Bubbles bubbles bubbles.....

[Fawke]

Well,

If my Gouramis being ill wasnt bad enough, i now have a strange, yet momentarily harmless problem in my main tank - bubbles.

My 2ft bubble generates a fair few bubbles and usually reach the surface and POP!
Yesterday i noticed a fine film of bubble pretty much covering the surface of the water, which is a fair amount... the bubbles were circulating in the flow of my filter....

I immediatly ran water tests, as i heard ammonia can cause bubbles not to pop...
0.0mg/l Ammonia, and nitrite
30ppm Nitrate

I looked more closely and saw almost a faint kind of slick.... now, i panicked. So i carefully skimmed the surface to get it all out and proceeded with a 40% water change....

Bosh, problem solved, or so i thought. Throughout this period the fish wer acting absoltely fine, no different?

So i wake up this morning, and sure enough, its happened again! iv looked at my pump, periferals, and got knows what....
Its like some kind of bubble algae

The fish seem fine but i wondering if it will remain that way and what it is....? As far as i am aware, nothing has, or could have, gone into the water (liquid wise), although i did find a cranefly in there today

Any ideas?

 

[StingrayKid]

Try turning down the pump, if possible. Otherwise, I'm stumped!

 

[juliethegr8t]

If it is bubble algae, it'll have a color. Is it green, or just normal clear looking bubbles? Most tanks get a "slick" of sorts on the surface, it's just from a build up of proteins and such. Your nitrates are a tiny bit high, that might be part of it. Maybe you need to do more frequent water changes? That could help. More surface agitation could help too, such as adding an airstone or something. Most tanks do have a film, I know mine does... it's usually nothing to worry about, but if you are, hopefully those suggestions will help.

 

[MrMashashin]

lol its a pump problem. My gravel filter does that also but the bubbles stay in the corner and pop after about 20 seconds. No biggy just adjust the air flow. if you cant goto your lfs or pet store and get a valve

 

[Fawke]

Thanks for the replies people.... much appreciated....

The bubbles are clear, and are fine... they hang around on the surface for, well, until i popem...... very weird, and its never happened with that pump b4?

I only worry because its different, you know....

I fed them frozen bloodworm the other day, maybe it makes em fart more and cr8's a film on the surface !

Il have a fiddle with the pump and see if it makes a difference..... i turned it off earlier and the bubbles disappeared, slowly.

My nitrates are high i am trying to work out how i can lower them i tad more.... im doing weekly gravel vacs and 30% water changes, but it comes out the tap at 50ppm (25ppm with my conditioner)
Iv got a post in the chat section about my latest find, tried all sorts.....
I will be adding live plants as soon as the Gouramis and things have settled again

Thanks again for the suggestions, i will let you know how things change...

 

[bgraber]

You know Gouramis being related to Bettas make "bubble nests".. It's probably your fish blowing them Nothing to worry about I'd say..

 

[Fawke]

thanks for the hint

However, my gouramis are currently in quarentine, so it cant be that. besides it would be one mighty big bubble nest

thanks for the suggestion tho, all ideas welcomed as this has left me without a clue!

 

[bigfish]

Have you recently added any medications to that tank lately? as i have found that Melafix in particular do create a film of bubbles that don't go pop!!

Just a thought!!

 

[Fawke]

Im really stumped on this one....
Perhaps a pic would help, although proably not..... why would this "suddenly" happen. I have noticed brown/white algae in my canister filter tubes, could it be anything to do with that?

Sorry about the size

 

[BeannytheRipper]

when i still had like a really good tank and stuff, before my death tank incident, way before, i got this really thick film of bubbles on the top of my tank i mean thick like it covered the whole thing. the fish seemed fine. if i turned off the air pump (w/ the airstone) they would slowly start popping but would come back when it turned back on. we turned the filter on as high as it would go in hopes it would pop the bubbles, but it didn't and we just couldn't figure out what was wrong. after a few weeks it just went away.

 

[Fawke]

thanks for the reply

it sounds just like our tank. the pics above do not really show the true extent of the problem as the air pump had not long been on. it is normally bubbles over the whole surface. still no wiser about what it is, but at least theres hope!

thanks again

 

[Incitic]

If its not affecting your fish in any way then I wouldnt worry about it. Probably just excess air being pumped into the water.

 

[Fawke]

yeah, I do know what you mean, the only thing that has been worrying me is that they dont pop and that it has only started doing it recently, although the air pump has been in the tank since it was set up.

Im still quite new to this fish keeping lark and anything slightly out of the ordinary tends to send me into panic anyway, will take deep breaths over this one and hope it passes

thanks

 

[BeannytheRipper]

i've been keeping fish my whole life and this is the first year i've ever had any problems so i feel like i just started trying to keep them, THERE'S HOPE FOR ALL OF US!! LOL.

 

[smithrc]

when we added a bambo tube to our main tank it made the surface 'goopy' just like you are discribing, bubbles wont pop and a slight film.

we dont have a bubble wall but we do have bubbles wizzing round the surface for a while till they pop.

have you added anything new?