Strange Web stuff on water

Every weekend I got back to my Mum and Dads for the night as I did this weekend, but I have returned just 10 minutes ago and found that on the top of the water in the tank was a film or web of something, I am not sure how to describe it, but along with it was white stringy bits. I did try and take a picture with little success on my phone. Under the surface looked fine and Darwin my axolotl himself was looking fine and without a care of what was on the surface.

As soon as I have got in, I took everything out the tank given it a quick rinse and returned them to the tank with a water change which seemed to remove the problem. Tested for ammonia which there isn't any, I haven't got a test for anything else in the tank.

There isn't a filter turned on in the tank but I left the filter in the tank turned off (which was causing to much of a water flow) because Darwin liked to hide under it. I have been doing daily water changes as for the past 3 weeks because I have been cycling the tank, although I do think it is cycled now but I am keeping up with water changes because lack of a filtration until my ZooMed arrives from the USA.

The water I have been using has been from the tap and has had no problems so far, I place the water in 4 x 5 Litre bottles which I let stand for around 48 hours, the bottles are filled to where the neck begins to give the largest surface area to let the gases escape.

The temperature has been around 16 - 19C, to keep the temperature cool I have been using a reef fan which was on all day and night since I wasn't here last night, I got in and the temperature had dropped to around 15.6C.

I have been feeding one red worms to Darwin lately twice a day because he is a juvenile although he was last feed over 26 hours ago. In the tank apart from the filter that is turned off is a mixture of plastic and silk plants and a cave which I think is plastic, all bought from pets at home, specifically for aquariums.

So what could this be, I never seen it before. My girlfriend was in the flat this morning at some point and told me she didn't notice anything then, but am not sure. Short term, it looks like water changes and the filter when I get it may help, I would love to know what the underlying problem is though.

I get a film of some sort of oil on the surface of some of my tank water. I usually just take a piece of blank paper and set it on the film and lift it right away. That usually helps.

Any oil film is usualy indicitive of some kind of foreign agent being introduced to a tank(a soap or cleaning agent).
A scummy webby film is common during the cycling process. I've found it can also occur(and mostly does) when plants are introduced, esp with freshly cut plants or plants that are in bad shape(rotting, basicaly). I've always assumed it to be a result of having alot of free moving plant matter in the water.

Just fish it out as and when it occurs, it should subside eventualy. I just take a hand(or tea strainer) full of synthetic filter wool and run it over the surface or any scummy ornaments.

The kind of film on the waters surface as you describe is quite normal, especially in the beginning of a new tank. It mostly consists of dust, small swimming peaces of debris (for instance from the substrate), and protozoons. This film is harmless but might be hindering to the gas exchange between water and air.

You can either try to remove it mechanically as described by axolotl_jake and Lasher and you should try to get some movement to your water surface, for instance by using an airstone.

There is another thing that irritates me and that is your "dead" filter in the tank. You should have an eye (and nose...) on that since the material in the filter (and the mud and bacteria collected in there) can lead to an anaerobic environment inside the canister, fouling your water. If you want to leave the old filter as a hideaway I would advice you to remove the old filtermaterial.

Phoenixtear said:

The kind of film on the waters surface as you describe is quite normal, especially in the beginning of a new tank. It mostly consists of dust, small swimming peaces of debris (for instance from the substrate), and protozoons. This film is harmless but might be hindering to the gas exchange between water and air.

You can either try to remove it mechanically as described by axolotl_jake and Lasher and you should try to get some movement to your water surface, for instance by using an airstone.

There is another thing that irritates me and that is your "dead" filter in the tank. You should have an eye (and nose...) on that since the material in the filter (and the mud and bacteria collected in there) can lead to an anaerobic environment inside the canister, fouling your water. If you want to leave the old filter as a hideaway I would advice you to remove the old filtermaterial.

Click to expand...

Right that make sense, so I have removed the filter, he has other hiding spaces so it wasn't desperate that it was in the tank.

hi
dont know if this will help or not. but going on my fish tank's, when doing a fish-less cycle an oily white film develops on the top of the water, and it can cause a lack of oxygen in the water.
so by having something that permantley breaks the surface or ripples the surface of the water the oxygen then can get back in.
you will probably find that your partial changes have been enuf to keep the oxygen transfer up, and enuf to keep the surface "moving" and that helps stop the build up of smeg on the top.
personly i have a spraybar above the water level pointing at the back and up, (hope that makes sense) so it breaks the water surface. but is really gentle.
you can also use a fine mesh net till your new filter arrives, to just skim the top.

(first post so please be gentle with me,)
lolly

lollypop said:

hi
dont know if this will help or not. but going on my fish tank's, when doing a fish-less cycle an oily white film develops on the top of the water, and it can cause a lack of oxygen in the water.
so by having something that permantley breaks the surface or ripples the surface of the water the oxygen then can get back in.
you will probably find that your partial changes have been enuf to keep the oxygen transfer up, and enuf to keep the surface "moving" and that helps stop the build up of smeg on the top.
personly i have a spraybar above the water level pointing at the back and up, (hope that makes sense) so it breaks the water surface. but is really gentle.
you can also use a fine mesh net till your new filter arrives, to just skim the top.

(first post so please be gentle with me,)
lolly

Click to expand...

Great first post But yeah I got a fan that does ripple the water often, that is a good idea. The problem hasn't reoccured since I changed the water the time it happened so everything seems fine.

Looks like I am going to have to wait a bit longer for my filter as the American company sent over an expensive 501 hanger and not the filter itself, I wasn't happy. Now they expect me to ring them up in the USA to sort the problem out.