Question: Oily film on top of water in tank

We have 5 juvie axies in a 2ft x 2ft x 10 inch tank and change the water (with Holtrefeter's
Solution) weekly. Every time after a couple of days, a film develops on top. I usually try to "suck" it up with paper towels, but can never get all of it. We thought it might be from the aquarium glue dissolving and resealed the seams, but that didn't change anything either. I have never noticed this film on the other tanks we have in the biology lab at the college. (We have 3 adult axies there and one juvenile; we took 5 of the last axie baby-boom home). The axies don't seem to be bothered by the film, but I'm acting like the worried "mom". Do I need to worry or are they just "really slimy guys?":happy:

I've heard about this before but I can't remember what it is. I don't think that it is bad at all. Using the paper towel is a good method. It may just be bacteria. Is your tank kept in a spot where it gets a lot of light? Is there bubbles in the film? How big are your juveniles? This tank is probably too small. How high is the water level in your tank? So is the tank 2ftlong by 2ft high and 10inches wide, or 2ft wide and 10inches high?
Thanks.
Mitch.

Is the surface of the water getting agitated? If not get a stronger filter or a better aerated. You have an aerator and filter right? It may be that since the water may not be getting agitated the film has just formed on the top. How much are your axolotls getting fed you may be feeding too much. Also what are you feeding your fish? If the food is oily it may be because of this. How often do you do partial water changes? It may be chemicals from products you use. If you are cleaning your tank stop cleaning it and do partial water changes. You need good bacteria in your tank. Is your tank cycled? Don't scrub any decorations or the tank as this kills good bacteria. If you can give me answers to some of them i may be able to tell you what causes it. Just do 20% water changes every week until it clears up. Continue to use the paper towel and get rid of as much as possible. I don't think the film will harm your axolotls in any way.
Mitch.

If you want to you can buy a surface skimmer which will completely get rid of the problem. Also do you have any plants in the tank? It may be from rotting plants or protein.
Mitch.

I believe this happens when there is dead and decaying organic matter (plants, uneaten food, etc). Perhaps feed less, or watch the juveniles eat and remove all uneaten food. It is not serious.

Scroll down on this page to see if that is the issue. http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/FAQwat.shtml

Hi Swalter,

A skin often appears on the water surface when there is increased organic debris, especially those of a proteinaceus nature. Proteins tend to 'bind' particles together, forming that 'gluggy' water skin. Besides being aesthetically unpleasant, excessive organic debris can adversely affect the quality of your water. It can cause algae blooms, bacterial blooms and make water parameters less stable.

The best way to mange this is via regular water chemistry testing, 20% water changes, siphoning up uneaten food and detritus, use of a good filtration system and not feeding excessively. Disrupting the water surface with gentle ripples from a filter outlet source will prevent the skin from forming but doesn't remove the presence of the organic material. A protein skimmer often used in marine saltwater tanks can remove this protein easily but it really is an overkill and completely unnecessary if you follow the basic guidelines for tank management. The paper towel method is actually quite effective yet non invasive. I think its a good idea.

Cheers.

Thanks to everyone for answering and possibly solving my problem. We are using a medium (8 inch) under- water power filter that does not move the water surface much at all. There is only a slight current under water. So we will work on changing that.
The five axolotls are about 4 inches long and get fed twice a day 2 frozen cubes of blood worms thawed out and rinses with aged water (morning and evening). I suck up the visible waste every time before feeding, and there’s usually no left-over food. We have been checking the ph of the water weekly before changing it and it has been fine every time. We have no live plants in the tank and removed fake ones as well, because I suspected that maybe the film was coming off them. The only other “decorations" in the tank are two plastic tubes (like for Hamster cages) for them to hide in and a large green plastic hide also intended for hamsters or other rodents which they really seem to like. There is a glass dish in the middle of the tank, where I started to place the thawed, rinsed worms. At first I used to feed them with the plastic pipette, dropping the worms right in front of their faces, but they seemed large enough now to get the food out of the dish like the adults. We change / partially replcace the water every weekend and clean the filter at that time. We don't use any chemicals "just hands" to wipe out the tank.
Today, our leucistic axie “Freckles” seems to be sick. He looks and acts like a fish with a bladder problem –he mostly floats in the higher part of the tank and when he tries to swim he lays in the water sideways. I’ve separated him from the others and placed him in slightly warmer water. He is still eating—but only if I feed him with the pipette dropping the worms in front of his face. He has a hard time diving lower. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the film or not, but it worries me.

Hi Sabine,

The underwater power filter you mentioned, is it an undergravel filter? In my opinion, the best types of filters you can get are external canister filters or mounted waterfall type filters. They are much more efficient and don't heat the water up too much nor require gravel substrate.
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/filters.shtml

If there are excessive currents in the tank, it would be a good idea to reduce the flow by means of a spray bar, adjusting to a lower setting, diffusing with strategically placed ornaments and rocks or having the outlet against a glass wall.

Most of your regime seems fine. However, do you feed exclusively bloodworms? Also when you mentioned 2 cubes, do you refer to each axolotl or all five axolotls? It is best to feed a variety of food types to ensure optimum nutrition. Bloodworms are good but it will be better if supplemented with other food types such as live earthworms, blackworms, pellets, and occasional treats of shrimp, fish, beef heart strips etc.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/worms.shtml

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/microfoods.shtml

You will need to also check for other parameters such as ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. You want to aim for 0 ammonia and nitrites and <60 nitrates.

Floating can be a sign of stress and illness and is stressful in itself. Firstly axolotls thrive in cold water and moving it to warmer waters will only exacerbate the condition. In fact, heat stress is one of the causes of floating. Ideally, axolotls do best in temperatures around 16-18 degree celsius. Anything above 22 degree celsius for a period of time and axies will be predisposed to stress and secondary infections. What are your current water temperature? Is it stable?

Are there any other signs of illness or stress such as curled tail tip, forward facing gills, inappetance, mucus patches on skin, unusual behaviour, infections on skin or gills etc?

The best thing you can do now if you want to be safe is to fridge the sick axie.

Fridging your axie will destress it, boost its immune system and render harmful pathogens (both bacterial and fungal) less viable.

- Set your fridge to about 5 degree celsius.
- Put your axie in a container large enough to allow it to stretch its limbs and tail comfortably.
- Fill with fresh dechlorinated water enough to submerge it but not allowing it to float.
- Cover with a lid. You can use a perforated lid or netting to prevent it jumping out.
- Use a tea towel to cover it to keep the environment dark.
- Perform 100% water changes daily with clean dechlorinated water.
- You can pre prepare bottles of water in the fridge.
- Continue to offer a variety of nutritious food daily. Try live wriggly food like blackworms, bloodworms, earthworms. You can also try the usual pellet, offer treats of shrimp and fish etc. Otherwise you can also blend everything in a food processor and then roll the resultant mash into a pea sized ball to try offer your axie. Remove uneaten food within 20 min.

I would try fridging your axolotl for 2 weeks and continually monitor for improvement. Please update on the progress every couple of days.

Cheers

Thanks for all the great ideas. I'll try to do what I can -- but I can only fridge him until Wednesday -- we're flying out to Germany on Thursday (my dad has cancer) and I'm afraid my neighbor would forget the poor guy in the fridge. Would that time be too short and stress him more? Right now the fridge is at about 7c I think.(45 F). I'll try to adjust it.

Olay - Freckles is in the fridge for now. He has some bloodworms in there with him - I'll remove them if he doesn't eat them in half an hour. I am feed two cubes twice a day to all 5 of them - not 2 cubes each! the adults that we have at the college get 1 cube each per day. Is that too much or not enough? I have tried earthworms on the juvies before and they did like them, but we haven't been able to find any other live worms locally - tubaflex only and I thought they are not good for them?

swalter said:

Thanks for all the great ideas. I'll try to do what I can -- but I can only fridge him until Wednesday -- we're flying out to Germany on Thursday (my dad has cancer) and I'm afraid my neighbor would forget the poor guy in the fridge. Would that time be too short and stress him more? Right now the fridge is at about 7c I think.(45 F). I'll try to adjust it.

Click to expand...

Hi Sabine,

7C is ideal, if this is what the fridge is at, I wouldn't adjust it. Hopefully while being kept in a stress free, cold, dark and secure environment, the axolotl should de-stress in a few days or so and be ready to move back into the tank.

When the axolotl is ready to move back into the tank, ensure you allow sufficient time for the temperatures of both container that was in the fridge and tank to equalize (this takes a few hours) before putting the axolotl back into the tank.

Please keep us posted as to the axolotl's status over the next few days.

You have an internal filter right? Don't clean it every week or this kills the bacteria. You can take the filter out each weekend and place it in the same water as the tank but just wipe down the edge of it, don't clean the sponge. You can clean the sponge once every month but not weekly as this kills bacteria. Also do not wike down the edge of the tank as this also kills bacteria. Only clean the glass when it really needs cleaning when you can see it looking really green. I personally never clean the glass or the decorations. Just occasionally the filter and i just suck up gunk once every two or three days.

I hope your axolotl gets better.

Mitch.

We actually moved "Freckles" into the garage instead because the fridge was actually colder than we thought. With the current cold spell we have here in Washington State right now, the garage averages about 5-7 degrees Celsius. I placed him in a salad bowl with enough water to cover his body and this morning he looked a little better -- but was very slowly moving around. I went out in the snow (yeah - in March!) and dug up some small earthworms out of my yard, and he ate one readily. He also ate a few thawed-out blood worms, but I didn't give him very much. We changed his water before we left at noon, I'll check on him again when we get home at 8 pm. We purchased a waterfall filter for the tank today and hope that that will eliminate the film on top.
I added some newer pics to my album of tank set-up & filter.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/album.php?albumid=257&pictureid=3771

Hi Swalter,

Thank you for keeping us updated. Seems like everything is heading in the right direction. Thats good news indeed. Tank looks good, the hamster type toys actually look really suitable as hiding places. Perhaps you might like to fill it up with more water though? The water level looks rather shallow to me.

Cheers.

Are you using "armourcoat" or anything else with aloe vera in your tank? We had this problem for months! Our black axie had a whiteish film all over her too that we couldn't work out either....It wasn't fungus or a disease of any sort and she wasn't ill at all. It wasn't until we ran out of the armourcoat one day and used a normal water conditioner, and the problem disappeared overnight! We now have no oily film and a black axie! Hope this helps!