brown jelly in filters

ok, new problem, hope someone can figure it out. Recently I have been finding thick gobs of brownish jelly-like stuff, not the normal mulm, this is jelly like consistency. It is in my intakes and clogs them up, it is under the large sponges in my Aqua-Clear70's filters, which makes them rise and the flow low. I first noticed it after I added a hydra-sponge filter, but I have used them before and never saw this . I had to cut a small circle hole in the sponges to get better flow, but today when cleaning the filter, there was about 2'' of this jelly-like stuff under the sponge and completely covering the grey sponge lift which has small cut-out squares but were completely clogged. :wb: This filter was cleaned 2 weeks ago due to same problem and it is happeing in both AC's.

It's making me nuts , having to clean the filters so often because of low flow.

I don't think this is normal .

Never saw this before , what could it be ? It's clogging everything in my filters! The net bags for holding bio-matrix are covered and difficult to clean the jelly stuff off. :wb: it sticks to the sponges and difficult to remove .:dk:

Could too much Prime cause this? I don't measure, just splash some in when doing wc with python. Food and fish are same,nothing new or different.

The normal mulm I have had in past has been brown, but not jelly-like.

54g
ph 6.8
na 10
ni 0
amonia 0.10(from tap)
adding extra Prime
temp-79.4
food is zucchini, red pepper, peas, spinach or yellow squash (one of these a night) removed in morning.
fish: 2 L128
8 harlequin raspbora
2 diamond tetra
7 rummy nose tetra
3 dwarf rainbow
1 farlowella

Snail eggs

:hi:Hi Zeebo any chance of a photo

How hard is it to wash off?
Have you been feeding more veggies than normal or different ones?

A word of caution, i'd avoid cutting additional holes in the sponges to increase flow. Water will take the path of least resistance and if its through the new hole rather than through the sponge, you lose most of the biological capacity of the sponge. If you are getting reduced flow through the filter than you either have to clean it more often of add a sponge to the intake to remove stuff before it gets into the filter.

some fungal growth? have you tried add a half dose of the 'fixes' or anything?

hi everyone, thanks for responding.

foti- no snails

Irene- could it be fungal growth? Perhaps . I noticed some filmy stuff on a silk plant and cleaned it off, never saw that before. What causes fungal growth and is it dangerous to the fish?

Jimmy-will get a pic next filter cleaning, don't want to take the other apart yet as outtake flow is good atm. I know pictures help immensly, so will get asap.

Lorne- Yes , difficult to remove the jelly-gunk from the mesh bags and sponges.

No new veggies-same amount and kinds as always

Lorne, I did not realize making a hole in the sponges would cause probs. The AC filters have a very thick sponge,which I cut a hold a bit smaller than a dime in the center of each sponge. I have spare new sponges ,should I change them or will I get a mini-cycle ?

Thanks , and will try to get a pic of the filmy stuff on something and post. Will have to wait to get a shot of the jelly stuff in filter.

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ok, this is the filmy stuff , if ya blow up the pic ,you can see it pretty good. Could this be causing the brown jelly-like mulm to clog up my filters ? or not related ? thanks,

That stuff could definitly cause the jelly stuff in the filters. Not sure if its an algae or fungus though I have seen similar in the aquarium before.Not entirely sure how to get rid of it though, short of scrubbing everything down.

You should probably get the new sponges in the filters. What happens is that over time the surface of the sponge gets dirty and the new holes are the easiest path through the sponge. The water gets channeled through the holes and goes unfiltered to the rest of the media. This causes quicker fouling of the other media and possibly stagnation issues within the sponge. One of the features that is often looked for in filters is that it is designed to eliminate media bypass, this is especailly true with canister filters but is important with all filters. This ensures that you get maximum efficiency out of your filters.

thanks Lorne, so if I change my sponges will that cause a mini-cycle, even if I do one at a time ?

With the amonia in my tap, a mini-cycle concerns me.

And still gotta figure out what this filmy stuff is :dk: Should I treat or scrubdown ? I do not see it on the rocks, slate or gravel. Is it harmful to the fish ? It sounds like you are right that this could be the cause of the jelly stuff in the filters as I never saw either till recently.

Replacing any media could cause a mini cycle. One at a time would be the best course of action to minimize the cycle. There is ammonia in the tap but so long as you use prime it should be of little concern. Even though the ammonia still shows up after the addition of prime, the prime detoxifies it so to speak so it is of little concern. The alternative is that you run the filters the way they are and because you're running the sponge with uneven flow you could possibly create issues with stagnation in the media.

ok, I can understand what you mean by the water bypassing parts of the sponge so some of the biomedia dosen't get oxygen and adequate water ,and so it will die off and become toxic....hope I got that right.

So I will change the sponges, one at a time , but do I need to get to the bottom of this jelly slime first ? The jelly accumulates so fast under the sponge and also clogs the ''sponge lift'' holes, so the entire lift rises, and I get trickle flow, rather than a good flow. This a.m. I could not see anything in the other filter intake and tonight I can see some of that jelly gunk already building up in it.

Is changing the sponges extremely crucial that I need to start changing them now , or can I wait it out till I figure how to get rid of the slime/fungus/whatever it is ,then begin to change them ?

I know scrubbing everything was a suggestion, but won't it come back if not treated ? Should I treat with an anti-fungal med? sorry for all the questons but this is a new one for me.

thanks , much appreciated,

hi, just an update , I replaced one of the sponges on my AC HOB filter with a new sponge as suggested, no holes. It has been a week and no amonia , no mini-cycle in the 54g , thankfully.

Thanks for the heads up concerning putting a hole in the sponge and why it is not a good idea. Will change the other one later.

[ame]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z339/yellowhouse21/055.jpg[/ame]

ok ,sorry it took so long to get a pic posted . Anyone know what this jelly stuff is ? It is clogging my sponges , and the netting for my biomatrix. It causes low water flow, and get inside the intakes on my 2 Aqua-clear 70's.

That slime looks horrible, could be algae or bloom build up. From what i see, i think your mesh is very fine and thus it will clogg up very fast. Maybe wash this stuff off and try another less finer mesh. Just anthought cheers jk :thumbup:

hi jk. yeah you are right ,this mesh bag is pretty fine, but the other one is much more open, like an onion bag and it still clogs it up.

I had thought it was from the type of food I give them, zucchini(most is eaten by am) red peppers, spinach etc. but I know many other members use same veggies and do not have this porblem.

So you could be right. How does one get rid of it ? It is very hard to brush off the mesh bags and near impossible to brush off the sponges. It is nasty stuff.

ideas ? thanks ,

:dk: anyone know how to prevent this ? and how to get it off the sponges and bags ? thanks

Sorry do not know cheers jk :thumbup:

The only time I have seen it is when I had a fry saver with an airstone & a constant feeding of zucchini. The slime seemed to attach itself to the airstone & the fishing line I used to keep the fry saver upright if the suction caps failed. I didn't think it was an issue until I found some fry trapped in it like that movie the blob! I started removing it every day until it didn't come back. I wonder if it would still occur if you had a sponge over the filter intake

hi swordfish, man, I think you solved it ! Must be from the zucchini because it is not in the other tanks and the tank it is in is the only one I feed zucchini.

I cut back on how much i was putting in there , the L128's prefer the skin but will also munch on the inside as well. When I noticed too much left not eaten in the am, I cut back and put smaller pieces in. But this could be from the excess .

At least someone else has seen it ,yikes, I could not imagine having the only tank with this jelly stuff . So I will remove as much as I can and see about sponges for the intakes on that tank. Many thanks , one less headache:whistle:

As you've already noticed its the courgette or basically rotten veg. Comes out well under hot water or with a pressure washer / high pressure hose. I get it all the time in my filters never really bothered with it though so just clean them out every few weeks.