# Ok. WTH is this?



## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

Happily there is no fish in here. 

I completely cleaned the tank on Friday, replaced the old water with fresh and cleaned the sand. Literally all that's in this tank is a piece of driftwood, some aquarium sand, and water. There's a filter and a heater, both running and working properly.

This is what the tank looks like Monday morning. What the heck is going on? The slimy-looking skin is covering the substrate as well.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

oo drain water and refill... looks like a protein film monster....


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## xjenuhfur (Jan 30, 2012)

The tannins are prolly from the driftwood, but yeah protein film.


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## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

So what causes it (I mean, I'm sure the answer is "protein"), but it literally popped up over 48 hours. What's causing the protein build up? And how do I stop it from happening again?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I would say the tannins lthat leeched from the wood or the heater... but if the filter was running... I dunno. I think something is growing in there. I know sometimes driftwood brings in weird things. and seeing how much there is in there.... it's a bacteria festival.


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## LittleWatty (May 13, 2012)

I've got the same kind of buildup in my 3 gallon, and there wasn't much in it. I think mine was caused by my heater (Tetra brand, 2-15 gallons) and it popped up over the course of a few days. The same thing might be causing yours, but I can't say for certain, even in my case.


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## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

I boiled the driftwood a couple of times over before putting it in the tank. SO frustrating, not to mention gross. Thanks for the help y'all.


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

I like your tank! (minus the gunk, of course)


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## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

Thanks vilmarisv. It's a Mr. Aqua 3-gallon rimless. I love the tank, minus the gunk.

I drained the tank, then filled a 5-gallon bucket with boiling water and emptied the tank's accoutrements (thermometer, filter (minus the sponges, which I tossed), heater, driftwood and some of the substrate into the bucket. It's been soaking for an hour or so. Meanwhile I cleaned the tank itself with hot water. Hopefully this will take care of it. I'm just going to keep the driftwood soaking in hot water until it's time to try again, I guess.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

It almost looks like sand dust to me, was the sand a recent thing and did you rinse it? It reminds me of the tank I set up with sand before I realized I could rinse it... :/


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## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

Shirley - it was definitely some kind of gunge. It's smelly.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

I bet it was sand dust/protein. I don't even keep sandy tanks anymore because I can never do it right XD


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

bananafish said:


> Thanks vilmarisv. It's a Mr. Aqua 3-gallon rimless. I love the tank, minus the gunk.


I thought so... I have two 5 galon ones and looooove them!


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

How could the heater cause that?


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

That's a good question because I have never heard of a heater causing that kind of issue or had a heater malfunction *knocks on wood*


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

Shirleythebetta said:


> That's a good question because I have never heard of a heater causing that kind of issue or had a heater malfunction *knocks on wood*


Yeah I know....How would tannin come from a heater? Heaters are usually made from non-porous materials....


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## thekinetic (May 22, 2012)

Hmm bacteria you say? I had something similar to this without driftwood and it gave my fish (jabberjaw ) finrot and killed him. Some sort of oily substance on the surface of the water. Could be something different though.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

finnfinnfriend said:


> Yeah I know....How would tannin come from a heater? Heaters are usually made from non-porous materials....


I don't think they were talking about the tannins though. The OP had drift wood in there. I think they are talking about the grimey slimey stuff being caused by the heater. I can't understand how a heater could cause that slime.


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## Twilight Storm (Apr 14, 2011)

Looks like your tank has the same problem as LittleWatty maybe? They provided much more disgusting pictures then you did though.  I think LittleWatty wins the most disgusting aquarium problem picture award with their second picture  (In my book at least lol)

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=106031

Some of the brown stuff might be diatoms too. If it smells, it sounds like you probably have more then diatoms though. (....bacteria festival lol..... if your tank starts to give away T-shirts to commemorate the festival in the years to come mark me down for one lol :tanshades

Hope you can get rid of whatever it is though.

Edited to add:
Sena in the post I linked says what the heater gunk smells like even though she never did explain what happened with her heater to cause slime.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Thanks Twilight *gets sick* XD 

What Sena says does show heaters can cause a problem like this. She's a smart girl and I trust her opinion. I wonder how the heater causes things like this though.....


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## craiger75 (May 31, 2012)

Yeah, that sorta looks like my tank after I stopped using a filter and the food pellets dissolved. That's gotta be the driftwood. I had just a few branches in mine and what a friggin' mess.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

I have heard of driftwood causing a slimy whitish algae but I have never seen it on the top of the water. That is interesting


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

Shirleythebetta said:


> Thanks Twilight *gets sick* XD
> 
> What Sena says does show heaters can cause a problem like this. She's a smart girl and I trust her opinion. I wonder how the heater causes things like this though.....


What did Sena say?


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## craiger75 (May 31, 2012)

Lol - my wife used to say the heater seemed to make it worse too!


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

I still don't understand how a heater could do that...


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## craiger75 (May 31, 2012)

Evaporation ... heat makes the crud rise maybe? I dunno. I'm thinking it's kinda like smog except in a tank.


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

craiger75 said:


> Evaporation ... heat makes the crud rise maybe? I dunno. I'm thinking it's kinda like smog except in a tank.


Oh...well if that's the case it's a catch 22 because betta need heat!


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## craiger75 (May 31, 2012)

Yeah, some brown water (tannins) in there is closer to their real habitat anyway, just not very aesthetically pleasing :lol:


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

finnfinnfriend* Below is Sena's quote. I am hoping she see's this and chimes in. 

"Try removing the heater... See if it stops. If it doesn't, good that is not the culprit. I am used to 1. heater snot. Icky, gooey, slimy stuff. OR 2. protein film. It could very well be the heater (or heater snot  ) Is there any smell in there? Like, rubber, decay, rotten eggs, sweet, etc?" -Sena


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

Shirleythebetta said:


> finnfinnfriend* Below is Sena's quote. I am hoping she see's this and chimes in.
> 
> "Try removing the heater... See if it stops. If it doesn't, good that is not the culprit. I am used to 1. heater snot. Icky, gooey, slimy stuff. OR 2. protein film. It could very well be the heater (or heater snot  ) Is there any smell in there? Like, rubber, decay, rotten eggs, sweet, etc?" -Sena


I did not know heaters could get congested...

Thank you for finding the quote for me


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I used to get a really thick layer of slime on top of the water when I lived in Alaska. It was also on the decor as well but it was NOT smelly. I always though it was from Stress Coat. The directions say to use 2X the dosage when using it to heal fins...

I also get a much thinner protein film on the smaller non filtered tanks. Very annoying but harmless


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## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

Yeah, I definitely think the driftwood has something to do with it. I wasn't/am not worried about the brown tannins; I'm ok with that. It's the smell and the slime. I never had this problem before experimenting with driftwood. It's soaking (again) in hotter-than-boiling water, along with the aquarium sand. I don't know how else to kill whatever is potentially growing in/on it.


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## craiger75 (May 31, 2012)

Oh yeah, plant rot's another one. My tank was smelling like bad spinach last week. Overall, I'm glad I got a filter going in there again. Much better!


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## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

Well, after boiling the driftwood AND sand for like two straight days, and cleaning the tank, I've put it all back in the tank. I replaced the filter media and turned the heater and filter back on. I did not add stress coat or anything else to the water. Mark it down: 3pm Pacific time, on Tuesday, July 10, the water was crystal clear and there was no gunge. Let's see how it looks tomorrow.

Also, I bought a new LED light fixture to try plants under better lighting before I get a new fish. Pretty psyched up about it... BeamsWork single-bright LED for like $36 on Amazon. Woot.


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## Twilight Storm (Apr 14, 2011)

bananafish, if you think of it down the road, could you fling me a PM on how that light is working for your plants? (or fling up a public post review of it.) 

We need more product reviews for lighting involving plants, especially on affordable lights. I was looking at A Finnex LED light for $19 tonight and was wondering how it would work for what plants in my 2.5 - 5 gallon tanks.
http://www.amazon.com/EL-BW21SL-Fin...?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1342059822&sr=1-2

BTW Sorry Shirley!!! 

And glad there is no new slime so far for your new fishes home.







(Wish we had this smiley.)


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

That smiley rocks. It's okay my gag reflexes have calmed some.


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## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

@Twilight - will do. I'm expecting it to show up some time next week. Then I'll buy some plants and see how it all works out.

This is the one I ordered:
http://www.amazon.com/BeamsWork-Sin...119893&sr=8-2&keywords=beamswork+aquarium+led

@Shirley - New slime strings are starting to show up in the tank now, attached to the driftwood. It's kind of pretty, in a weird way. I plan to siphon them out and do a partial change.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

That's to nasty. Driftwood snot *bleh*


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## Ircsi (Jul 12, 2012)

you supposed to put the drift wood in water for 2 -3 days so all the tannin comes out, or boil it in a big pot. it happened to me too it took 1 week with a filter and water changes to get rid of the discoloration in the tank. so before u add drift wood soak it in water for 2 days and than it should be fine. i added sand as well and made my tank very cloudy so i decided to put only nice stones and some living plants.


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## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

Thanks Ircsi. I boiled the driftwood several times over. And soaked it in hot water for two straight days, after the multiple boilings.


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## glitchsniffer (May 8, 2012)

Chances are that the slime will come back. I had a piece of driftwood that I placed in a bookshelf tank that basically had about an inch of slime all around it for about a week or two. Then just as magically as it showed up it disappeared. From what I was reading there is a bacteria that comes along and eats it and once its there you will never have problems with it again. I feel your pain though its so gross looking. Even though I boiled mine for a long time it still got it. So if you get it again just leave it in there and ride it out. It will disappear.


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## Ircsi (Jul 12, 2012)

hey

i have 4 female betta in a 5 gallon with a piece of drift wood. is it possible that this wood makes them sick? i already lost 2 fishes they kind of lost their fin. i have 4 left, changed the water last night and put salt and melafix in there. what do they have and how can i help them?


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