Film on top of my water

[Fishie]

There is a filmish area in some of my tanks. It is on top of the water if that makes sense. How do I get rid of it?

 

[Chiroptera]

There is a filmish area in some of my tanks. It is on top of the water if that makes sense. How do I get rid of it?

Do the tanks have filtration? What kinds of fish are in there?

 

[Fishie]

Do the tanks have filtration? What kinds of fish are in there?

Main one with film is my first 55G with African cichlids and topfin 60 filter (300GPH)

 

[aqua_chem]

This can be common in fairly new tanks and/or tanks with low surface agitation. You can try putting a bubbler in there for a while to break up most of it. After awhile it should go away on its own, assuming you have enough surface movement (and you should with a HOB filter).

 

[Fishie]

So it shouldn't harm anything?

 

[manbeast]

this is naturally occuring, I often get this from some of the oils in fish foods, you can either increase your surface agitation which will help knock it down a bit or I've heard you can tear up strips of news paper and lay them across the top of the water( one at a time) for a brief moment then remove them and they'll pull the film up with them. don't worry about the ink in almost all cases it's organic as long as you stick to the black and white and avoid any color pages it shouldn't be an issue

 

[Fishie]

Great thanks. Will do one of the options above ^

 

[aqua_chem]

I used to use paper towels. Put one square under water, hold it by the corners, and slowly pull it out. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it works fairly well.