Film at the top of the water?

[kevy]

On the surface of my 5 gallon there is this rainbow colored stuff. Its a very thin layer, and the colors almost make me think it is some kind of oil. Maybe from food? The tank has about 15 fry, still only like 3 weeks old. I feed them crushed flakes 4-5 times a day. 90% of it gets eaten before it hits the bottem, and then they eat most of it.

Anyone know what is it and how to get rid of it?

 

[smb]

Could be the oil from flake food they use to keep it together as once it hits the water the oil will begin to seperate.

Do you use any pH buffers? Sometimes powders used to lower pH causes this.

If you think it's the flakes you can try a different brand and see if that helps.

Do you have any surface agitation?

 

[Lateral Line]

An old trick for removing surface films is to lay a sheet of newspaper on the surface of the water then peel it off. The film, or at least the vast majority of it, comes off with the paper. Kitchen roll may work also, never tried.

If you have no agitation, I should remove the film, it is possible it is preventing or at least impeding oxygen from disolving in the water and could potentially suffocate the fry. A little agitation is a good thing though, mixes the water and improves oxygenation.

 

[kevy]

Yea, the agitation from the filter is enough, I think. I've never done anything to my Ph, so I guess it must be the food. I use the same flakes in all my tanks but i guess because this is the smallest, it is the only one that it shows up on.

I'll try the newspaper thing, well, I'm going to try using paper towel rolls. If you were to use newspaper isn't there a chance the ink could run off?

Thanks for the explanation/suggestion

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> . If you were to use newspaper isn't there a chance the ink could run off?

Quite possibly, but 30 years ago when I last had surface films, newspaper was available, kitchen rolls were only a, (probably yet to be born), marketting guys dream!!!

 

[kevy]

Hahaha


Well I did it, and it worked fine, now I just need to try another type of flake for the small tank I guess.