# Clear slime on New tank's filter



## Mettalikatt (Jul 26, 2010)

Hello all, I've just recently started a 38g tank set it about 4 days ago now. I started the tank with city tap water, and added Prime to detoxifiy the Chlorine/Chloramine. THe tank ran clean and clear for 2 days, I took the water to a local petco* to have it tested. They said the test came back fine and I could start cycling the tank. I chose the fish-in cycle with 2 Opaline, 1 Gold, and 1 Blue Gourami. I've come to know through the use of the fish profiling tool on this website that Gourami aren't ideal, however it's what I've got. Down to my problem, the water has become quite cloudy, which in a new tank I've read isn't abnormal, however It also had a foamy bubble problem, so I did a 15-20% water change today, the water is a small bit clearer, and the large bubble problem is gone. However I now have a Microbubble problem, the water coming out of the filter is producing copious amounts of microbubbles fogging the tank even further. I inspected the carbon filter and found that it was 60-80% covered in a clear mucus/slime, which was causing water to jump the walls in the filter. I took out some tank water and rinsed the filter off, to keep any bacteria I might have. Is it possible that any of my gravel/decor could have caused this? I rinsed it all thoroughly before installing it. To give you some perspective I'm a technician at a mechanics shop, I wash my hands/arms thoroughly before putting them in my tank but am unsure if it could be trace oil. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks-Zach








General Haze








Micro Bubbles








Large bubbles from filter
Thanks again for any advice, and sorry for the long post.


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## Winner (May 13, 2010)

I've always had a thin layer of clear slimy-ness in the internal bio-filter area, but never to the level of interfering with flow.

I've always assumed this is the critical beneficial bacteria, but I'll leave this to an expert to verify.


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## Mettalikatt (Jul 26, 2010)

Update-- Microbubbles seem to appear most often when adding tap water to tank, the large bubbles are still present and the water has cleared a bit. Maybe after a few more weeks/water changes it'll all be over


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## PRichs87 (Dec 30, 2009)

To get rid of micro bubbles, I have the same filter type all you have to do is fill the tank up to the bottom of the filter output, that way it goes straight out and doesn't form a water fall, as for the slime, not sure what that is, sorry.


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