Hello all,

My water has developed a large ammount of clear 'plastic' looking 'things' floating around in it. This has happened pretty much during the course of today and i have absolutely no idea what it is. I recently made my own canister filter and i am wondering whether it is small bits of silicon which have flushed off the inside of the canister... The pieces are all wafer thin and vary from about 5mm to 10mm.

Anyone have any ideas on what it might be?? I dont think its any kind of skin or mucus from the fish. (I hope anyway.)

Ammonia and Nitrite 0.

Many Thanks.

That does sound odd. Would you be able to tell us a little more about your tank set up? (size, what kind/number of fish in it, etc).

Yea no problem, Its a 10 gallon tank stocked with a small lionhead and a small ranchu. The tank is given lots of air and the filter holds about a gallon of media and turns over water at about 12 times an hour.

Another quick point. My ranchu who I believe to be male is currently swimming on the spot shaking his tail (something he has never done before.) Could the clear stuff be some form of discharge from the male??

I doubt that the fish is doing it. Male fish release milt - making the water appear like watered down milk.

Was the deveice you used for your cannister filter or the hoses you used or any of the equipment you used - USED? Algae that has formed inside a hose or a piece of equipment can be bleached and sterilized and killed, but when you start up the equipment the bleached dead sheets of algae can come loose and release into the tank - looking like white or clearish flakes..... Could that be it?

Does your filter draw them out? It should. Make sure you rinse your mechanical filtration media (floss? Sponge?) really well to clean all the stuff away. With luck it is finite.

Thanks for the reply. I think it was some silicon from inside the filter that had taken a while to be washed free. I spent a couple of hours with a net and a syphon and eventually got it all out. Not happened since and the fish seem okay.

Cheers