pythium, or liquid karma?

basic info:
recirculating DWC (three five gallon buckets hooked up to reservoir), each bucket has 3" round air stone (flat circular kind)
reservoir has 2 long tube airstones, and one of those little ball airstones, total water 25 gallons




I'm hoping this is just liquid karma, i just added it a few days ago

it didn't really show up in the pictures as well as i hoped. Its more at the top of the roots, its not really a sludge, or anything- its more like if you splattered mud on it.

here are the pics

tell me its NOT root rot!

Most likely it is the LK. It will color the roots brownish and may deposit small little specs in the res. In my experience, if it is root rot, roots turn brown and are covered (or partly covered) with a slimy film. If you do not see that or pieces of the roots floating in the res then you are probably just getting spooked by the color left behind by the Karma.

I agree with MVP.....also LK will mostly rinse off with clear water.....not that you should be pouring things all over your roots.