Oily residue on top water!

[cszachury]

Hi there. I've recently added smelt to my tank's diet, and have been noticing that post feeding the top water is covered with a shiny, oily residue. I've read on one site that this could be protien that has been left over, but it did not tell me how to minimize this residue. It makes my tank look diskusting . Through water changes, I've tried to suck up the top water, "herd" the top water towards my filter output in some hopes that it would get pushed under enough for the filter intake to get rid of it... ughh I've going nuts.

I thaw my smelt, and rinse very thoroughly. Have started feeding whole, but originally fed cut up. I don't believe this residue harms my water parameters, and it seems to stay on top like, well, an oil. I'm running a Fx5 on this tank, which has a 6'x2' surface area. Other things I feed this tank are krill, bloodworms(occasionally), Shrimp, nght crawlers. If you need any more information please let me know.

Does anyone know what this residue is, and how to minimize or eliminate it?

 

[armac]

airstone, therw must be 10 other threads about this

 

[duke33]

I think it was wolf said to lay a paper towel on the suface to soak it up.

 

[Miles]

Fairly normal with oily fatty seafoods.. The papertowel trick works, but it's a pain.. Make sure it dosn't have any chemicals or fragrances..

More surface agitation will break it up and filter it out too..

 

[Aquarium_Fish]

you will see the same with the more expensive frozen Mysis shrimp and silver sides too

have you tried rinsing it before you put it in your tank ... that has helped me a bit ...