Weird film on surface of the water...

[ShaneRiordan]

I've got this weird, white film developing on the surface of my 125 gallon. I have a Reaction canister filter, and a Rena xp3 canister filter. So it's not like I'm under-filtrated or something. Anyone have any clue as to what this may be? If I put my hand in there and break up the film, white stringy things float around in the water. I have no idea what this could possibly be, so if someone could help me out, that'd be awesome.

Thanks,
Shane

 

[ShaneRiordan]

bump

 

[JK47]

Hey Shane! You need surface aggitation to exchange the disolved gases (end result = surface film) in the water column with the oxygen in the air. Having canisters is great from the bio load/mechanical but unless the outlet is pointed at the waters surface they do little to exchange gases. A hang on the back filter (because of the waterfall) or an air pump with an air stone etc.. will do the trick. Your fish are likely breathing heavy or rapidly correct?

 

[cmjdjm1]

not really sure what it is, but my 135 gallon which has no top sometimes gets a hazy film on top that breaks up if i put my fingers in it. it doesnt produce any stringy things though, so maybe its different? It comes and goes every so often in my tank, and the fish never seem to care one way or another, so I don't worry too much about it. After a bit of Googling, I found this though which might help ya...
"It is a protein build-up. It comes from the food, and from the fish. It is
normal. A little surface agitation will suspend it in solution for
filtration. People who use hob filters like aquaclear do not see this
because the filter agitates the surface. If you do not want to agitate
(due, lets say to plants needing the extra CO2) you can float a single sheet
of newspaper or even a paper towel for just 30 seconds or so, and it will
absorb the layer. When I do my water changes with the python system, I
invert the nozzle and "slurp" the water from the surface. This skims it off
nicely."

 

[Calihawk]

Is it a new tank?

I just visited someone with the same problem...couldnt figure out what it was neither, said the white stringy stuff was all over his fish's eyes. Yeah a layer of film on top of water too.