General Care Discussion :: Protein slick

[stormtrooper]

Hello,

I would appreciate if someone could advise me on this. Recently, I have noticed more protein slick in the water every morning. Gamera's diet hasnt changed that much, he gets pellets, and a healthy mix of vegetables. Is this a bad sign? I hope you know what I am referring too.. it resembles an oily clear substance. I have to scoop it out of his tank every morning.

I know it's not much information, but I'm just wondering if anyone had had the same problem (if that is a problem?). In regards to the turtle food, Gamera started out with Nutrafin Gamerus pellets, but now also gets Ikari turtle pellets - I'm not sure if that's made a difference.

Thank you for your help.

[steve]

I take it that this slick accumulates on the water surface? I've never seen protein slicks that were thick enough to scoop out. Is the water surface agitated by a filter?

[CountryGirl68]

Do you have a filter? I've gotten what appears to be an oily substance on the surface of the tank water but that's been in the past when I haven't had the filter on.

[missibsu]

I get iridescent spots floating on top of the water from the veggies in my tank. The little bits and pieces that they leave behind, get really thin and iridedcent, and that's what I notice that look from in my tank. It's easily taken care of by scooping out the veggie debris.

[marisa]

One of my tanks gets iridescent spots on the water when the turtle has eaten a lot of plant matter, pooped, and the poop has broken up (not from the veggies themselves, which don't stay in the tank long enough to wither and become thin).

Do you put a lot of cuttlebone in the tank? Some cuttlebone will leave a film, some won't. So will excess food, especially if the water surface isn't moving at all.

Just curious, but are you the person feeding HBH Turtle Bites?

[missibsu]

One of my tanks gets iridescent spots on the water when the turtle has eaten a lot of plant matter, pooped, and the poop has broken up (not from the veggies themselves, which don't stay in the tank long enough to wither and become thin).

Marisa, I bet the residue that I am seeing is from the poop and not the veggies themselves. I always thought it was just from the little bits that get left behind. The veggies as a whole never stay in the tank long enough to wither...they eat them too fast. I guess I should just be thankful that they don't have problems eating their veggies.

[stormtrooper]

Hello, sorry for the delay in responding. Thank you all for your input. In reply to your questions, I do have a filter. The oily, clear substance is usually accompanied by bubbles. Now, before you all panic, please note that my turtle gamera hasnt got RI. 100% sure about that. I will take a photo of the residue soon and send it in. I remember reading something about Protein film/buildup in the past, but the description seems different to what I'm seeing.

[reptilegrrl]

Does your filter agitate the surface? If not, you should get one that does. Surface agitation will break up the film and help the filter to dispose of it.

I used to get some film when I first set up the pond, but now the fish eat anything Al leaves behind, so we have almost no film.

You might be overfeeding- try feeding less pellets and more vegetation.