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Weird water reoccurring

597 views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Neil D 
#1 ·
Hello. :)

I've got two older male bettas in two separate habitats. For the last two weeks (maybe less) a rather clear film seems to appear at the top of the bowl surfaces. I've changed out the water in portions to doing complete clean outs. I have switched bowl conditioner (the last kind I had wasn't my usual so I wondered if it was doing something, back to my usual now), changed the plants because I thought it might be caused by some glue in the bases. Completely cleaned the gravel with boiled water and a bit of dissolved aquarium salt (then proceeded to rinse the gravel). Scrubbed the bowls even started to feed the bettas less to make sure it's not overfeeding. Took water from different taps pre-conditioning to make sure its not the tap I usually use to rinse / refill.

I always change the water every week, scrub the bowls. The film is a new development. The bowls have never been heated or filtered but its a new problem. Considering all the changes I've made, plants/conditioner/extra cleaning, the film keeps coming back after a few days.

It splits quickly when I drop in food. The fish aren't acting lethargic or unhappy. So I have no idea what the film is. It doesn't look alarming or sickening but I worry it's something trying to grow.

Any ideas would be lovely. Getting filters and heaters isn't really possible for me at this point in time.
 
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#2 ·
It is normal, nothing to worry about. It happens because of lack of water movement. This film is common with bettas because they often times their filters are baffled or they don't have filters.

I get the film in my five gallon tank. It is filtered, but my betta prefers basically no water current so the film shows up.
 
#4 ·
Turtle10 I have in the past, and will likely baffle my new filter but always wondered, if there isn't as much water in or out of the filter, is the filter really able to do its job? With my previous filter that died, it was baffled but still didn't develop a film on top. Was it just not baffled as much as yours?
 
#5 ·
@ Harley, my waterfall outlet thing is baffled with a waterbottle baffle. The intake has a glass water bottle around it that goes almost all the way to the surface.(1in away) This weakens the suction on Josh(betta) and let's him swim away if he gets too close to the top of the bottle. The only bad thing is that it doesnt really suck up poop unless it's floating near the surface. But the same amount of water flows through the filter.
 
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