What The Jelly?

Just doing a water change , removeing the media from the cannister filter, i have gel like slime in there under the phosphate bag/ontop of ceramic rings what is this, could it be the cause of my fish deaths or the seachem calcium i added a few days ago, please help i need to get it sorted before i put it back together?

 

What color is it?

 

like water clear slime

 

Is the phosphate media for both phos and nitrate? If so, that slime is accumulated "bound" nitrate. I have used a product called "algone" and after the 5 days they say to leave it in the water, it gets that clear thick slime and WOW does it stink!
If not removed promptly I would think it would get back in the system and create havoc.

 

I had the same experience with the slime. When I opening my De-nitrator after 8 months of operation I found the clear smelly slime in all the filter components. The slime is either the nitrate eating bacteria or some byproduct of it. A small amount of this stuff will not kill your fish but if its preventing your filter from operating properly then remove it.

Joe

 

cleaned up, will see how it goes cheers guys...