Help,Weird occurrence- bacterial bloom????

[smoq]

So long story short- on Sunday I'm coming back home and see my skimmer overflows like crazy. I dialed it all the way down but it still overflowed. After few hours my filter sock overflows too, I'm replacing it with a new one and see the old one covered in a thin layer of yellowish slime. Today I changes the third filter sock, skimmer started to work on lowest level, but it still isn't normal. The slime looks like bacterial bloom of some kind. Did it ever happen to you? I checked my tank, visually it's weird cause half of my SPS retracted their polyps and stay close, while all LPS extend their feeding tentacles like I was feeding them. I checked parameters and it's like nothing happened: Ammonia 0, Phosphates 0.03, ph didn't drop at all and reads 8.2. I did a large water change but I can still feel the slime on filter sock and skimmer doesn't work like it should yet. I didn't introduce anything new in the tank, the only change is that my clownfish lay eggs for the first time (Btw eggs are fine and I can see little heads on them so they are definitely alive. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Cris007]

Do u have or lost any members of a CUC? Was your tanks temp stable during the heat wave? What other equipment r u running? Sounds like your over the worst part of this event. Have u done a large WC if not u should ASAP to help it get back to normal..

 

[smoq]

Yes I did a WC. My temp stay stable as I'm running an A/C in the room where the tank stands. No deaths, I did a head count yesterday and all fish, snails and crabs are there. I only run GFO and Carbon through a reactor (changed Carbon yesterday as well).

 

[KathyC]

Any leathers in the tank that might have shed their slime coat?

Usually with a bacterial bloom the water will remain cloudy, so this was likely a shedding event or perhaps some critter/coral in your tank spawned when you weren't there/awake to witness it.

 

[smoq]

I thought that may be a spawning event too. I have one big leather coral in the tank.

 

[smoq]

OK, so now it's worse, I came back home and water in my tank looks like skim milk... All fish seems not bothered by it, even some sps started to extend their polyps again. LPS are open like never before. Tested the water, same thing, phosphates even dropped to 0.02. What the hell? I think it is a bacterial bloom after all, but what triggers it?

 

[prattreef]

I can't say what caused it, but I would carefully monitor the tank for signs of O2 depletion. If you have one, I'd add an airstone just to be safe.

 

[prattreef]

Do you have clams in the tank? A clam spawn can be pretty messy in a small tank.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

if you say skim milk then it sounds like a bacteria bloom and or a spawning event. snails can produce that white milky looking water as well.....

 

[smoq]

No I don't have a clam Randy and no caulerpa either. I could understand it if I changed anything, but the only thing I changed in recent months are water weekly and gfo&carbon monthly. I hope it'll just go away. Did anyone have something like that happen to his/her tank?

 

[smoq]

Could be snails as well, I have a bunch of red banded trochus snails and I know they spawn in captivity. Thankfully, nothing seems to be hurt while my water is London foggy

 

[KathyC]

No I don't have a clam Randy and no caulerpa either. I could understand it if I changed anything, but the only thing I changed in recent months are water weekly and gfo&carbon monthly. I hope it'll just go away. Did anyone have something like that happen to his/her tank?

The description you used ...

water in my tank looks like skim milk

was the same as I used when my bristleworms had spawned...see the pics on the 1st post of this old thread:
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/photography/21027-bristleworm-spawning.html

You could have multiple spawns going on that started with the clowns spawning..and then the subsequent water changes could have egged (pun intended) other inhabitants on.

 

[smoq]

The description you used ...

was the same as I used when my bristleworms had spawned...see the pics on the 1st post of this old thread:
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/photography/21027-bristleworm-spawning.html

You could have multiple spawns going on that started with the clowns spawning..and then the subsequent water changes could have egged (pun intended) other inhabitants on.

It could be a spawning event, I could see patches of cloudy water and clear mixing together in the powerhead stream, the water I changed was a little colder than in the tank, which could trigger even more spawning (I know that works on trochus, they start spawning immediately when temperature drops). And the water didn't smell at all. Anyway, water is clearing up now and everything stays normal. Thank you all for advice.

 

[James]

just caught this post, glad to see things are looking up. A bit scary.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Of all the people NOT to post a photo with their thread...

 

[prattreef]

Of all the people NOT to post a photo with their thread...

lmao!

 

[NL146]

Of all the people NOT to post a photo with their thread...

:funnypost

 

[smoq]

Of all the people NOT to post a photo with their thread...

LOL, you made my day. I know, I know, I didn't want people to see my tank and think it's a damn milk container. I regret it was all hazy cause LPS polyp extension was amazing. Everything's back to normal now, but unfortunately it isn't all that well Some sps are shedding their tissue, one nice colony I've had for over two years is dead. Sad day, now I know how people feel when they have a tank crash. Well, I can't say lesson learned cause I still don't know what went wrong, but it's sad that even when you think you're doing everything right and keep up with testing and water changes, sh(^&t happens.

Good news- the clownfish eggs are almost hatched, I've been waiting for my clowns to breed for over 2 years and they finally did it I'm not prepared for raising them, but I will when I upgrade to that new tank. I'm gonna set-up a small rearing tank next to it and try to raise babies. How often clowns lay eggs after they start breeding?

 

[smoq]

And because you wanted that picture...

 

[Josh]

http://www.reefs.com/blog/2012/03/19/olasana-lagoon-small-tank-big-problems-and-a-mystery/

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