[guice]

I have a strange slime appearing on the roots of my plants (big bud). The slime is clear, and it is only on the very tips of the roots. The tip of the root turns dark brown and can be pulled off with very little effort. It isn't on all of the roots either, just some.
Setup-
20 gal DWC w/ RO water
pH 5.8
TDS 680 ppm
4 flexible air stones
Water temp between 64 and 69 degrees F
FloraNova nutes
Hygrozyme
Hydroguard
Even Keel pH stabilizer
Hydroton medium w/ rockwool

Here are a couple pics of what the slime looks like (All of the pics were taken 1 day after a res change):







This is what some of the leaves look like on the plant whose roots are pictured above. This plant is still showing new growth regardless of the root slime:




This is a picture of new root growth that has no slime on it at all and looks perfectly healthy.



Here is a plant that is in the same res as the one with all the slime on the roots. Looks perfectly healthy, shows new growth every day.

[MTF-Sandman]

Sound like root rot getting started...could be staining from floranova nutes, but that wouldn't cause the roots to pull apart easily - but root rot shouldn't be happening if the res temps are staying under 70 as long as there's plenty of O2 in it.

Are all the roots submerged in the DWC or just the ones that are having issues?

Any plant response to this?

Can you get some pics?

What's in the Even Keel? Sound like it's intended for soil usage from what I read...

[MynameStitch]

Agreed with sandman!

Hiya sandman how's things going man?

[Snowdog27]

Dose it look like this?


this is after a couple of days, notice that the roots and slime are still somewhat white.



This is after about a week or so.

it starts off clear like snot and if not treated it will start to look like those pics, it turns brown when the roots start to die off. If this is what you are experiencing it is not root rot but a type of algae, that choke's the roots of your plants. If this is what you are going through the only thing I found that took care of the problem is Physan 20.
Hope this helps

drop your res temps to mid 60's and maybe add 1-3 ml (1 tsp) per gallon of each of hydroguard AND hygrozyme since you have it...keep the temps low and it should clear up in about a week if you caught it in time...good luck

[guice]

I am already using hydroguard and hygrozyme. When I put a sample of the roots into a clear plastic bag with tap water, the stuff on the roots looked white and fuzzy, kind of like mold. So I took a sample of the roots into the local hydro store, and the guy told me it looks like I might have had a bad batch of hygrozyme or that my hygrozyme possibly went bad. He thought this b/c hygrozyme is suppose to take care of this kind of problem. But seeing as it is an organic solution, it is possible that it went bad. I cleaned the rez out and cleaned everything but the plants and net pots. I cleaned the roots with a mixture of h2o2 and water @ a concentration of 20ml h2o2/gal.
Started a fresh bottle of hygrozyme.
Hopefully this will take care of the problem.

[guice]

Bump. Posted pics of the slime.

[Ghost]

Snowdog27 is spot on. I have had the same problem and Physan 20 is the ONLY thing that will cure it- it is algae.

[Snowdog27]

Guice
Hope things have gotten better for your plants.

Ghost, thank you its nice to see I am not the only one who uses Physan20, this stuff works.

Here is a little info I found when I was going through this problem

Bacterial slime and other horrifying nasties

These are not the beneficial bacteria and fungi that we have already spoken about. These bacteria cause cloudy reservoirs, slimy build up, weird reservoir fuzz, gelatin growths and wild pH fluctuations. These are the reservoir monsters.
When these bad microbes are present at high populations and are happily feeding on organic matter, they use up just about all the oxygen in the nutrient solution, suffocating the plants. They release toxic substances as a biproduct of their life cycle. They also suppress the good microbes at the root zone and cause problems with nutrient uptake and plant growth.

Bacteria slime and cloudy reservoirs
Bacteria can make the water cloudy, but tend to produce more of a slime or jellylike, smelly mass in the system.If you have it, you will notice slimy reservoir walls and perhaps an oily slick on the water. Another symptom can be a foamy buildup in the reservoir. If left to their own devices, these bacterial growths will smother the roots, depriving them of oxygen. Some species of anaerobic bacteria thrive in an environment deprived of oxygen and can produce chemical metabolites, such as alcohols, aldehydes, phenols and ethylene, that are toxic to plant roots and to other microorganisms.

Other symptoms of bacterial infections can be fuzzy, cotton like growths, or the growth of fur. Just in case you are wondering, that white fuzzy growth you see at the tip of your roots is desireable. That is not bacteria - That is the good stuff - you should see tiny fine white hairs at the roots.

All of these nasties require organic matter to feed on. They may be there as the result of a buildup of dead roots and leaves in the root zone, but usually they are the result of adding an organic product to the reservoir. If the conditions are just right, the bacteria will begin to thrive.


Hope this helps

[mtnjohn]

good post snodog27

the pics in this thread are exactly what my roots looked like when i used
AN's tarantula and piranah...and i had several bad grows that i attribute
directly to those products..
on my last grow with T&P ..i was still early in flower when the slime started up....believe it or not...i took my plants out of the unit and "washed the roots" in the tub under cool running water for about 10 minutes and quit using the T&P....the plants turned right around and i havnt seen a problem since.

a side note here....after i decided the T&P werent good for a hydro grow
I gave them to a friend who grows in soil....he had the worst grow ever..
idk if i got a bad batch or what...but i'll never use those products again

just my 2¢

mj