brownish slime

[ruby/allison]

I have had this tank for a couple years now. Over the last 3 months a brownish slime covers the filter- to the point were it almost stops and the water looks golden. I clean the tank about every 2-3 weeks depending how it looks. There are two goldfish (there used to be a aquatic frog but has been missing for 2-3 weeks now) in a 20 gal tank. the ph is between 7.2 and 7.5. Also the sponge in the filter turns pink. I don't know what other info to include. TIA
Ruby/Allison

 

[tropicfishman]

sounds like organic waste or AKA pooh, a couple things ya may wanna consider, the two goldfish are very very very messy fish, they eat and pooh, thats it 24 hours a day, and there going to get that small of a tnak filthy rather quickly

plus you should vaccum the gravel and do water changes every week, by waiting 2 - 3 weeks alot of waste is building up in the tannk and filter and breaking down into the slime you see, I don't know why your filter sponge is pink, prolly another by product of food and waste, also anotyher factor to brown sludge is overfeeding, don't put more than what your 2 fish can consume in5 minutes, scoop out what is left floating and discard, be sure to do regular fitler maintence also arouhnd every week or so to prevent such bad build up of sludge. if its not time to replace your filter cartridge then be sure to keep in a bucket of tank water so the bacteria doesn't die off and you end up recycling, hope that helps

 

[Devilishturtles]

Are you talking about the equipment or the filter pad? It does sorta sound like a "sludge" buildup or a thick algae outbreak.

Do you add any sort of water conditioner to the tank? The pink is odd. Could be something being added to your water. Minerals, etc.