film on water

[justrelax]

i went to feed my guppies in the 5 gallon today and few minutes after feeding i noticed the food was still floating on the water and the gupps were just staring at it... upon further investigation i noticed a very light colored film over the water?!?! what is this and what is the best way to get rid of it?

[tropicfishman]

could be a bacteria bloom

The light colored film that you are reffering to, could you describe it as almost looking like an oil slick on the waters surface? If yes I think I've had the same problem or rather buildup on every tank I've had that I didn't use an overflow/siphon type filter on. What I think it is, is a type of protien film that collects on the surface and unless the surface is agitated it just goes there and collects. I my circumstances I never noticed it causing any problems for my aquatic inhabitants, but just rather an eyesore. That was one reason I switched over to a wet dry, but on a 5 gal that probably wouldn't be practical. I hope thats help you out if my problem is the same as yours. As far as removal goes I think I had my best luck holding the gravel vac up close to the surface of the water and stirring that film up so it would get sucked out; however maybe another person will have a better way of doing that or another diag.

[rich311k]

You can try floating a paper towel to soak it up.

[malkore]

yep, a clean, white paper towel floated on top will pickup a lot of the scum.

a filter that disturbs the water's surface (like any HOB) will also help break it up so it can be filtered out.

[Ky'smommy]

the lady at the pet store told my brother in law.. that the reason we have it is because in spring they add stuff to the water.. and it isnt harmful to fish. but it cause the flim on top of our tanks.
maybe its something like that?
i still dont like it but i cant do much.

[justrelax]

yes, it almost looks like an oil slick. i went ahead and used paper towel to soak it up, and that seemed to take care of most of it. i also noticed the water level was almost as high as the filter output so i took some water out. that seemed to get the suface agitated a little better, hopefully that's all it was. i checked with my city's water treatment facility but they were unaware of anything added to the water that could cause the film. it's not on the big tank, either, so i think it was just a lack of agitation issue.

[Thebluyak]

someone said it was a buildup of protein or some other extra stuff, is this tank planted?

[Mosaic]

Part of it could also be dust settling from the air, particularly if you don't have anything to agitate the water's surface. The only betta tank I have that doesn't get this is the one with a tight fitting glass lid.

the lady at the pet store told my brother in law.. that the reason we have it is because in spring they add stuff to the water.. and it isnt harmful to fish. but it cause the flim on top of our tanks.
maybe its something like that?

Its best if you learn now the people at pet stores don't always know what they're talking about. Although if that were true, I think I'd be concerned.

[JeffreyL]

Another thought, have you changed anything else recently? Different food, etc? I was getting a similar film on a tank I was treating for ich. In addition to raising the temp, I was putting garlic extract on the food going in. Stopped the garlic, the film went away. And a little extra surface aggitation helped too.

[Ky'smommy]

well the thing is i have three tanks and he lives on another part of the city. and im very good at taking care of my tanks.
i thought it was just the water but i dont know