# slime on water



## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

im finding slime on the surface of my shrimp/planted tank

anyone know why kinda looks like oil on water


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

The layer that you are seeing is likely proteins, coming from food, etc that you feed to your shrimp.

It is harmless, but an excessive amount of it could disrupt gas exchange. You can usually eliminate this problem by disrupting the surface a little more (i.e. raise your filter return).


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## df001 (Nov 13, 2007)

alternatively, a method that seems to work, is drag a papertowel across the water surface, it will draw the oilyness up into it.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

df001 said:


> alternatively, a method that seems to work, is drag a papertowel across the water surface, it will draw the oilyness up into it.


okay ill try that but its harmless? thats good

i dont like to have rough water current because of c02


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

The oily film is a sign of high amounts of dissolved organics in the water. It tends to go away once you balance the system (usually by reducing feeding amounts), assuming you have plants in the tank, of course.

What kind of substrate are you using? That could be contributing to the film as well.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

fluval shrimp substrate

and i do have plants in there


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

joe said:


> fluval shrimp substrate
> 
> and i do have plants in there


I've never used that substrate, but it could be leeching organics into the water.

What is your nitrate level? How thick is the oily film? Is it just a thin film, or does it look sludge-like? How much surface area does it cover?


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

probably 75 percent of the top of the water, and its fairly thin..

im not sure my nitrate levels ill check later..

what should they be?


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## sudz (Dec 13, 2010)

joe said:


> probably 75 percent of the top of the water, and its fairly thin..
> 
> im not sure my nitrate levels ill check later..
> 
> what should they be?


Nitrates should be below 20ppm. Any more and it starts stressing fish.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

sudz said:


> Nitrates should be below 20ppm. Any more and it starts stressing fish.


i dont have fish lol, will it affect my cherries? also is there any fish/plant that helps with nitrate levels? if so ill add them

i am looking for giant duckweed aswell


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

joe said:


> i dont have fish lol, will it affect my cherries? also is there any fish/plant that helps with nitrate levels? if so ill add them
> 
> i am looking for giant duckweed aswell


Do you only have cherries in there or CRS as well? Cherries are pretty hardy, but CRS needs < 10ppm nitrates.

Anyway, the reason I ask for nitrates is to gauge if you're overfeeding. If your nitrates are 20ppm or over in a shrimp-only tank, then chances are, you are overfeeding.

How long has the tank been set up?


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

solarz said:


> Do you only have cherries in there or CRS as well? Cherries are pretty hardy, but CRS needs < 10ppm nitrates.
> 
> Anyway, the reason I ask for nitrates is to gauge if you're overfeeding. If your nitrates are 20ppm or over in a shrimp-only tank, then chances are, you are overfeeding.
> 
> How long has the tank been set up?


im guessing like 3-4 months

and no only cherries, its a low maintenance tank because i leave sometimes for work sometimes for a week or 2 and dont want to have to worry about shrimp lol


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

joe said:


> im guessing like 3-4 months
> 
> and no only cherries, its a low maintenance tank because i leave sometimes for work sometimes for a week or 2 and dont want to have to worry about shrimp lol


Okay, unless you've changed substrate in the middle, I think it should not be leeching much organics after 3-4 months. Therefore, most likely the culprit is overfeeding.

How big is your tank and how many shrimps are there? Do you have any algae on the glass?


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

yes the algaes like brown on the glass (sides), and its a 75 gallon probably 170-220 shrimp??


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

joe said:


> yes the algaes like brown on the glass (sides), and its a 75 gallon probably 170-220 shrimp??


There should be no bioload issues then. How often and what are you feeding them? A 75 gallon with only 200 cherries does not even need feeding, really. Reduce your feeding to once a week, and your oily film should be gone in a month or two.

Or, you could add some small fishes.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

i fed them like 2 peices of food every two days, so i shouldnt feed that often lol??


and no fish untill i have a good solid red batch of cherries to cover the bottom


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

joe said:


> i fed them like 2 peices of food every two days, so i shouldnt feed that often lol??
> 
> and no fish untill i have a good solid red batch of cherries to cover the bottom


What exactly is "one piece" of food?

What kind of filtration are you using? What kind of light? I believe you said that you use CO2, right?

Show us a pic of your tank, it will give us a much better idea of what's going on.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

t5 ho 2 bulbs, pressurized co2

50 gallon canister filter

and one peice of food i use like barley spinich colour foods, i believe its ebi moochi


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

white and red container, cant remember the name right now got it from franks when i used to have crystals


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Did you get that nitrate reading? I suspect it's just overfeeding.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

no i didnt go home tommorow haha ill do it tonight

im also adding duckweed soon to help lower nitrates


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

so i think i screwed up my water test last night, apparently my nitrates were zero? the water became blue after i put in the solution, i did it twice..? shouldnt it be high? im gonna bring some water to petsmart later

and yesturday i added frogbits and 2 types of duckweed and water lettuce, i also havent watered for a while so it should be getting better

and i did the paper towel trick


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

joe said:


> so i think i screwed up my water test last night, apparently my nitrates were zero? the water became blue after i put in the solution, i did it twice..? shouldnt it be high? im gonna bring some water to petsmart later
> 
> and yesturday i added frogbits and 2 types of duckweed and water lettuce, i also havent watered for a while so it should be getting better
> 
> and i did the paper towel trick


Blue? Nitrate tests are yellow. Were you using the nitrite test instead?


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

i have 3 different test solutions in my kit? all for nitrate 

ive only used mine for ph and ammonia...
so i used all of the nitrate tests and it only changed the water to the colour of the soloution........


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Get a surface skimmer, the ones Fluval sells. You can hook it up directly to your filter intake.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

that was my first idea, and i know it will work but the only thing that worries me is if one of my little baby shrimps is near the top of the skimmer.... and gets skimmed ! lol

does anyone have a skimmer on their tank? if so hows it working + do u have shrimp lol


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

joe said:


> so i think i screwed up my water test last night, apparently my nitrates were zero? the water became blue after i put in the solution, i did it twice..? shouldnt it be high? im gonna bring some water to petsmart later





joe said:


> i have 3 different test solutions in my kit? all for nitrate
> 
> ive only used mine for ph and ammonia...
> so i used all of the nitrate tests and it only changed the water to the colour of the soloution........


What brand of test kit are you using? As mentioned, you may have gotten mixed up and used the nitrite test kit.

Most nitrate test kits come with two bottles, which have to be used in order.



joe said:


> does anyone have a skimmer on their tank? if so hows it working + do u have shrimp lol


I have a surface skimmer on an aquarium that does not have shrimp. It works very well.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

i have the freshwater master kit, and i brought my water to petsmart to have them test it

they said there were no nitrates, he said my tank was fine

http://s1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh538/joezinck/?action=view&current=20120516_195956.jpg

http://s1250.photobucket.com/albums...inck/?action=view&current=20120516_195949.jpg

http://s1250.photobucket.com/albums...inck/?action=view&current=20120516_195938.jpg

http://s1250.photobucket.com/albums...inck/?action=view&current=20120516_195907.jpg

last ones the tank shot


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

he said the slime was from high lighting


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

joe said:


> i have the freshwater master kit, and i brought my water to petsmart to have them test it
> 
> they said there were no nitrates, he said my tank was fine


The API freshwater master test kit only has 2 bottles for nitrates, not 3. There are a total of 7 bottles; 2 pH (one normal range and one high range), 2 for ammonia, 2 for nitrates, and 1 for nitrites.

I doubt that your aquarium has 0 nitrates. Most aquarium stores simply use dip strips, which are generally regarded as notoriously inaccurate, so I would not trust the results. In addition, "fine" is very vague; I would at least hope there would be a numerical value that could be assigned.



joe said:


> he said the slime was from high lighting


This statement does not make any sense and reinforces the common notion that many fishroom employees do not have the necessary knowledge to be working in such a position


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

joe said:


> he said the slime was from high lighting


LOL, he probably thought you were talking about algae.


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Darkblade48 said:


> The API freshwater master test kit only has 2 bottles for nitrates, not 3. There are a total of 7 bottles; 2 pH (one normal range and one high range), 2 for ammonia, 2 for nitrates, and 1 for nitrites.
> 
> I doubt that your aquarium has 0 nitrates. Most aquarium stores simply use dip strips, which are generally regarded as notoriously inaccurate, so I would not trust the results. In addition, "fine" is very vague; I would at least hope there would be a numerical value that could be assigned.
> 
> This statement does not make any sense and reinforces the common notion that many fishroom employees do not have the necessary knowledge to be working in such a position


If this was at the Heartland centre Petsmart, then I think I know who you're talking about... I avoid that store like the plague.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

lol it was heartland, so im guessing i should do another test tonight at home.. and do a waterchaange and clean the glass


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Did you find any giant duckweed. ? if not, I have some, you are welcome to it. I also have some baby water sprites, the shrimp love to pick around in the roots when they get long, it grows in any light, near as I can tell and it sucks nitrates too. For sale, you can PM me if interested.


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