Clear slimy stuff killing fish

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Guppygulp

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
Messages
92
I bought some used decorations off Craigslist, bringing with them a clear, slimy, substance that looks like clear snot that is taking over my tank and killing my fish. What is it? How do I treat my fish? How do I treat filters, tank, and very nice decorations? Does anyone out there no how to eradicate this slimy hell from my tank?
 
I bought some used decorations off Craigslist, bringing with them a clear, slimy, substance that looks like clear snot that is taking over my tank and killing my fish. What is it? How do I treat my fish? How do I treat filters, tank, and very nice decorations? Does anyone out there no how to eradicate this slimy hell from my tank?

Can you post pics? What symptoms do your fish show? Did the slimy substance only become apparent after being in the tank awhile? It sounds like something out of a horror movie! :nono:
 
im curious to see a few answers on this. i had a friend who set up 4 tanks and had the same stuff in his . it was in the filters and every thing. eventually killed all his fish. the whole tank was a cloud of white snot looking slime
 
My fish have had zero symptoms. In the morning they are incased by the blob. I can't get off a good pic, but it looks just clear snot.
 
I have had some success with the jungle fungus tabs, but only if I don't use the same filter or decorations. If I pull all that out the second treatment it seems to work. So how do I treat the decorations, plants, and filter? Just when I think it is gone it re emerges on the plants, decorations and filers. I have been fighting this stuff for a year. I now have four infected filters, tons of infected plants I had to pull out of my tanks and had to buy new filters and throw out the substrate. I got rid of it in four other tanks. What do I clean my stuff with that will kill it?
 
The only thing I can think of is to remove all fish and add bleach to the water and let the tank run for a few days, leaving filters and decorations in.
 
if you bleach your tank with your filters in, all your beneficial bacteria will die and youll have to start your cycle from scratch...you need to test your water. the only times ive seen slime is after a fish dies and sits for a while and starts to decompose, a fungus will form around it. also if you overfeed and it sits at the bottom of the tank it can decompose and cause slime to form on the decorations.
test your water levels, and also do you have good circulation, and are you overfeeding?
 
It is either a couple things- a fungus or an amoeba or algae. Ive heard of a whitish fungus that does this and u have to dry the tank and remkve substrate to get rid of it. And there are clear gelatinous fungi known to be in north america that are usually found above water. If its an algae it would have to have either a green or yellow tint to it. And amoebas- i think thats most likely. Amoebas are tiny microscopic organisms that inhabit water and some kinds even land. They group together and form a slimey substance. In some states, there is a kind that moves by throwing itself around in a gross blob thats actuaoly millions of little amoebas. And if its coating ur fish, probably some free floating ones are gtting on and multiplying and eating it. Or, if you can distinguish individual little creatures with tentacles, thise are hydra. Thats all i can think of.
 
If this slime is that hard to get rid of bleach may be the easiest way to deal with it. I would much rather recycle a tank and not have to worry about the slime returning and killing my fish or infecting other aquariums. :)
 
It's some kind of fugal slim. I'm gonna pull the fish out and hospital tank them. And I'm gonna bleach the tank while running every infected filter in it. I can live with recycling the tank again
 
But I will tell u the fish that die, look like they are incased in silicone. It's crazy looking.
 
" under normal conditions,*Saprolegnia*fungi are harmless inhabitants of freshwater aquariums that attack dead and decaying organic matter"

"*Common targets are uneaten*fish food
*and dead fish that have not been removed from the aquarium, as well as infertile fish eggs."

" With rare exceptions, these outbreaks are a sign of poor aquarium husbandry that could be prevented"

http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/disease-prevention/farewell-to-fungus.aspx

oh, thats weird, where have i heard all of that before.
if the fungus isnt on your fish while theyre alive im willing to bet the slime is because of decaying matter in your tank, and you have high ammonia.

or you know, you could consider the other random suggestions that were grasped out of thin air, from people who havent seen it before, and not check your water to help narrow down possibilities, and just go ahead and nuke everything and cause way more work for yourself.

the first logical thing to do, would be to remove the decorations and see if water changes clears it up, if youre not over feeding, which you never answered.
 
Yes I am over feeding its a guppy breeding tank. However my water tests out good. Everything reads normal. I keep the tank clean.
 
If u need replacement guppys il give u some of min but I don't know how to ship. I am willing to learn
 
Thank you! But I can't replace these guys. Hard to find. Tri color red, white and blue. They were born on the forth of July lol really they were. I picked them up as fry the size of baby brine shrimp. The first fry I raised myself. I am emotionally attached to them. So I'm gonna pull them out of that death trap, treat them and bleach that tank. Going to Walmart in the am for medicine heater and emergency filter.
 
That's cool color combo if tey make it and have offspring like them I'd love to have one i may get a 30 gal from someone
 
I saved most of my expecting moms and a hand full of fry. I think I have enough to rebuild the colony. I also saved five males. So being guppies I'm sure life will go on. :)
 
Are any of the decorations mopani wood? I boiled mine for hours and thought I would escape it. But the day after I added it this snot like coating was all over it. I read that it would go away on it's own but instead it started hanging off my plants and big strings of it were floating through my water it took what seemed like forever to get rid of it I had to keep taking it out and scrubbing it down. Here is a picture of it the morning after I put it in the tank.


These pics where before it spread to the plants
 
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