oil on top of tank ?

[kenneth_kpe]

well recently when im looking on the surface of my tank im noticing a oily sheet on the surface ? i dunno what it is .... some sort of leftover from the food ? is this ok ? looks like somebody ate fried chicken and gave em to my fishes haha kiddin..

 

[Stryker]

It could be a protein buildup, something that is an issue with marine setups, hence skimmers.

Have you been feeding your fish any of those frozen foods, such as shrimp, squid or such like?

 

[Barday]

It could also be caused by a lack of surface aggitation

 

[lucky62]

I would also say protein , When I add freeze dried foods such as krill and brine shrimp even freeze dried daphnia it sometimes happens and sometimes it just goes away , though I also have good surface agitation , maybe that breaks it up faster

This also happens each time I use "Stresscoat" [use on occasion ] , or "MELAFIX "[use rarely] .

 

[flash]

I have a similar "oily" look. I reguarly feed frozen blood worms and cockles.

 

[Smalleyboy]

I'm not sure about the frozen food as when I set up my new tank a few weeks ago I noticed a similar effect. At that stage, the only thing in the tank was water, gravel, mature bog wood and Stresscoat. I think it may be the stresscoat as it contains aloe vera extract which may contain some natural plant oil.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

hmm im thingking its from the freeze dried bloodworms and also the flake foods ? my surface agitation is at minimum... is the protein building up bad ?

 

[WILDER]

Blood worms make your surface oily and other frozen foods,use kitchen paper to remove it just float a peice on the surface that removes it.

 

[George Farmer]

I often get a build up of surface "scum". I've read many explanations but generally I think it's harmless, I've never encountered any problems. The best explantion I've read is that it's a film consisting of an ecosystem of bacteria, algae and other micro-organisms. Increasing surface agiation works but I don't employ that as it removes co2.

It's something I've learnt to live with.