Help....skin/film Ontop Of The Water

[Sammii]

Hey guys, wonder if you can help me, ive got a coffee table tank in my front room, its an open top style as the table top sits about 2 inches above the water. it has a undergravel filtration system, is about 90ish litres. stock is 3 danios, 4 neons, 2 corys and 1 sucking loach.

The tank has been running for around 6 months now with no problems at all, but the last couple of weeks ive had this annoying skin/film forming ontop of the water, ive been taking it off the top with a jug every 2-3 days and changing 10 litres of water every few days. I havent had any fish die or go missing and i have hoovered the gravel twice in the last 2 weeks yet it still comes back, anyone have any ideas why this is?

cheers

 

[MewMew42]

has anything been sprayed near the tank at all? or have you used a hand cream and then put your hands in the tank?

 

[Sammii]

no nothing at all

 

[Truck]

probably fatty proteins from the food, when you do a water change, use a jug to skin the surface, or increase surface agitation.

 

[ian]

when i had my 60l i used to get this from my flake food, i had a Stingray filter at the time. Do what Truck says and it'll be fine. It never caused me a problem.

 

[xem]

i had the same thing with my tank when using flake food, which i guess is at least one cause (dependant on type of flake food, as im guessing not all types do it ?) agree with Truck should solve the problem

 

[Sammii]

thanks people, tbh i didnt know that flake food could cause this, i use the decent tetramin flake food and also use it in my other 2 tanks without problem, although they both have lids/hoods. is there anything else i could feed the tetras and danios to try and combat this problem, as its a bit of an eye sore on an open hooded coffe tabe tank lol

cheers

 

[Sammii]

anyone else?

 

[Ryandsimmons]

Can't help you with the cause, but a tip I found very useful for removing the film on my tank was simply to drop a piece of kitchen towel on the surface and pick it back up. Do that with 3 or 4 pieces and I find it gets a lot more off than using a jug.

 

[Loops]

My flake food does this, leaves an oily film