talk about VOC's from chemicals causing slimy bacterial outbreaks?
http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/mystery-white-reef-slime-part-iii
If so what is your thoughts on this?
They also recommend using a couple of products from DR. Tims Aquatics. (Re-Fresh and Waste-away) Are you familiar with these? Thx.
http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/saltwater-aquarium-products

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 18, 2016

Almost any organic chemical can be consumed by bacteria. Most of the time, the VOC's entering the tank are minimal relative to the amounts dosed to drive bacteria, but some scenarios (such as febreeze and other odor products) may add a lot.

Kenmx10 · Aug 10, 2016

As an update. The slimy clear bacteria came back with a vengeance shortly after the last post. I did a 25% water change and it started to recede. Then I fed my Emerald crab some frozen food ( formula two by Ocean Nutrition) and it came back instantly. Looks like Ive about got it knocked out though. Here is what it took to get rid of it.

I did 2 25% water changes and then a 30%, all in a week and a half period. Ran my skimmer wet. Changed the filter socks everyday, (not by choice). And quite feeding and dosing everything except Calcium, Mag and Alk. Its a reef only tank now, since my Diamond Goby jumped out of the tank shortly after I started this thread, so there's no fish to feed. I do remove my emerald crab, feed him outside the tank, and then add him back in to eliminate the nutrients from getting in the tank. The skimmer is only producing a white foam now do to the ultra low nutrients. There are still areas where the bacteria is growing on the rocks. But instead of long stringy strands growing all over the place and fast, its more of a low fuzz about a 1/4" in height. And seems to be receding instead of spreading.

Hopefully I can starve it out completely , and never have to worry about it again. All SPS are doing good. The base of my Duncan has changed from a nice bright green, to a lighter greenish Brown color. Im not sure if it has anything to do with the low nutrients, so I fed it some Brine shrimp yesterday.

Once it is completely gone (visibly), then I am going to start dosing the Red Sea Coral Color elements seperately , one at a time, to see if one of them is the culprit.