Something Spawned

[Magickiwi]

So something spawned in my tank after a 20% water change and my tank now looks like there is a blizzard under way.

ORP went from 328 to 24 almost immediately and the fish went bananas.

I have a small maxima clam in my tank and it's the only thing close to big enough to make that big of a mess.

Just changed carbon and POx4 last night. Am I on the hook for another water change now?? Skimmer is wide open now and none of my corals seem poorly.

[spit.fire]

I'd guess the clam


Big water change time

[ScubaSteve]

Believe it or not but I've had bristle worms go spawn crazy on me before after a water change. Every giant, ugly ass worm crawled out of it's hole and started spewing into the water. Turned the tank milky within minutes!

[Magickiwi]

This one was like I dumped a couple cubes of brine shrimp in the water. Little tiny things that looked like feathers but didn't make the water milky if that makes sense.

[ScubaSteve]

Ok, that's weird. Take a pic and show us!

Off the top of my head for causes:

-a big change in pH or Alk that caused precipitation of carbonate (did you dose anything?)
- Medusa outbreak (ie. tons of baby jellyfish)

[Magickiwi]

It was a water change with water that was slightly higher salinity. I wonder if it is a bacterial bloom that let go from the sump? very unexpected. It's mostly cleared up now but I'll see if I can find some stragglers.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by Magickiwi

It was a water change with water that was slightly higher salinity. I wonder if it is a bacterial bloom that let go from the sump? very unexpected. It's mostly cleared up now but I'll see if I can find some stragglers.

Slight salinity differences shouldn't have that sort of effect unless it's calc/alk concentrations were much higher. The precipitates do dissolve eventually.

Not sure if it would be bacteria if it showed up really fast, unless you were mucking about in the sump.

[Magickiwi]

Yeah I was no where near the sump. And now I can barely find a trace in my tank. None that would show up on my iPhone camera.

The water is bright and filled with bubbles from my skimmer and all the wildlife seems to be happy and doing their thing.

Still can't think of what it could have been.

[ScubaSteve]

Sounds like a precipitate of some sort to me. I'd err on the cautious side and test your levels.

[Magickiwi]

Nope I've been staring at my tank for the last while and they look like tiny shrimp or bugs. Some are a millimeter and some are as big as five or six.