Cucumber scented slime???

[oatmeal]

Hello, all!

This is a very random discovery I made whilst doing thorough clean of the newt tank: I found on several of my live plants a very deep green slime.. I assume it was an algae of some sort, but the thing is it smelled just like fresh cut up cucumbers! It was actually very pleasant, but as I didn't know what it was I just rinsed the plans of and put them back.

Anyone know what this is?

I recently had a snail outbreak, so I know that there were lots of excess nutrients in the water (hence the thorough clean), but I just thought that was a little curious.

Anyone know what this mysterious substance is?

 

[Daimler]

i really hope its not cyanobacteria!!
I post some photo, if its that thing don't eat or smell that because its very toxic!

http://naturalaquariums.com/plantedtank/060802.JPG

http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/eB...umEcosystems_images/Cyanobacteria_476x357.jpg

http://www.koreareefclub.com/galler...ium_Blaualgen_-_Cyanobacteria_STUG_cyano1.jpg

here a link of toxic effect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanotoxin

 

[oatmeal]

i really hope its not cyanobacteria!!
I post some photo, if its that thing don't eat or smell that because its very toxic!

http://naturalaquariums.com/plantedtank/060802.JPG

http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/eB...umEcosystems_images/Cyanobacteria_476x357.jpg

http://www.koreareefclub.com/galler...ium_Blaualgen_-_Cyanobacteria_STUG_cyano1.jpg

here a link of toxic effect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanotoxin

Yeek! That's sort of what it looks like (the first pic).

Aquarium Cyanobacteria

I'm going to start doing the things outlined in this article, minus the antibiotics. Most of it is already gone (manual removal). I can see a small amount on some plants, but I'm going to go in tonight and remove it. The newts seem totally fine (no behavioural changes in the past few weeks), so that's good.

Thank you so much for posting this! Silly slime; distracting me from its malicious nature with it's delightfully fresh scent!

 

[JM29]

This article is interesting but not complete.

A particular point is that water changes are generaly inefficient to lower the phosphorous level. The reason is : most of the phosphorous is fixed in organic matter in the sand or gravel (you don't mention if you have some in your tank). In fact, it's more a matter of ratio Phosphorous/nitrogen than phosphorous level alone. The water changes are efficient to lower nitrogen but inefficient to lower phosphorous, hence a higher P/N ratio.

The first action to perform is cleaning the substrate to get rid of most of the phosphorous. This operation and the massive water change may cause a short and little cyanobacteria bloom if there is no nitrate in the new water but it's normal.

 

[oatmeal]

Thank you for explaining that! I'm going to do some research into phosphorus and its role in aquariums now. This is the first proper aquarium I've had, so I'm certainly still learning. I had newts as a child, but back then there was not the same amount of information available that there is now (pre-internet). I clearly remember cleaning the newt tank once a month, washing all the substrate out in the tub, filling it up with tap water (no conditioner), and plopping the newts back in (( Awful! Makes me cringe to think of it! I can't believe they lived for years under those conditions. I loved them though, and I want to do much better for the critters we have now. Newty redemption

After I discovered this algae I did a very good vacuum of the tank (I do have a substrate, as we have a heavily planted tank). I had neglected to clean under one of the logs in the tank It has lots of plants growing out of it, so the newts really like hanging out in there; whenever I did a vacuum/water change I was afraid to move it to clean under it in fear that I'd squish a newt! I feel pretty certain that was the issue. I've been watching water parameters since I did my dramatic clean of the tank, and everything looks okay, but I will definitely make sure to vacuum under there in the future. I feel so awful about this!
I can see why people go substrate-less. It's a bit of a pain the butt!

Thank you for your help! Hopefully I don't see another bloom.. I'm about to do a small water change/vacuum, so I'll check everything out and make sure it's all gone.

 

[oatmeal]

Okay! So I've been diligently removing all the algae from the tank whenever I find some, and I've decreased the number of hours per day that the lights are on. I've also stepped up my cleaning game (uprooted all plants for ease of substrate cleaning; cleaning more often and thoroughly, etc). I'm still seeing some crop up now and then, and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience using a phosphate remover. I picked up this:

Hagen Green-X Phosphate remover 4g: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

It was recommended by a local fish store, but they don't have much experience with newts or salamanders, so I want to check with you guys first. I've had it for a few weeks now, and my Google-fu is weak; I can't find anything online regarding these products and their safety with amphibians.

I'll continue doing my cleaning/water change/removing slime routine until I find out more

 

[oatmeal]

Hey! Thanks again, everyone, for your help and suggestions. So far I've been doing my best to keep up (more frequent cleanings; decreased number of hours of light per day; removing infected plants, etc), but I'm still seeing it crop up every now and then.
I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with any phosphate removing products, such as this one by Hagen;

Hagen Green-X Phosphate remover 4g: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies

I picked it up at a local fish store a few weeks ago, but haven't stuck it in the tank yet. I wanted to see if it would go away with more diligent cleaning before I considered adding anything to the tank. Does anyone have any input as to whether or not this product would be safe for my CFB newts? My google-fu is weak, and I couldn't find anything related to the safety of using phosphate removers with amphibians.

Any help would be appreciated