White slime like looking substance

[Puzzle84]

Me and my wife recently bought a 10 gallon tank. we've had it running for 2 days before putting our fish in. now they've been in for about a day and on the top of the water there is a white slime like looking substance. it isn't a film but it's like a cloud.

Anyone know what it is and what we can do about it?

[MrVampire181]

I was talking to some guy at Walmart (chill people he knows his stuff...finally got someone with expierence haha) and he said it's a type of algae. I had it in my 30 gallon but once I put some darker curtains up it went away.

[newarkhiphop]

i had it happen in my 1gallon , its like a film that covers the surface right? no idea what it is, fish didnt mind it much, i asked on here and advice i got was to make sure next time i did a water change i "scrubbed" the sides of the tank better, i did that, film wasnt there next time

[Puzzle84]

it looks like hmm someone backwashed into the water .
it's not really a film it's more like patches i really don't know how to describe it.


it's weird looking. we just did a 25 procent water change and are considering live plants to help kickstart the cycle.

[Oldfishlady]

Does it look like a white cloud or scum layer on the surface.....what kind of filter are you using, color of gravel....this is a 10gal newly setup.......is it divided or just one Betta...any other livestock, type of additives used...can you post a pic......

[Puzzle84]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Does it look like a white cloud or scum layer on the surface.....what kind of filter are you using, color of gravel....this is a 10gal newly setup.......is it divided or just one Betta...any other livestock, type of additives used...can you post a pic......

It looks like it might be scum-ish? Like gossamer white veils on the surface in patches. My wife is going to scoop it from the top but we'll try to get a picture after dinner.

Filter: Aqua-Tech (for 5-15 gal tanks)
Gravel Color: Black
Tank: 10 gal, divided with three boys in each portion. They each get 2.5 gallons to themselves with silk plant and hiding ornament. As I mentioned, we're considering live plants to help but we'd like to know what caused this ... thing. My wife has never seen it any of the other tanks she'd had/setup over the years.

[Puzzle84]

Here is some pictures of the slime as good as i could get them.

Additives used:
Water conditioner
Aquarium Salt
Topfin Bacteria to increase fish health (bahamut the fish you can see has a floaty problem)

[Puzzle84]

As an addition. i just checked the tank it's like a string of white stuff hanging from the top of the water. i don't see it anywhere else.

not in any other of our tanks. so i don't think it's our conditioner.
we rinsed all our tank decorations in the same water and no other tanks are showing signs of the white mystery globs.

[Puzzle84]

Could it be that the water is becoming stagnant? i read something like that on another forum. it looks like very thin milk.

we baffled our filter because it was creating to much bubbles but maybe that's now stopping the water from moving properly.

and we have our dividers set up. i can see the top water moving but it isn't like a current in the water.

[Oldfishlady]

Looks like surface scum...its usually organic and harmless....cause can be several things......new setup, something in the air, on hands, fish food, decomp...but usually with new setups decomp hasn't had time to happen yet...you can use dry paper towel and lay on it to remove, water change, increase in aeration/water movement to keep it broke up so it isn't as easily seen and the filter can pull some of it out, wash hands before you place them in the tank, if it is close to the kitchen-smoke, oils, cooking etc...can cause it...

On a newly setup filtered tanks while establishing the nitrogen cycle-the first water change-should be on or about day 3...unless you have water test kit to monitor water prams and then make that first water change (besides the regular schedule 50% weekly with vacuum) based on test results of ammonia, nitrite 0.25ppm or greater

Adding live plants may not do much for surface scum, however, live plants are always good for the tank/fish in general...live active growing plants are great water filters in general....