New Tank Slime

[Emir]

Never had fish before. I am hoping to start a brackish tank for a red claw crab. I have a 10 gallon that has been cycling for 5 weeks now.
I use water conditioner, added Quick Start and a piece of filter from an active tank.
I have rocks, a filter, and three hide decors. No live plants or anything like that.
The nitrates and nitrites have been high and spiked last time I checked 3 days ago. The ph was off but i corrected it with some of those ph granules that makes the ph go to neutral 7.
I added some instant ocean too but I haven't checked the salinity yet because I have been waiting on the nitrates and nitites.

There is movement in the top of the tank so the water is flowing. However, there are white flakes or plagues swirling around and there is white slime stuff on the rocks and on the corners. There are no fish or food or anything inside. How could I have slime? If I clean it I'm back to square one with the bacteria.

 

[pwypGlofish]

I have a question, what kind of filter are you using?

The tank is cycled immediately if you add a piece of media from an active tank.

The problem may lie in the decorations that you're using. In this case don't worry about waiting to cycle because once you add used filter media (or any decorations that lay in an active tank) the cycle starts in about 5 minutes - In other words, you don't have to wait weeks to do it.

Take the decorations out of the tank and clean it. A 40% water change should do it, but if the water is still dirty, do a 100% change and when you're done, buy new fish tank decorations from your local petsmart and clean them with hot water to make sure.

P.S. if you don't want to throw away your current decorations, clean them with hot water and try the best you can... My only question is that did you get those from another aquarium or are they new?

 

[Emir]

One was an extra one that I had in a old tank but two were new. I am using an internal filter because the water is low and doesnt reach the top.
My nitrates were still in a unsafe level. I thought that meant it wasnt cycled yet.

 

[pwypGlofish]

You're right. You need to make sure your nitrates and nitrites are in safe levels before doing anything else. However, I think the problem lies in the decor since white slime showed up even if you were doing everything else right.

Just asking if the decor was purchased or taken from another aquarium, because the problem could have been from there.

 

[Emir]

That makes sense.
Only two were new. One was used so that could have been the problem.

 

[pwypGlofish]

Well, problem solved Don't worry too much about it, everyone makes mistakes. Wash the decorations with hot water or buy new ones (You should be fine with that!) Hope your fish are okay!