Brown mucus/cloudy water mystery!

ptychoptera · 10/27/2009, 05:15 PM

I'm a seasoned reefkeeper working for an aquarium maintenance company. Today I was sent out to a 200g+ reef tank that had disaster strike over the weekend.

The tank was cloudy and noticeably smelly, though not an ammonia smell. All the fish were hiding, all the corals were closed up. Corals included mushrooms, Lobophyton toadstools, a branching hammer, Pseudopterogorgia, Heteractis magnifica, and the Sinularia. There were at least 10 large specimens of Sinularia - all covered in a stinky brown mucus and laying limp against the live rock. The mucus washed away easily and stained my fingers (soap hasn't even taken it off). It is certainly different from the usual leather coral mucus. Under the mucus the Sinularia seemed fine, albeit a bit less turgid than usual.

Water tests are as follows:
Ammonia/Nitrite=0
Nitrate<10
pH=8.0
Calcium=375
Alkalinity=3mEq/L
Phosphate=0.2

The tank was in pristine condition on Friday; Monday morning it looked as I described. Building maintenance confirms that there was no power outage. The cleaning people worked in the office on Friday night, but the building manager says they don't do anything beyond vacuuming and dusting - thus no exotic chemicals were used near the tank. The skimmer wasn't running at the time this happened, but in the sump there was a layer of foamed water where it splashed down. My first thought was perhaps an aerosol was sprayed near the tank, but maintenance claims otherwise.

The tank has been running for many years and has never had any real problems before. The tank is lightly populated with fish (flame hawk, bangaii cardinal, clarkii pair, dragonet) and is modestly fed. The water change showed the sand to be very clean.

So what caused the Sinularia to get covered in brown mucus, and what caused the tank to cloud over? My last best guess is perhaps the Sinularia tried to reproduce sexually, the gametes died and caused a small ammonia spike that has lead to the cloudy water. Has anyone seen that kind of mucus from Sinularia during an ammonia spike? Does Sinularia maybe die after sexual reproduction?

Does anyone have any ideas. Has anyone heard of anything similar before. I've been doing reef tanks for a while now and this is the first time I've really been stumped.

Thanks

PS. I did a 75% water change and removed all the Sinularia. A coworker is going to put the frags in a 5g bucket with a powerhead and see if he can save them.

ptychoptera · 10/28/2009, 08:21 PM

bump

Felix T Cat · 10/28/2009, 08:52 PM

Any xenia in the tank ? I tried to display a frag tank this past weekend with a few small chunks of xenia in it. I couldn't get the corals to open up all day and the water was getting cloudier by the second. Turns out I had a small chunk of xenia in the pump that was sliming itself silly.

ptychoptera · 10/29/2009, 05:39 AM

No Xenia, though I have encountered a similar problem with an anemone that decided to wander into a powerhead.

10/27/2009, 05:15 PM	#1
ptychoptera Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 72	Brown mucus/cloudy water mystery! I'm a seasoned reefkeeper working for an aquarium maintenance company. Today I was sent out to a 200g+ reef tank that had disaster strike over the weekend. The tank was cloudy and noticeably smelly, though not an ammonia smell. All the fish were hiding, all the corals were closed up. Corals included mushrooms, Lobophyton toadstools, a branching hammer, Pseudopterogorgia, Heteractis magnifica, and the Sinularia. There were at least 10 large specimens of Sinularia - all covered in a stinky brown mucus and laying limp against the live rock. The mucus washed away easily and stained my fingers (soap hasn't even taken it off). It is certainly different from the usual leather coral mucus. Under the mucus the Sinularia seemed fine, albeit a bit less turgid than usual. Water tests are as follows: Ammonia/Nitrite=0 Nitrate<10 pH=8.0 Calcium=375 Alkalinity=3mEq/L Phosphate=0.2 The tank was in pristine condition on Friday; Monday morning it looked as I described. Building maintenance confirms that there was no power outage. The cleaning people worked in the office on Friday night, but the building manager says they don't do anything beyond vacuuming and dusting - thus no exotic chemicals were used near the tank. The skimmer wasn't running at the time this happened, but in the sump there was a layer of foamed water where it splashed down. My first thought was perhaps an aerosol was sprayed near the tank, but maintenance claims otherwise. The tank has been running for many years and has never had any real problems before. The tank is lightly populated with fish (flame hawk, bangaii cardinal, clarkii pair, dragonet) and is modestly fed. The water change showed the sand to be very clean. So what caused the Sinularia to get covered in brown mucus, and what caused the tank to cloud over? My last best guess is perhaps the Sinularia tried to reproduce sexually, the gametes died and caused a small ammonia spike that has lead to the cloudy water. Has anyone seen that kind of mucus from Sinularia during an ammonia spike? Does Sinularia maybe die after sexual reproduction? Does anyone have any ideas. Has anyone heard of anything similar before. I've been doing reef tanks for a while now and this is the first time I've really been stumped. Thanks PS. I did a 75% water change and removed all the Sinularia. A coworker is going to put the frags in a 5g bucket with a powerhead and see if he can save them.

10/28/2009, 08:21 PM	#2
ptychoptera Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 72	bump

10/28/2009, 08:52 PM	#3
Felix T Cat Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Honey Brook, PA Posts: 557	Any xenia in the tank ? I tried to display a frag tank this past weekend with a few small chunks of xenia in it. I couldn't get the corals to open up all day and the water was getting cloudier by the second. Turns out I had a small chunk of xenia in the pump that was sliming itself silly.

10/29/2009, 05:39 AM	#4
ptychoptera Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 72	No Xenia, though I have encountered a similar problem with an anemone that decided to wander into a powerhead.