BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Film on water

Hi there, I have a couple bettas, and they all seem to be very happy, except for Mr. Testosterone but he's angry about everything. I treat my water with either a beta specific water conditioner or a generic tropical fish water treatment thing. Sometimes I overtreat the water, but that's okay right?

Anyway, I cleaned all of my fun fishies water yesterday or the day before and there's a film over the water in the one bowl. I didn't see any on the others. The film doesn't relly have a color, it just seems to make the water a bit hazy and it's only around the edges of the bowl going towards the center.

The question is, is this a bad thing, a good thing, a neutral thing or what? And if it is bad, how bad? And if it's like a neutral thing, how do I make it go away?

I'm not sure what exactly could cause it, but on the fish forum I normally hang out at, there was a recent thread about film on water. The consensus seemed to be that it could be caused by a water conditioner having aloe in it. Someone mentioned aerosol deodorant (or aerosol in general in the room) possibly causing it. They concured that it isn't harmful as far as they knew, and that if there is movement in the water (filter, air stone) the film goes away. If you want to read the thread it is here:BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Thanks for letting me know! I really appreciate the help!

How often and how do you clean their water? What is the size of their tank? How many fish exactly do you have? Sometimes if the water has not been consistently changed often enough for the size of the tank and the size and number of fish in it, the film can remain and/or come from your fish's body if he is sick. So, film is usually a bad thing. How many bowls and/or tanks do you have them in? They are separated, right? (Known to be very territorial little dears! : O) Bowls are not really as healthy for the Betta fish as tanks would be because the bowl doesn't have a filtration system to help keep the water clean and the bowl isn't usually big enough for the water to cycle. Also, only products specificly for Bettas should be used for optimum health. : )

It could be bacteries! They are not harmful to the fish, but they can keep him from breathing to the surface! You should use sarran wrap to remove it. You juste put it on the water and than you take it off.

That's a great idea - don't you just love it when there is a remedy that you can do by using something you already have at home? Thanks for the useful tip! Anybody else have more suggestions for this person and all of us who may have encountered the same situation?

Oooh, I like the saran wrap idea. I'd just moved and all of a sudden there was this film. Now I'm back to where I was living before and there's no film. Weird.

I three betas now. I used to have four, but one died. All of them live in different bowls. Two have lids and they're about a gallon each? Maybe a gallon and a half. I use those for the girls. The boy's is a gallon, I think.

I change the water every week unless I'm not up to it, and then it's a week and a half. When I'm staying with my mom, she helps me change the water if I'm not up to it. I also change the water if it looks anything other than clear.

Question for you. when you change the water how do you go about it. meaning do you change to whole water in the tank or do you leave half or just some of the old water.. I just started my collection and I have 19 males and 7 females yes I know I'm crazy but I love my new pets. I have a couple of book on them.. does anyone have any advise for this new comer to this family.

When I change the water, I change all of it. The Bettas go in a little container that I use specifically for this and then I rinse out the bowl and the rocks on the bottom. But I only do that for the bowls.

For the tank, I change about half the water every other week or so.

You just put one Betta at a time in the little container when changing the water, right?