I know nothing - white surface scum question

T

tomo

New Fish
#1
May 22, 2008
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#1
Hi,

I've just bought my first ever fish tank. I've got no experience with keeping fish, have read a little but don't really know much (about keeping fish :)

I've got a 30 gallon coffee table tank and have just put 4 young guppies and an albino red tail shark in there for the time being until I work out how it all works. I've bought 8 plants at random and there is a white surface scum that is building up on the surface of the water. I guess this is to do with the plants. I think maybe the gravel I bought could be too big for the plants to root properly but am unsure. Also, the tank came with this plant sand stuff and I've put some liquid plant food in but they only gave me a tiny bit of sand, maybe it wasn't enough. Is it normal to have this white stuff on the top? Maybe I should have looked into what plants to get. Should I just get rid of the real plants and get some plastic ones in there until I get to grips with it all? or what?

Any help would be really appreciated,

Thanks very much!
 

W

Worthless

Small Fish
#2
May 11, 2008
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#2
Hey first let me welcome you to the forum, Is it like bubbly or like, hate to put it this way, Like scum on teeth when people first wake up? xD Gross way to put it but I cant think of any other way, A picture would be useful but it could be possible you bought some sick plants...Hows the albino red tail shark doing with the guppies anyways :S
 

T

tomo

New Fish
#3
May 22, 2008
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#3
Thanks for the reply, it's good to know this is not normal so I can start doing something about it. It's more like early morning teeth scum :) There are two plants I bought that have white leaves so these are my prime suspects. This weekend I'm going to remove these and replace the top 10% of the water. Hopefully that will sort it. Thanks again. PS - the shark and the guppies are making good friends!
 

W

Worthless

Small Fish
#4
May 11, 2008
43
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#4
Hehe I wouldn't think a guppie and the sharks would go together, but I don't know much about the sharks, Actually this morning when I woke up I looked at my window and looked around the base of a "dead or sick" tree in my front yard and it was like early morning teeth scum, possibly sick plants? I think you are handling your problem the right way.
 

punkrockfish

punkrockfish

Large Fish
#5
Nov 27, 2004
841
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40
New Orleans
Visit site
#5
welcome! my first question for you is did you cycle your tank? if not, or if you have no idea what i am talking about, then the white scum is the least of your worries. there are cycling posts all over this forum, but missfishy, one of our members, has a really good link in her signature about it all.
 

T

tomo

New Fish
#6
May 22, 2008
8
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#6
Hi,

I've done a little reading on cycling. I plan to do a 10% water change every few days and keep testing the water. I'm kinda hoping that, since I'm just going to keep this small amount of fish in this tank for the next few weeks I won't have to change the water that much. Does this sound right?

PS - I've taken the white leaved plants out and replaced the top 10% of the water and it's now looking a million times better! *twirlysmi
 

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