Discolored Water And Foam

[ArroWanaWhitey]

Ok.. my water is a bit of a dark redish brown color and i have what looks like foam on the surface in front of the filter... this all happened when i removed the filters for a few hours while adding fin rot meds... its a 55 gal planted tank... i figured the filter would clean it up but it still looks like pond water... is my water polluted... i did have a few dead leaves floating but i netted them out... and the foam is so thick i have to remove with a net.. I can swish the water and it just stays in place... what should i do?... all my water parameters are good. and my fish are alive and happy.
just with gross colored water

 

[nry]

How long is a few hours? It doesn't take long for filter bacteria to start to die off, though if it was only 2 hours then it may not be too bad...

 

[InaneCathode]

Might just be because you disturbed your filter beds, releasing some of what it has trapped. Should clear out in a few days.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

did you keep the filter wet when you removed it from the tank? you do have to take precautions to keep your bacteria colony alive it could well be due to die off

 

[Sammie7]

Did you put new carbon in your filter? That would help with the discoloring and the removal of the meds.