A tank problem

[Gordon C. Snelling]

Ok folks the time has come to ask for your opinions. I have run into a problem which fortunately has not hit my discus tanks yet but I am afraid it might. I have a few tanks that have developed a considerable cloudiness issue, along with the cloudiness The tank get this incredibly thick gooey gray slime that covers everything. It clogs up the filters in a matter of days after a cleaning and water change. these tanks get regular changes but it comes back quickly. Last year I got hit with it as well in a couple of tanks ( no cloudiness just the slime) but after a few months fighting it it disappeared on its own. Seems not to be temp dependent and the tanks do not get over fed in any way. MOst tanks are changed out with R/O water so is not apparently related to a chemistry from the tap issue either. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[brewmaster15]

HI Gordon,
Thats a strange issue indeed! But it sounds like it may be due to bacteria and organics.....First thing I would do is question what you are putting into the tank feed wise....what ever it is may be accumulating over time....and just reaches a point where it crashes.

Without knowing what it is you are dealing with its hard to advise....but I have known the addition of hydrogen peroxide to help with the cloudy condition...IME, Most bacterial blooms in a tank are anaerobic... the addition of Hydrogen Peroxide often can help stop it by adding dissolved Oxygen...
So that may be a course of action to research.


Additionally, you coul try PP..Potassium Permanganate may oxidize the bacteria...then following up with large water changes...and things may balence out..

Generally speaking things like what you are experiencing come from the addition of too much nutrients and/or not enough oxygen..seems especially likely here since you use mostly RO water ( if I understand you right here).... So I'd really be looking at what goes into the tank and when.

Hth,
al

[Hattawi]

Gordon, would it be possible for you to take some of this slime and examine it under a microscope? you can use anything with color to stain the slide if direct slide do not show you much. (iodine for example). Try different magnifications, 100 to 400x. Maybe you would see hyphae or unicellular organisms. Once you recognise a shape, type the shape description in google picture search and try to look for a picture which looks similar to what you saw on the slide.

Be careful not use anything common between the tanks. Another possibility is the temperature difference between the discus tank and the other tanks. Try to raise the temperature of one of the other tanks & see if that will help.

[Graham]

The odds are that this ''stuff'' coating everything is cyanobacteria. and a royal pita to get rid of

[Hattawi]

If it is cyanobacteria, then a UV sterilizer can probably cure it. Do you agree Graham?

[Graham]

It would clear anything that's in the water column but will do nothing for the film on the rocks, gravel etc.

[Gordon C. Snelling]

Thanks for the input so far. I am thinking it is bacterial as well. I typically feed smaller amounts of flake or live blackworms daily but do not over feed. the tanks i question this time around are not at all over crowded. I would agree with the R/O thoughts except last time it popped up it was in tanks getting tap water, (africans) I doubt it is cyano due to the coloring although Im no expert on species of that crud. Will try to get a picture of the slime. Unfortunately all I have handy are about half a dozen stereo scopes which would not be good for scoping this stuff. My other scope is packed away and I shall have to try to find it. I shall try a temperature raise as well. Boy what a pain 30+ years of keeping fish and I have had more trouble this last year than ever before. Pics to follow soon I hope.
Many thanks