Ok. WTH is this?

[bananafish]

Shirley - it was definitely some kind of gunge. It's smelly. :(

[Shirleythebetta]

I bet it was sand dust/protein. I don't even keep sandy tanks anymore because I can never do it right XD

[vilmarisv]

Originally Posted by bananafish

Thanks vilmarisv. It's a Mr. Aqua 3-gallon rimless. I love the tank, minus the gunk.

I thought so... I have two 5 galon ones and looooove them!

[finnfinnfriend]

How could the heater cause that?

[Shirleythebetta]

That's a good question because I have never heard of a heater causing that kind of issue or had a heater malfunction *knocks on wood*

[finnfinnfriend]

Originally Posted by Shirleythebetta

That's a good question because I have never heard of a heater causing that kind of issue or had a heater malfunction *knocks on wood*

Yeah I know....How would tannin come from a heater? Heaters are usually made from non-porous materials....

[thekinetic]

Hmm bacteria you say? I had something similar to this without driftwood and it gave my fish (jabberjaw :() finrot and killed him. Some sort of oily substance on the surface of the water. Could be something different though.

[Shirleythebetta]

Originally Posted by finnfinnfriend

Yeah I know....How would tannin come from a heater? Heaters are usually made from non-porous materials....

I don't think they were talking about the tannins though. The OP had drift wood in there. I think they are talking about the grimey slimey stuff being caused by the heater. I can't understand how a heater could cause that slime.

[Twilight Storm]

Looks like your tank has the same problem as LittleWatty maybe? They provided much more disgusting pictures then you did though. ;) I think LittleWatty wins the most disgusting aquarium problem picture award with their second picture ;) (In my book at least lol)

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=106031

Some of the brown stuff might be diatoms too. If it smells, it sounds like you probably have more then diatoms though. (....bacteria festival lol..... if your tank starts to give away T-shirts to commemorate the festival in the years to come mark me down for one lol )

Hope you can get rid of whatever it is though.

Edited to add:
Sena in the post I linked says what the heater gunk smells like even though she never did explain what happened with her heater to cause slime.

[Shirleythebetta]

Thanks Twilight *gets sick* XD

What Sena says does show heaters can cause a problem like this. She's a smart girl and I trust her opinion. I wonder how the heater causes things like this though.....