WHAT IS IN MY FX5!!!?????!!!!!

[Wet Whiskers]

Okay guys, what is neon green, smells like a rotting corpse in a bath of sulfer bath, and lives in an FX5?

I've went to clean the sponges of my FX5 like I do monthly, and pulled the hoses off to a horrendous smell. I pulled out all the trays and the water was neon green. Is this an anaerobic bacteria that is growing in there? I've always used sumps and HOB filters so I'm not particularly familiar with anaerobic bacteria that grows in aquariums. Also, I CANNOT get the smell out of the sponges. I used hot tap water on them trying to get them clean, but its not helping and I don't even know what to do about the biomaterial?!? The thing wasn't even hardly dirty!
HELP!!!

 

[Wet Whiskers]

No one?

 

[kdrun76]

The ONLY way the problem is anerobic bacteria is if your filter wasn't actually moving any water.

If your filter was moving water, find a new culprit. I am ready to go mycological on you. I haven't seen neon green, but I have seen neon pink mycological infections in filters. They like it dark so they stay out of the tanks but reak havoc in the filters. If you have more than one tank, you need to go to uber sensitive QT practices. Nothing goes between tanks. Buy new nets, new algae scrubber pads and such and assign that tank its own set. The python vacuum head can be bleached between uses. Your hands and arms need to be washed with soap and dried after coming out of that tank every time, etc...

I know of no way to remove the mycological infection that doesn't involve bleaching your filter. Obviously this will cause you to need cycle the tank again. Not minor.

Do you have any other tanks?

 

[Wet Whiskers]

The ONLY way the problem is anerobic bacteria is if your filter wasn't actually moving any water.

If your filter was moving water, find a new culprit. I am ready to go mycological on you. I haven't seen neon green, but I have seen neon pink mycological infections in filters. They like it dark so they stay out of the tanks but reak havoc in the filters. If you have more than one tank, you need to go to uber sensitive QT practices. Nothing goes between tanks. Buy new nets, new algae scrubber pads and such and assign that tank its own set. The python vacuum head can be bleached between uses. Your hands and arms need to be washed with soap and dried after coming out of that tank every time, etc...

I know of no way to remove the mycological infection that doesn't involve bleaching your filter. Obviously this will cause you to need cycle the tank again. Not minor.

Do you have any other tanks?

OH @#$%!!! I have 6 tanks up and running ATM, including a 600 gallon with a sand and canister filter. This FX5 was part of the filtration on my 180/100 gallon combo. As it can function without the FX5 on it, I did not reattach it, ran everything under hot water, and left it out to dry. Now for the really fun part... I expect that there is a chance I am susceptible to this.

 

[kdrun76]

No you aren't. Not unless you are in a dark place and dead. I am talking about a heterotrophic decomposer here.


Slow down.... Explain again.

The filter was found full of gross after sitting empty and not running, or it was found gross in a routine monthly clean? Was there oxygenated water moving through it when found?

 

[Wet Whiskers]

No you aren't. Not unless you are in a dark place and dead. I am talking about a heterotrophic decomposer here.


Slow down.... Explain again.

The filter was found full of gross after sitting empty and not running, or it was found gross in a routine monthly clean? Was there oxygenated water moving through it when found?

HAHAHA. Last I check I'm not dead, and I'm no longer working graves.... I think I'm good.


Filter was running on the 180/100 combo, and I pulled it off to do the monthly cleaning of the sponges. Other than the neon green and core penetrating smell (my garage still wreaks of this) there was actually very little debris in the filter.

 

[Wet Whiskers]

So, other than it getting stinky in the FX5, does this harm the fish?

 

[kdrun76]

Ok.

Consider those tanks infected. Its in the water too, just in small quantities. Any dark spots in the tank need to be relieved of their darkness. Dark = under a rock pile, or under drift wood. In a tube is not dark enough. Dark as in ..... as dark as the inside of your filter.

What is the texture like? Stringy like thin runny boogers or heavier?

Nothing goes from those tanks to anywhere else or every tank could have it. What do you have for spare filters or even for spare filter media?


The inside of that canister needs to be bleached. As does the hoses, but not yet. That filter will need to run for a little while yet first. You have some prep work to do.

 

[kdrun76]

I haven't seen green, the pink stuff is harmless to the fish, but its HELL on filtration and can plug a filter solid in 48 hours.

 

[Wet Whiskers]

Ok.

Consider those tanks infected. Its in the water too, just in small quantities. Any dark spots in the tank need to be relieved of their darkness. Dark = under a rock pile, or under drift wood. In a tube is not dark enough. Dark as in ..... as dark as the inside of your filter.

What is the texture like? Stringy like thin runny boogers or heavier?

Nothing goes from those tanks to anywhere else or every tank could have it. What do you have for spare filters or even for spare filter media?


The inside of that canister needs to be bleached. As does the hoses, but not yet. That filter will need to run for a little while yet first. You have some prep work to do.

Fortunately, it was as thin as the water. The FX5 was actually bonus filtration on the system, and was added about three months ago. It already had multiple sponge filters, a homemade filter (made of a white 5 gallon bucket fill with media, floss, an air stone and a return pump), power heads, and a small UV sterilizer (I had it and threw it on there figuring something was better than nothing).

The white bucket gets plenty of light inside, so it should be okay, I'll probably have to really get in there and basically boil the sponge filters.

Oh, somewhere I do have a large UV sterilizer for another tank that I'm going to set up. Maybe I should stick it on this while the other tank isn't running.