HELP!

[Lorna]

Okay I may have a small issue......

I got home last night and noticed a slimy film covering the top of my water. I quickly skimmed off as much as I could. Moved my powerheads to break up the surface more than they were, which helped disapate any film left. My skimmer box was scummy and I cleaned that out at the same time. This morning I noticed a bit of film but nothing as bad as yesterday. My skimmer is not foaming at all either. Parameters were all good. ph 8.3 ca 400 alk 4.0 meq/l temp 80.2 didn't measure for nitrate or phosphates. The only thing I can think of is possible contamination from somthing that was on my hand when I was cleaning the previous night.......All inhabitants appear as if nothing is out of the ordinary......just this scum......any ideas?

 

[Joe Fish]

The skimmer isn't pulling anything off? Is something clogged in the skimmer possibly?

 

[aresgod]

something could have died, a slight ammonia spike maybe...only thing I can think of beside that you had something on your hand, as long as everything seems normal I wouldnt worry about it, just keep an eye out over the next few days.

 

[Lorna]

no the skimmer pump in down in the water within the skimmer box.....and is running fine. The skimmer is just bubbling not producing sticky skimmate.....just not producing......I would really like to know what that scummy stuff was. It was brownish and looked almost like an algea kind of thing.....

 

[S.Reef]

I was going to guess an algae outbreak...did you clean the glass earlier? Sometimes if there is quite a bit of algae it creates that scum on top...if thats what it was you did the right thing.

 

[SALTY WATERS]

I would also perform an emergancy water change just to be safe and as well run some carbon in your system to remove any possible chemical polutants that may have entered your system from your hand.

I would check your system for any spike as well ie. ammonia, nitrate etc. and keep a close eye for any other signs that things are going foul

 

[KahluaZzZ]

i second what salty wrote

 

[Lorna]

it was kind of funny......but only on one side of the water, the side with the least amount of surface movement. I will run some carbon for a few days, I wonder if my sand gobie stirred something up.....he has been on a sand moving campaign for a few days.......clouding up the water and moving a lot of the sand bed. I think I will do a w/c of about 10% tonight, that along with the carbon and skimming really wet should hopefully bring in on track.

 

[TheFool]

This sounds like a layer of cyanobacteria hanging around at the surface. There's not much competition there, and also organic pollutants tend to collect in the top inch of the tank water (they float). This is a common problem in tanks without overflows. The remoras surface skimmer should help pull this off, but as I am sure you are finding these are a p.i.t.a. wrt. fluctuation water levels if you don't have an autotopoff. I don't have a good answer I'm afraid...... treat it like any other cyano and get the surface skimmer

 

[Lorna]

Well I do have the skimmer box on the remora....and I have broken up the surface more by directing the powerheads more to the surface which seems to have done the trick. Yes it did resemble cyano as it had small air bubbles trapped in it....it did resemble an algae bloom more than anything.......I think I may have gotten a handle on it......

I did notice that my cucumber shed the day before but usually this has no bearing on water quality.....and it appears that my coraline is fading on the back tank wall also........ My mg was low as was my alk........since corrected...