richmckee Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 I've had a lot of time to play with my tank lately and have been keeping up on the maintenance really well. So I was kind of surprised this morning to see that a few recordias have turned into (or have been overcome) by a snot-like substance. The 2 recordias are from completely different sources and I'm just stumped as to why they seemed to be doing great up until a few days ago. They are on opposite sides of the tank with 3-4 other recordias between them that are doing fine. Does anyone know what the clear snot-like substance is that is smothering them? (sorry, my camera can't pick it up very well) One thing that I have really done differently is decrease the circulation in the tank (needed the bulk head for another tank, but replacing today). The only other thing that I can think of is that I used Apastasia X in the last few days. Everything else in the tank seems fine, except for the more exotic SPS which seem to consider my tank a hospice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayTheSavageFraser Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Something is off. I would take a water sample to a local fish store and have them test it. I would also do a 20% water change every week for the next month and then see how everything looks. I would also run Carbon!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electrokate Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 are they near any LPS that could have hit them with sweeper tentacles? Usually I have had that happen at night when lights are out, so I don't know til it's too late what the LPS have been up to. And they will be good for years til one day they decide to strike. If some aiptasia killer fell on them it would likely make them melt a bit but I have pest ricordea and tried that on purpose to get rid of them with no success. Of course the more colorful valuable ones are always the ones to prove delicate, it's Murphy's law. How recently did you add them? If it was within the last 2 days it could be a problem with acclimation and transport, or handling by whoever you bought them from. Hard to know what the substance on the rics is, what color is it? Any tissue imbedded in it or just gauzy filmy stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richmckee Posted November 4, 2011 Author Share Posted November 4, 2011 Clay, Thanks for advice, definitely bring in a sample to the LFS. In the past few weeks I've really been on it with the water changes. I've got a 72 gallon system with the sump and I do a 5 gallon change about every 5 days. Just did a change last night and am going to do another 10 gallon change today. I don't use carbon but I am thinking about adding it (I do use prosguard and water polisher). Electrokate, It's possible that LPS could have stung them, there are some in the area with longer tentacles but I thought they were out of reach (could be wrong). They have been in the tank about 2-3 weeks and were doing fantastic before. The color of the substance is clear with a most ever so small pinkish hue (but clear is what I would call the color). It's literally just like snot when taken out of the tank. No embedded tissue, just a coating. I moved the recordias to other spots in the tank and am hoping for the best. Until then, going to do a 5 gallon water change every day for the next 4-5 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVPaquatics Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 A dip in melafix marine might help. My buddy did one to a frogspawn with the brown slime. Stops it in its tracks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigjohnwoody Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Rics and Yumas both do very poorly in my tank. My beautiful pink Yuma I bought from Garrett has gotten worse and worse ever since I bought it. It's almost a clear blob anymore. My Rics are getting bleached out and shrinking everyday. The Rics have definitely gotten worse since my LED's but my Yuma has always been crappy looking. Everything else does well, but I can't keep shrooms healthy. Maybe with upping your maintenance schedule it has cut some of your excess nutrients. Just a thought! I would consider my system ULNS with 0 Amm, 0 Trites, 0 Trates and .01-.04 PO4. I run GFO and Carbon 24/7 through reactors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richmckee Posted November 10, 2011 Author Share Posted November 10, 2011 I think I found the problem. In addition to the recordia die off I noticed a few other things that seemed abnormal. My anemonoes (3 out of 5) split the same day as the slime appeared and it was not the typical size for a split in terms of their history. Anyway, the bucket I use to fill my RO water has a clamp at the top which holds the RO tube in place while it's filling. If the bucket overflows (as I often let it), it submerges the metal clamp and I actually noticed rust particulates dropping in the water. So....it appears that my water changes were making it worse depending on whether or not the bucket overflowed on that particular water change. Problem solved and lesson learned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.