Root rot emergency - Is there a way to remove slime from the roots?!

beuffer420 said:

Me personally I wouldn't be all that happy if my roots looked like that. It's not a big deal though it can be fixed.

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They look slimy. Does it mean they are rotting?

You're saying it's not a big deal though and it can be fixed. How?

Is there a hope for a full recovery or does the root rot leave irreversible damage behind?

Please help me to fix it!

Rinse the roots under plain tap water, like the bath tub or a hose, etc... and get as much slime out as possible with your fingers. don't be afraid if some dead root comes off, you don't want dead roots in the res and the plant will grow new roots anyway. Once you removed as much slime as possible, dunk the rootball a few times in a bucket of water with a 'splash' of bleach for a good 60-90 seconds to sterilize the roots.

Clean the res with hot bleach water and mix up a new res and follow some basic DWC do's and dont's:

make sure res is 100% light proof. the entire lid should be covered with panda film, and you can wrap the res in a few layers of silver bubble wrap or some other kind of insulation to light-proof and help stabilize res temps at the same time. I pretty much guarantee your res is not light-proof just by looking at your pictures.

Plenty of bubbles, try to keep temps under 70s.

When you mix up a new res it is critical you do not use any nutes or ph down with organics in DWC. Safe time-proven options are dyna-gro and general hydro flora series (but not floranova). If you are using anything like superthrive or seaweed extract or fulvic acid... stop for the rest of the grow at least.

Start running bennies and discontinue h2o2. I suggest aquashield or pond-zyme. If you are using tap water, you may need to dechlorinate with a tap water conditioner for best results. API tap water conditioner and pond-zyme can be bought at petsmart and petco in the US. The beneficial bacteria will keep the water clean and roots healthy. since they are aerobic microbes, they will put a slightly higher demand on the dissolved oxygen so do make sure you have plenty of bubbles.

over the next week or two the plant will sprout new white roots. the aquashield and pondzyme will keep them white and crisp but you might get some fade in the leafs... you can foliar spray with weak nutes to help them out if that happens, but should be fine. the situation looks fixable to me if you do it quick.

I heard peroxide in res. will help?

My advice, take a water sprayer (something like this http://www.waterirrigation.co.uk/media/catalog/category/Cat-Garden-Sprayers-sub-hand-Main.jpg) and try to wash as much slime as you can off. Then cut off roots that are definately dead. Clean everything as much as you can and put your plants in a fresh clean RO water. Add some H2O2 (I added 110 mL of 3% H2O2 to 15L of water). Let it bubble for a day like that. Then do another res change, wash the roots again, put in clean water, some nutes (go down with the concentration, and imediately add some bennies. (you can sprinkle some on the roots after washing them).

From what I've read, some people have managed to get rid of the slime with peroxide alone, but for many it does not work. As I understand it, it kills lots of microorganisms, but in a concentration safe for roots, it does not kill all of them, nor does it kill the spores. Also, it stresses the plants and might create a layer of dead cells on them. Dead or weakened cells combined with lack of competition create good conditions for the pathogens to grow again, sometimes even despite the peroxide being added constantly. Leting Peroxide reduce the number of patogens and then introducing benneficials that will eat most of the organic waste available, and even directly feed on the pathogens seems to me the most reasonable method.

Also, remember that DWC does not go well with organics. Companies will try to convince you that you need root accelerators, molases, organic acids, enzymes, vitamins and sh*tload of other aditives, but most of them will probably do very little other then serve as food for microbes. You are growing your plant in a tub of higly aerated water with carefully measured concentration of nutrients and in a optimal pH range. It's about as good conditions as it can get. Don't get greedy., keep it simple, stick with well formulated purely inorganic nutes and with decent light your plants will grow almost at their maximum biological potential.

Wow,bummer. I think id use some zone and some hygrozyme to try and clear it up.And hope they do not die.
If you run zone or h2o2 you will never have this problem happen again.
Allot of times this problem happens when the res water temp becomes to high.
Good luck to you.

Hygrozyme is enzyme. It will make things much worse.

Pondzyme will help, but I would do an h2o2 rinse first.

Thanks everyone for the support!

superstoner1 said:

Pondzyme will help, but I would do an h2o2 rinse first.

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For how long would you rinse the roots in peroxide? An hour or two maybe?

Hydroburn said:

dunk the rootball a few times in a bucket of water with a 'splash' of bleach for a good 60-90 seconds to sterilize the roots.

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Bleach is 100% safe for these 90 seconds? Is it much like keeping the roots in peroxide solution for an hour or so?

Bennies = beneficial microbes?
I dont have Aquashield nor Pondzyme available. I do have Powerzyme though - I think its something similar, no? And also Algol, which is algicide. Should I use also this or only Powerzyme?

Never heard of those products, I can only recommend what has worked for me... don't use enzymes though. also if you get bennies from the aquarium store, I would prob watch out for anything that says 'helps support fish slime coat' or 'contains slime colloids' or anything that sounds like a funky additive. maybe ask the store clerk if they recommend a product for pond maintenance.
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/788977-couldnt-find-pondzyme-these-safe.html

you can use bleach or h2o2... same purpose.

Helmut, don't use any enzymes. They will make things worse at this time.

Have you checked on Ebay for benneficial microorganism products? I don't have any available at my local stores either, but have ordered Great white and ZHO there.

PLEASE help me to clarify one thing.

You're saying not to use any enzymes at this time, but then you're suggesting some products that have worked for you. Aren't these products also enzymes?

You told me to start running bennies (Aquashield or Pondzyme). Aren't these enzymes??

You told me to order Great White and ZHO from Ebay. Aren't these enzymes??

... and then you say that I shouldn't use ANY enzymes at all at this time...

Please help me to understand.

Bennies = Enzymes?

Nope.
Bennies = benneficial microorganisms. Those are bacteria and funghi that eat dead organic mater and by doing that compete with the slime for food. Some of the funghi will colonize the roots and protect them by denying algae space to grow and some benneficial microorganisms will also directly attack other microorganisms.

Enzymes = organic molecules used in living organism's metabolism to aid in certain chemical reactions. Those that are used for hydroponics most often break down dead organic mater into simpler molecules and by doing that denies bad microorganisms food. They basicaly do some of the things bennies do but without having anything alive in the res.

Okay, from what most of you have said, I conclude that Pondzyme is a bennie, not an enzyme. I thought "zyme" in the name refers to "enzyme", so I automatically thought it's an enzyme. Then you all said use Pondzyme, but don't use any enzyme...

Let me ask this for the last time - Is Pondzyme a bennie?

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Slime and dead roots have been removed from the plants.

Root balls have been soaked in bleached water.

Starting to fill up a new res now. I will add nutrients ONLY.

.. because I got no bennies around. I will go to sleep now and for the first thing in the morning I will look if anyone has said anything and then I will probably go searching for bennies..

MY GRATITUDE TOWARDS ALL OF YOU

don't really know what pond-zyme is, but it works pretty good from my experience. bacteria produce their own enzymes, but who the fuck knows really... most of us are just stoners

Pond Zyme contains benneficial bacteria, not (only) enzymes.

bleach.......

Thank you, Hydro and Spanky.

Joe, what are you trying to say?

This is 10 hours after cleaning/removing/bleaching roots & changing res. Do you think they will survive?














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