I've had my 75 gallon freshwater planted tank up and running for over
two years. The plants are flourishing and I only have five small fish
which includes 2 SAEs. A couple of days after I did a water change
last month I noticed a think floating white film on the surface of the
water. I thought I must have accidentally introduced some soap into
the tank. When I tried to push it all together to scoop out it
clumped and sank to the bottom only to rise to the surface again a few
minutes later. I managed to scoop it all out of the tank. A couple
of days later it appeared again and has continued to appear for a
month after I clean it out. I do not use CO2 and have a canister
filter which lets the surface of the water remain calm. Any ideas to
what it is or how to get rid of it? I think it might be some type of
slime mold but I'm not sure.

I am also having a problem with green hair algae. The SAEs and snails
won't touch it. I feed an extremely small amount of food and have my
two grow lights on a 10 hour cycle. Any help with this problem would
be much appreciated too.

Boatdrinks wrote:

I've had my 75 gallon freshwater planted tank up and running for over
two years. The plants are flourishing and I only have five small fish
which includes 2 SAEs. A couple of days after I did a water change
last month I noticed a think floating white film on the surface of the
water. I thought I must have accidentally introduced some soap into
the tank. When I tried to push it all together to scoop out it
clumped and sank to the bottom only to rise to the surface again a few
minutes later.

How often do you change water in the tank, and how much do you change?

I usually only change 20% once a month. Since I started having
problems I have been changing about 10% every week. Think I should
get more aggressive with the water changes?

On Fri, 03 Oct 2003 14:33:51 -0700, Dave Millman
wrote:

Boatdrinks wrote:

I've had my 75 gallon freshwater planted tank up and running for over
two years. The plants are flourishing and I only have five small fish
which includes 2 SAEs. A couple of days after I did a water change
last month I noticed a think floating white film on the surface of the
water. I thought I must have accidentally introduced some soap into
the tank. When I tried to push it all together to scoop out it
clumped and sank to the bottom only to rise to the surface again a few
minutes later.

How often do you change water in the tank, and how much do you change?

Boatdrinks wrote:

I usually only change 20% once a month. Since I started having
problems I have been changing about 10% every week. Think I should
get more aggressive with the water changes?


If you are already changing 10% weekly, why don't you up that to 25-50%
weekly. I bet it takes less than 2 extra minutes. What you will get in return
is healthier flora nad fauna, clearer water, and many other benefits.

In fact, there is not one problem that a water change will make worse, except
chlorine/chloramine poisoning! (Use a water conditioner:
Prime/Amquel/whatever, no matter what anybody else tells you)

I'll give that a try and see if it helps. I agree that it definitely
won't hurt.

On Mon, 06 Oct 2003 15:37:41 -0700, Dave Millman
wrote:

Boatdrinks wrote:

I usually only change 20% once a month. Since I started having
problems I have been changing about 10% every week. Think I should
get more aggressive with the water changes?


If you are already changing 10% weekly, why don't you up that to 25-50%
weekly. I bet it takes less than 2 extra minutes. What you will get in return
is healthier flora nad fauna, clearer water, and many other benefits.

In fact, there is not one problem that a water change will make worse, except
chlorine/chloramine poisoning! (Use a water conditioner:
Prime/Amquel/whatever, no matter what anybody else tells you)