White Stringy Cotton Candy Stuff???

guntercb · #1 08/25/2006, 11:15 AM

I have setup my 120 gallon tank. I purchased 130 pound of base rock and bought about 5 pounds of live rock for seed along with some live sand.

It has been set up for about 8 days. About 5 days ago the tank became very cloudy. The cloudyness cleared up yesterday, but my rock in the tank had lots of pieces of this white filmimous stringy stuff on it. It kind of looks like when at the fair they begin to make cotton candy. Some of the strings were about 8 inchs long.

I checked my filter socks and they needed changing. Apon changing them last night, they were very slimy feeling and had this jelly like substance on them.

Any clue what is going on? I am thinking it a bacteria bloom of some sort. Is it just a waiting game?

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Chris

jiggy · #2 08/25/2006, 11:27 AM

its some sort of snail. i forgot the name of it, but it releases those strings in order to catch particles in the water, and then retracts the strings and feeds on them.

guntercb · #3 08/25/2006, 02:00 PM

Jiggy,

I know the snail you talk about there was a reefkeeping article on this snail. I had them in my old tank and I think some of my current live rock may have them, but what I have is not the snail.
But if you imagine the strings that that snail makes and make them about 100 times larger that is what this stringy white slime looks like.

It is very strange.

Any other ideas?

Chris

Rik James · #4 08/25/2006, 07:43 PM

I think I got about 8 of these as hitchhikers. Are the snails shells white and black stripes? Will they harm any corals. I noticed they like to hang out om my zoo rock. Zoos look fine still after two months.

Matt

techrach · #5 08/25/2006, 07:55 PM

I have no Idea what it is but I had it a few months ago. Nasty stuff. I siphoned as much as I could out after I brushed as much as I could off with a soft tooth brush. after doing this a few times it went away. hope this helps. my tank also went through a small cycle after this stuff.

guntercb · #6 08/26/2006, 07:16 PM

Techrach,

Interesting that you had the same issue. Was your tank newly set up when this happened?

I am wondering if it is some sort of snail spawn or something. The live sand activator I got had some wild stuff in it. I seems the filimantous stings have some little white specks and I wonder if these could be eggs? Just a strange tought.

Any other thoughts?

Cheers,
Chris

Anemonebuff · #7 08/26/2006, 07:41 PM

It is a type of stringy bacteria. Those snails are vermetid snails and they do not dump that much slime, plus they are housed in calcareous tubes. If I am correct, yours looks like bleached green hair algae?

ACBlinky · #8 08/26/2006, 08:00 PM

I broke down my tank recently after a leak, and after setting it up again I experienced the same thing. I wondered if it was something to do with dripping kalk 24/7 since I started doing this just a while ago. Bacteria makes more sense, since I haven't changed anything and it seems to be going away. My fish seem to enjoy eating it, so I haven't really had to shiphon it out

guntercb · #9 08/27/2006, 09:28 AM

ACBlinky,

If you are just dripping kalk, I do not think it is related to this. Unless you are using vinegar to get it in a supersatrated solution.

I think that what ever we have needs some "calories" like sugar, converted vinegar, dissolved organics, etc. So keep dripping kalk. (-:

Anemonebuff,

It looks kind of like bleach green hair algae.

All I know is it really clogs up my filter socks. I am not currently running a skimmer. I will hook up my skimmer in a few weeks just before I stock any fish.

What ever "it is" doesn't seem to have many negative effects yet. It appears to blow off the rocks and the filter socks do seem to capture much of it.

Thanks for everyones opinon.

Cheers,
Chris

ACBlinky · #10 08/27/2006, 11:22 AM

I do use vinegar, so now it makes sense.

guntercb · #11 08/27/2006, 08:04 PM

ACBlinky,

I would drip the Kalk, but I would only use RO/DI water to prepare the kalk solution. I believe Kalk is one of the best addivates for the tank thought one of the more time consuming to do.

I would skip the Vinegar I believe Vinegar can be a good thing, but I also believe it can lead to far worse things like hair algae and unwanted algaes.

What was your reason for using the vinegar? To supersaturated the kalk or to adjust the PH?

ACBlinky · #12 08/27/2006, 08:41 PM

I use it for two reasons -- to supersaturate (I have a lot of Ca hungry LPS, even kalk isn't enough) and to provide an organic carbon source for bacteria which, theoretically, will help with denitrification (NO3 --> N). The only algae in this tank is coralline, I don't worry too much about the vinegar fueling algae. Even the chaeto in my little fuge doesn't grow much. While I have trouble keeping NO3 below 10ppm, PO4 is always undetectable (I assume this is due to all the kalk).

guntercb · #13 08/28/2006, 12:38 PM

ACBlinky,

I know that certain bateria can convert NO3 to Nitrogren gas Carbon Dioxide and water. I understand why you are wanting to feed these bateria. I believe these bacteria live in areas with zero dissolved oxygen like a deep sand bed. Are you running a deep sand bed? Or were are you hoping the N03 gets converted to Nitrogen gas?

My tank has a deep sand bed and that is at least part of my theory behind using one. But this hobby amazes me. What happens in one tank does not always happen in another.

Chris

csb · #14 08/28/2006, 12:50 PM

FWIW, I have (had) similar growth on one of my rocks... I was able to identify it as a type of sponge with a high level of certainty. Someone else in this forum posted pictures of the same a while back, confirming my suspicions. I recently rearranged some rocks and apparently this sponge doesn't like light, because it has receeded back to the dark areas of the rock, mostly underneath the rock and an overhang which shades a portion of it from above.