oily film

[nathanden]

On my African tank i have a oily film on the service of the water

What is it

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

It's a layer of proteins, if you have enough surface agitation it will go away, or a paper towel will soak it up, but it will probably come back

 

[nathanden]

Is it bad?

 

[Mattyfelts]

Surface agitation will do the trick forsure

 

[Mattyfelts]

I dont think it is particularly harmful, but can be unsightly and not allow light to penetrate as much

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Is it bad?

No, it's always in the water just settles on top without a lot of agitation, I have it on many of my tanks.

 

[bmarine]

Yup, i think it just makes oxygen exchange a little harder, but i could be wrong. Surface agitation gets rid of it. I just installed a powerhead on my 125 and its gone.

 

[Aqualady40]

You can add airstone/s and it will rid the issue

 

[Jesse.R]

I have it on my tank occasionally. It comes and goes. Looks kind of oily and breaks up into chunks almost when you break the surface right?

 

[Mebbid]

Take a look at a surface skimmer. They are made solely to get rid of the bio film that forms on the surface of the water. Plus they are dirt cheap.

 

[Fresh2o]

Yep, surface agitation will help with this and the surface skimmer sounds like a permanent fix (seen it at the LFS but have not tried it).

One quick fix you could try is taking a sheet of paper towel and place it one the surface and promptly remove it. The surface film should cling to the paper towel. Not a permanent fix but should help break the surface tension a bit.