shollia

I know I make alot of topics heh, but I'm still a newbie and just curious about what's going on in my tank and whatnot heh

Anywho! Today while I was trying to fish out my finrot gal again.. I noticed that there is this really gross white film building up on some of the stuff in the tank.. such as the air tube and the heater. When I accidently hit the tube, it broke up all in the tank and just made a huge mess that I had to try to fish out with my big net.

What is this stuff? Is it harming my fish any?

Xenomorph

*BUMP*

I'm getting the same thing... any ideas?

sgould

Does it look like little fluffy clumps of white stuff, or a solid film? I had the clumps awhile back. I never figured out what it was for sure, although it did not hurt anything. I just scraped it off from time to time, and eventually it went away on its own.

griffin

if it's the film, it may just be protein build up. more surface agitation (via filter or airstone typically), a surface filter, or skimmer will usually do the trick.

however, do make sure there aren't other issues going on

Xenomorph

It's kind of like when you buy a new item and it has a light plastic protective film on it that must be peeled off.

It is only on a few items in the bottom third of the tank and there's plenty of water agitation via 4 airstones and filter return.
Water parameters are good and the cycle has completed, but I cycled fishless so maybe it is a build up of uneaten food or something. I've introduced 3 guppies today - we'll see what they do...

griffin

oops - i thought you meant on the water surface. if it's protein build up - it'll usually be floating on the water surface as a film. can't say too much about white stuff on things in the tank though. hopefully the problem will be solved though!

COBettaCouple

we get that too.. i clean it off as much as i can.. i think it's some sort of algae, but i'm not sure.. i know platys seem to love nibbling it.

Xenomorph

If it is some sort of algae I remember reading somewhere that a level of algae can be good in unplanted tanks as it can use up nutrients and prevent further algae growth (don't quite know how that's supposed to work but anyway...)

In the end if it's not killing your platies - and they're enjoying it, then I'm not gonna concern myself too much about it.
(ps: little blue fella didn't make it )

COBettaCouple

that's too bad.