Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
From the pic i'd say you do not have the brown slime algae. Root rot can look just like it. You will know after you sterilize everything. If it's plain old root rot, low res temps, sterilizing agent, and oxgenated water will show a real improvement. You shouldn't suspect the hydro herpes (brown slime) unless it comes right back. It will start off as clear snot, with no odor, and your PH will rise. Regular old root rot smells bad, and makes your PH drop. Your probably ok though.
I see your plants are on 12/12. Plants don't produce many roots after a couple weeks in flower, so you may not want to do everything I suggest below. Its more for plants in veg. You want to keep every last healthy root you can. If I were you I would probably flush as best I could and take my chances with h202/dutch master zone, rather than trying to get every last dead root out and scrubbing all my equipment. But it depends on how hard it would be for you to scrub everything, and how much the harvest means to you I guess.
To clean the roots you can take them out and hold them over the sink, and spray them directly with 3% peroxide. Spray hard and be rough, try to get the dead stuff to slough off. Then spray them with the sink hose, cool water, and gently pull at any effected roots. If they are sick they should fall off fairly easy.
You will need to sterilize your air stones, air line, buckets, netpots, ph tester, anything that has touched the water. If it was plain old root rot you should see new roots anywhere from 24hrs to a week. The old roots tend to not regenerate themselves.
You can test to see if it's the slime if you want. Save some of your current res water and put it in a dish or bucket. Keep it cool, run an air stone in it, and give it a tiny bit of molasses. If it is the slime it will explode in under 24 hrs and cake the airstone. What makes me doubtful you got slimed is that your root zone looks pretty developed and the plants were healthy. The slime almost never attacks a strong healthy plant, in my experience. It goes after the sick and the young. Pythium also likes sick and young, but will set in anywhere the conditions are right.
I see your plants are on 12/12. Plants don't produce many roots after a couple weeks in flower, so you may not want to do everything I suggest below. Its more for plants in veg. You want to keep every last healthy root you can. If I were you I would probably flush as best I could and take my chances with h202/dutch master zone, rather than trying to get every last dead root out and scrubbing all my equipment. But it depends on how hard it would be for you to scrub everything, and how much the harvest means to you I guess.
To clean the roots you can take them out and hold them over the sink, and spray them directly with 3% peroxide. Spray hard and be rough, try to get the dead stuff to slough off. Then spray them with the sink hose, cool water, and gently pull at any effected roots. If they are sick they should fall off fairly easy.
You will need to sterilize your air stones, air line, buckets, netpots, ph tester, anything that has touched the water. If it was plain old root rot you should see new roots anywhere from 24hrs to a week. The old roots tend to not regenerate themselves.
You can test to see if it's the slime if you want. Save some of your current res water and put it in a dish or bucket. Keep it cool, run an air stone in it, and give it a tiny bit of molasses. If it is the slime it will explode in under 24 hrs and cake the airstone. What makes me doubtful you got slimed is that your root zone looks pretty developed and the plants were healthy. The slime almost never attacks a strong healthy plant, in my experience. It goes after the sick and the young. Pythium also likes sick and young, but will set in anywhere the conditions are right.
