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Hi Folks,

I have a 12 year old male RES, Tommy, who lives in a seventy gallon aquarium. A few weeks ago I noticed a film on his water. I figured his old Fluval filter might be causing it so I replaced it with a new Fluval filter. After a few days the film began to re-appear. Now, Tommy is fed in a differend tank to keep things clean. Is this film dangerious? It does not smell.

Thanks for your responses.

Is it an oily film or a whitish film? In most cases it's a protein slick and water that's not adequately aerated.

Thanks for responding Steve. The film looks oily. There is no smell. But is it logical that both filters, one new and one only a couple years old would leak oil. And also is there any oil in the machines? I contacted Fluval yesterday but have not yet received an answer. One thing I've noticed is Tom's climbing and basking rocks both get covered with a green film only a couple days after they have been cleaned.

When I get an answer from Fluval I'll post it.

There is no oil in your fluval filter. That's quite easy to see when you take the filter apart to clean it.

The protein slick is an oily film caused by proteins. It's usually from the food if you feed your turtle in the tank. I talk about it and how I dealt with it in my build thread.

You just need to agitate the water... either with a bubbler or, what I do is place the spray bar of the filter so it agitates the surface when the water shoots out.

By agitating the surface of the water you're sort of stirring the proteins back into the water column so your filter can suck them in before they separate and float again.

Many thanks to all of you. And thanks from my buddy Tommy!