Habitat - Indoor :: major water problem

[steve]

No idea what caused it, or what it is... that's why I fall back to water change.

[Kansasslider]

Should I do partial water changes everyday until it clears up or just wait and see?

[steve]

I would probably do it everyday if it's very noticeable, like on the surface.

[VeipaCray]

Nice to see my post from earlier didn't actually post. I posed about the MJ dying would reduce oxygenation to the water column. That usually retards the bacteria growth not accelerates it. There has to be something else going on.

What are your water measurements? Still @ 0/0/low?

[Kansasslider]

0/0/40ish

[VeipaCray]

If you're at 0/0/~40 with a trusted test kit then it's not a nitrosomona or nitrobacter bloom. AFAIK, they bloom in colony size to match their food source. If you're at 0/0, the existing population is balanced with the food supply of Ammonia and Nitrite. A bloom wouldn't make sense - nothing extra to feed on to support the additional colony.


If I had to hazard a guess, the MJ dying is less water movement and less dissolved oxygen in the water column. I'm betting your new found slime is some type of algae as Steve mentioned earlier.

[Kansasslider]

API freshwater test kit. I have never had a water problem with this tank. I can only assume that the maxi going out is what caused it.

[VeipaCray]

If the slime is still there, try blacking out the tank for a day or two. Assuming it's algae the lack of light would kill it (and you'd be able to confirm the algae theory)

[Kansasslider]

Tank is looking much better. Doing one more water change in the morning. Slime is all but gone. Could hand lotion on my hands have caused this? My gf thinks it was because she fed too much lettuce. I took out what they didn't eat she just doesn't know that! She puts in a lot considering only one turtle eats it. What if the lettuce was old? I'm just trying to figure out what the heck this was? We feed out of tank except for the lettuce.

[Kansasslider]

One more thought. When this happened I took my filter appart and the purigen was all mushy and slimy. Was that what caused this? It was pretty old!
Edit: Just installed the new maxijet circulation pump yesterday and just checked on the tank and now the water is clear again. I think that was the issue. No need for another water change. But I'm not 100% sure that's what fixed it.

[steve]

Very strange... still not sure what caused it.

[Kansasslider]

If I had to guess i would say it was that the circulation pump stopped working. My water is crystal clear again. Could also have been the old purigen.

[steve]

I'd go with circulation pump... maybe combined with something to cause that spike. Old purigen doesn't really do anything... does it?

[Kansasslider]

Well, I'm not sure. It was just a mushy slimy mess when I took it out and threw it away.

[steve]

Probably the same slime as the rest of the tank. Mine has always appeared the same but brown when exhausted.