---
title: "I've had carniverous plants for three years now, and I've never had…"
description: "I've had carniverous plants for three years now, and I've never had this problem. The water in the bottom of some of the trays has developed a thin, milky film…"
url: "https://getplanta.com/community/nCqjNmswTlS-vtdufEldHw/SrN2SSifxNM9GwpjcKRJHY"
community: "Carnivorous Corner"
author: "FayteLumos"
published: "2026-05-20T18:33:34.061167Z"
language: "en"
image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v2/cloudinary/global_data/communities/carnivoreFertilizer.jpg"
---

[Community](https://getplanta.com/community.md) / [Carnivorous Corner](https://getplanta.com/community/nCqjNmswTlS-vtdufEldHw.md)

# I've had carniverous plants for three years now, and I've never had…

_Posted by FayteLumos on 2026-05-20_

I've had carniverous plants for three years now, and I've never had this problem. The water in the bottom of some of the trays has developed a thin, milky film that I assume is bacterial.

The first thing I did, of course, is clear out the water and wash the bottom of the pot and the tray with soap and water. But this did nothing; the film was back in a day or two.

The next thing I did, which I have done several times now, is to put a little hydrogen peroxide into the tray with the water. This works great for about two or three days. But when the bubbles stop, the film comes right back.

Does anybody else have this problem? It's not even happening with all of my carniverous plants, just my venus flytrap and my cape sundew babies.

## 5 comments

### ⋆ ✶ ej ✶ ⋆ commented on 2026-05-21

I have this issue too! I have a big bowl basically that I keep full of water to water my plants in whenever they need it, \& it almost always has this film. The only thing I can do to get rid of it is clean the bowl well \& spray with hydrogen peroxide, but it always comes back ! ☹️

### FriendofVeg commented on 2026-05-21

I’m not confident it’s this, but root mealybugs can do that. 😞

They build little waxy, powdery nests on roots and that can show up in the drainage water that way.

#### FayteLumos replied on 2026-05-21

Ah, okay! I'll investigate that, then. Thank you for the tip!

### Jay commented on 2026-06-15

This is just biofilm, a layer of bacteria that lives on the surface of water and eats decaying matter. It’s perfectly safe. I get in my planted fish tanks every now and then. Just changing out the water more often will stop it.

#### FayteLumos replied on 2026-06-18

Oh, thank you! I'll let the tray cycle more often, then, and see how it goes.

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