Tank hasn’t been maintained... what is this stuff?

[reefshawn]

I’m so embarrassed... life happened and I stopped maintaining my tank. I'm getting back into the groove now.

Something really terrible is going on in there... there are like these really huge balls of snot looking things in the aquarium. I’ve not seen anything like this before. I was hoping one of you could ID it and tell me what I need to do? I’m going to start with the basics like a water change and filter changes. I won’t directly touch / mess with these blobs for now, until I know what I’m dealing with.

Any idea what this is? These are quite large. It's sort of waving in the water column.



There is also a flat wall of the stuff on one side of the glass; it looks to be similar material just shaped differently:

 

[Zer0]

Could be chrysophytes

 

[CMMorgan]

I’m so embarrassed... life happened and I stopped maintaining my tank. I'm getting back into the groove now.

Something really terrible is going on in there... there are like these really huge balls of snot looking things in the aquarium. I’ve not seen anything like this before. I was hoping one of you could ID it and tell me what I need to do? I’m going to start with the basics like a water change and filter changes. I won’t directly touch / mess with these blobs for now, until I know what I’m dealing with.

Any idea what this is? These are quite large. It's sort of waving in the water column.



There is also a flat wall of the stuff on one side of the glass; it looks to be similar material just shaped differently:

Don't know what it is but snot is a great description! Blech Good luck!!

 

[dhnguyen]

looks like diatom to me.

EDIT: I meant dino as in dinoflagellates.

 

[KrisReef]

Looks like a sponge.

 

[reefshawn]

I think it’s probably Dino from the reading I just did.

I’m a bit freaked out... one of the links I followed talked about toxins in these things and it making folks sick. I don’t know if that’s common or not but it has given me pause on the best way to handle his.

 

[taricha]

Betting it's chrysophytes.
Suck up a bit of the stuff and squirt it into a cup.
Tell us how it behaves.
Does it go to dust when you suck it up? Does it suck up as strings?
Does it hold together as strong jelly?