Oily Film

[Catfish Jack]

Is this harmful and how can i get rid of this?

 

[jasonskillz]

iv heard of this before. it should be coming from your pumps and stuff since they are lubricated with oil. how about get a pan or bowl and skim off the oil?

 

[Catfish Jack]

i tried this, but the film would just close up and spread over what little bit i could take off.

 

[Tolak]

This film is often from the food you are feeding, it's really no big deal. Increase the surface movement of the water, or blot it off with a paper towel.

 

[Catfish Jack]

thanks, im gonna go try to paper towel. ill be back if i cant clear it up.

 

[dthoffsett]

I was getting that on my 29gal tank. It's over-filtered, but because of the way the tank is built I wasn't getting enough surface agitation on the far side of the tank. I was getting an oily surface, and used paper towel, but it always came back. So, even though I'm not a big fan of bubble wand/disks/stones, I went ahead and added one. Bingo! No more oily film, and the fish seem to like the bubbles.

 

[nicklfire]

It's a protein buildup of some sort, i've been over this so many times, talked to so many people about it.. It's not a bad thing at all just a annoyance more then anything. Some people say it goes away.. some it stays with them forever.

I have tried everything but the only thing that REALLY worked for me... was a protein skimmer... that you attach to your canister filter.. or hang on for that matter. IT just replaces your inlet on your filter and it skims the water at the same time. I ended up taking mine off cause you always had to set the height cause the water evaportates... other then that.. it worked amazingly..

Using the syphon off the top....and paper towel... and all that stuff.. is going to help for a day or two.. then it'll be back lol.

If your not running co2 of any sort then just break your surface and it should disappear... lift your filter to splash water on surfaace etc.

 

[Catfish Jack]

i just lined my net with a paper towel and skimmed it all off. it only took a few minutes and it was effective.

 

[nicklfire]

Well there ya go then tell me how long it takes to come back to have to do it again i'd be curious

 

[Tolak]

I've found increasing surface movement works best, and you can create this film on nearly any tank by keeping surface motion to a minimum.

 

[Alistriwen]

Increase the agitation on the surface of your water as others have suggested and the problem will go away. If the film is allowed to cover the surface of the water oxygen will not be able to be exchanged through the water's surface and your fish will suffocate.

 

[Luketendo]

i just lined my net with a paper towel and skimmed it all off. it only took a few minutes and it was effective.

Warning: It usually comes back.

 

[Elaine2]

I had the same problem with my first tank when it was newly set up. I tried skimming the stuff off but it didn't seem to make much difference. Eventually I ended up adding a second filter, for unrelated reasons, and as others have mentioned the increased water agitation seemed to make the difference. The problem eventually went away.