Oily stuff on waters suface?!

[tyrel]

The Cloudy surface i made a topic about a while ago has not left my tank, so its not bacterial bloom as i thought before. Its Almost oily in aperance, and its starting to worry me.

The tank has been cycling for a couple weeks now.

 

[Zagz]

Did you have anything on your hands and put them in the tank? Or maybe a decoration or something had a substance on it? Was the tank new or used?

 

[tyrel]

every thing was brand new, and i rarely put my hands in the tank.when ever I do I rinse them. Im using "cycle" brand domant bacteria, could that be it?

 

[Zagz]

I find cycle to be useless IMO, best thing is to get ammonia and add it directly to the tank. Don't do this if you have fish in the tank though! Fishless cycle with ammonia will take a total of 2-3 weeks usually. If you have fish in the tank, don't add anymore cycle and just keep an eye on your parameters and do several small pwc's to control the damage to your fish. Do you have fish in the tank or are you doing a fishless cycle?

 

[tyrel]

I started the fish cycle before I knew the downsides of it. (the "cycle" brand product is just to help things along) But ive got it going, and I hve cloudy oil-like surface. Any ideas on how to eliminate it, Or if its harmful?

 

[rich311k]

Do a 20% water change every day for the next 3 - 4 days and see what happens. That should take care of it.

 

[Zagz]

I don't think it would be harmful if your fish aren't showing signs of stress. I don't know that for sure obviously but if your fish are acting normal it should be OK. What kind and quantity of fish do you have? Keep doing pwc's as necessary, posting your water parameters would be helpful. If you don't have a testing kit I would recommend getting a AP master kit with the liquid regeants as I have heard the test strips are notoriously inaccurate. If you don't have a test kit, most lfs will test your water for you.

 

[tyrel]

Ok, I might try that. But can anybody tell me what the heck it is? If Its not harmful, then Ill just let It get taken out with the weekly change.

What is it?!

 

[rich311k]

Just one more thought how much and what do you feed?

 

[tyrel]

All the water paramiters are normal, except for a VERY slight anount of ammonia, Which happend because I took the filter cartrage out for two days so I could use some medication.

 

[tyrel]

I feed flakes at the moment, And I might have overfed slightly a couple times :?

 

[Zagz]

I honestly don't know what it is. It could be so many things. Answer the above questions that rich and I posted and maybe it will help shed some light on it.

 

[rich311k]

When you took the cartridge out did you keep it in the tank or replace it?

 

[Tiffi]

As longs as it's not green (cyano), don't worry about it. It's just some surface skum, that can easily be obtained . In German (sorry I don't know the English word for it) it's called "Kahmhaut" :? .

It's just bacteria, which live on the calm places on the water and hang together. They develop because of too much fertilizer (food, fish-poop) in the water and prevent a gas exchange. You should cut down on feeding, maybe add a little more surface agitation or collect them off with a paper towel eavery now and then. The paper towel should soak them up pretty good. If you still can't get rid of it or it really disturbes you, you might need to get a surface skimmer.

The oily property comes from decomposition processes similar to those of crude oil. But don't think you can make a bunch of money on it .

 

[Toirtis]

...or...it could be melafix or pimafix if that has been used recently.

 

[tyrel]

*goes off to check if its green*

nope! Thanks tiffi, glad to know its safe!

 

[Zagz]

Pimafix and melafix also have a smell to them, sort of like Vicks Vapor rub at first, can't really describe it after a few days.