Please help identify this nuisance algae! Rapidly taking over my tank

[VanCityReef]

Went away for a week and came home to this completely taking over my sump. Protein skimmer working very hard. Used up half my reef mat in 3 days.

It feels very slimy and comes apart quite easily. The consistency almost feels like slime around a piece of string, but the second you touch it, it breaks apart. In the water it looks white, almost like cotton. But when I scooped some of it out of the tank, it looks yellow/brownish (see attached pictures).

Please lmk what you think it is and any tips on how to treat it. I just started dosing DINO X every other day when lights go out, hoping it will help until one of your lovely people help me find a better solution.

Thank you all for your time in advance,
Shane

 

[KrisReef]

Presumably a bacteria mat in the sump. Perhaps a UV would knock it back?

 

[VanCityReef]

Presumably a bacteria mat in the sump. Perhaps a UV would knock it back?

Thank you for your response. I have a 25W UV sterilizer that’s on 24/7

 

[formallydehyde]

Just to eliminate a non-bacterial problem, do you have any livestock that produces a lot of mucus when irritated?

 

[Thunderstruck34]

That looks to be of the “mystery white slime” variety, which is bacterial. Do you have any air fresheners around the tank? Does it grow like crazy after siphoning out?

 

[VanCityReef]

Just to eliminate a non-bacterial problem, do you have any livestock that produces a lot of mucus when irritated?

Thank you for your response! Nothing that I think would produce that much. I just rebuilt my tank after my last RS leaked and was replaced. Unfortunately I lost a lot of coral. But current livestock is 1 green spotted puffer, 1 yellow tang, 1 powder blue tang, 1 one spot foxface, 1 clownfish, 2 pyjama cardinal fish, as for coral/inverts, two BTAs, two small Euphyllia, two dozen heads of a few different blastos, half a dozen heads of acans, and a dozen zoas.

 

[VanCityReef]

That looks to be of the “mystery white slime” variety, which is bacterial. Do you have any air fresheners around the tank? Does it grow like crazy after siphoning out?

Thank you for your response! No air fresheners around the tank or in my house at all. I just siphoned some out, will get back to you if it grows back quickly.

 

[KrisReef]

Thank you for your response. I have a 25W UV sterilizer that’s on 24/7

The water looks crystal clear in the picture, how many gallons/ hour do you have running through the UV?
I glanced at 25W uv onBRS and there 25 w was supposed to have 400gph, or roughly 4x/hour for a 90 gallon tank. I wonder what would happen if you turned the UV off? I’m not a microbiologist but maybe other bacteria would compete better (and take out the nutrients) that your current slime colony is feasting upon? If the bacteria were growing in the water column then a skimmer could help remove them?

In not suggesting that this would work just thinking with my index finger and wondering what you are growing now and how to correct the situation. With the water borne bacteria getting baked and skimmed (presumably) the substrate clinging slime is able to grow and not be UV inhibited.
Was this a dry rock + bottle bacteria tank by any chance?

 

[VanCityReef]

The water looks crystal clear in the picture, how many gallons/ hour do you have running through the UV?
I glanced at 25W uv onBRS and there 25 w was supposed to have 400gph, or roughly 4x/hour for a 90 gallon tank. I wonder what would happen if you turned the UV off? I’m not a microbiologist but maybe other bacteria would compete better (and take out the nutrients) that your current slime colony is feasting upon? If the bacteria were growing in the water column then a skimmer could help remove them?

In not suggesting that this would work just thinking with my index finger and wondering what you are growing now and how to correct the situation. With the water borne bacteria getting baked and skimmed (presumably) the substrate clinging slime is able to grow and not be UV inhibited.
Was this a dry rock + bottle bacteria tank by any chance?

Hi Kris, thank you for your response! My tank is a RS 425 G2 which is about 115 gallons. I’m assuming it’s about 100 G of actual water (honestly maybe even less). I currently have my UV at about 300GPH.

The rocks and media itself are 4 years old. I just had to move them all into temp holding tanks while I waited for the replacement tank to come and the time it took me to build it. You are correct though, when I initially started the tank it was with dry rock. The bacteria I used was planted from previous smaller tanks I had and bottled.

 

[VanCityReef]

Thank you for your response! No air fresheners around the tank or in my house at all. I just siphoned some out, will get back to you if it grows back quickly.

@Thunderstruck34 its been about a day since I siphoned some out and I wouldn’t say that it’s grown back much too crazy.