White foam in betta tank

[Allison Graham]

Foam started appearing when his filter was unplugged and then plugged back in. I tried cleaning the filter and then changing it. I changed the water and it went away but reappeared after a day. I notice if I put the lid on the tank the foam grows more and more. I'm not sure what's happening.

 

[wba_oconnor]

Do you have carbon? Think that may help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Any chance of a picture of the foam?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

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The Betta could be building a bubblenest, which looks like white foam on the surface.
If you use plant fertiliser, some of them can cause white foamy bubbles to appear on the surface.

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What sort of filter do you have?
You mentioned changing the filter, what did you do?

If you have a filter that contains cartridges/ pads, you should not replace the pads unless they start to fall apart. The filter pads get colonies of beneficial bacteria living in and on them and this good bacteria helps keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0.

Ammonia is caused by anything (fish food, fish waste, dead fish, dead plants)

that breaks down in water. If you have an established biological filter, the beneficial bacteria eat the ammonia and convert it into nitrite. And more good bacteria eat the nitrite and convert it into nitrate. You get rid of nitrates by doing big regular water changes.

If you change the filter pads, you get rid of the good bacteria and the tank starts to cycle again. A cycle in an aquarium is where the filters develop the beneficial bacteria that break down ammonia and nitrite.

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If you have a filter that contains pads/ cartridges, you can buy sponges for different brands of filter (I use AquaClear but there are other brands too), and use a pair of scissors to cut the sponge so it fits inside your filter. Leave the sponge and filter pads together for at least 6-8 weeks and then you can remove the pads and throw them away. Add some more sponge to replace the pads and you're good to go.

You can also get round/ cylindrical sponges for some brands of internal power filter. These round sponges have a hole through the centre and they fit over the intake strainer of most external power filters. They help by holding more good bacteria and they stop small fish and bits of plant from being drawn into the filter.

Sponges will last for years (most people get 10+ years from filter sponges) and only need replacing if they start to break down.

Sponges get squeezed out in a bucket of tank water every 2-4 weeks and re-used. However, do not clean new sponges until they are 6-8 weeks old otherwise you can remove the good bacteria. After 6-8 weeks the bacteria will be well attached and you can clean them every couple of weeks.

------------------------​

If you did replace the filter media/ materials (pads or cartridges), you should monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels over the next month and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[Allison Graham]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Any chance of a picture of the foam?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

------------------------
The Betta could be building a bubblenest, which looks like white foam on the surface.
If you use plant fertiliser, some of them can cause white foamy bubbles to appear on the surface.

------------------------
What sort of filter do you have?
You mentioned changing the filter, what did you do?

If you have a filter that contains cartridges/ pads, you should not replace the pads unless they start to fall apart. The filter pads get colonies of beneficial bacteria living in and on them and this good bacteria helps keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0.

Ammonia is caused by anything (fish food, fish waste, dead fish, dead plants)

that breaks down in water. If you have an established biological filter, the beneficial bacteria eat the ammonia and convert it into nitrite. And more good bacteria eat the nitrite and convert it into nitrate. You get rid of nitrates by doing big regular water changes.

If you change the filter pads, you get rid of the good bacteria and the tank starts to cycle again. A cycle in an aquarium is where the filters develop the beneficial bacteria that break down ammonia and nitrite.

------------------------
If you have a filter that contains pads/ cartridges, you can buy sponges for different brands of filter (I use AquaClear but there are other brands too), and use a pair of scissors to cut the sponge so it fits inside your filter. Leave the sponge and filter pads together for at least 6-8 weeks and then you can remove the pads and throw them away. Add some more sponge to replace the pads and you're good to go.

You can also get round/ cylindrical sponges for some brands of internal power filter. These round sponges have a hole through the centre and they fit over the intake strainer of most external power filters. They help by holding more good bacteria and they stop small fish and bits of plant from being drawn into the filter.

Sponges will last for years (most people get 10+ years from filter sponges) and only need replacing if they start to break down.

Sponges get squeezed out in a bucket of tank water every 2-4 weeks and re-used. However, do not clean new sponges until they are 6-8 weeks old otherwise you can remove the good bacteria. After 6-8 weeks the bacteria will be well attached and you can clean them every couple of weeks.

------------------------​

If you did replace the filter media/ materials (pads or cartridges), you should monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels over the next month and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[Colin_T]

That's not a bubblenest.

There is something in the water that is creating the excess bubbles. Part of it is from the filter outlet with the water dropping a few inches before landing in the tank. But there is something that is in the water that is causing it.

Do you add any plant fertilisers or anything else to the tank?

Did you wash the gravel with fresh water before adding it to the tank?

Try increasing the water level a couple of inches so the water doesn't drop as far before entering the tank.

If you have fish in there and they are eating and swimming normally, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

That's not a bubblenest.

That was my first thought to, that it was a bubble nest.

My filter does that all the time, when the water level is not high enough. It really doesn’t effect the effectiveness of the tank, or the filter. So you should be good.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Mine does it too sometimes. Just the filter.