What's Causing This? Please Help D:

Hey all! 
 
So within the last two days, I've noticed patches of bubbles on the surface of the water in my tank, kind of like when you use pima fix and it froths up the surface, but a little less severe than that. Also, when I watch my fish, they seem to be breathing more rapidly than usual. They still behave the same, just seem to struggle to breathe. This makes me think theres something really wrong with my water quality I checked everything about a week ago and it was looking gold, all the parameters were exactly what i wanted them to be. I'm going to clean my filter tomorrow, as it seemed to get a little clogged the other day, but has since returned to normal flow. Regardless, I'm going to guess that something in my filter is causing it, as the bubbles on the surface are right where the outlet flow is. 
 
Here is what it looks like. If anyone can at least give me a list of things this could be, as well as possible solutions, that'd be much appreciated! 
 

Looks like you have bubbles rising up from the substrate, is this an airstone possibly?
 
Careful when you clean the filter, do not overdo the cleaning in case you get rid of too many good bacs you need.
 
Am thinking this may be an oxygen in tank water issue.
 
As fish breathe, they absorb oxygen which then in turn converts to carbon dioxide (Co2). At the surface of tank water, oxygen and Co2 are exchanged. Co2 is released from the water at the surface, if Co2 cannot escape from the water this would mean your fish could be basically suffocating due to too much co2 and not enough oxygen in the water column..
 
So it is important to ensure that your filter is breaking the tension of the water surface, simply by making the water ripple make the exchange of oygen and co2 easier.
 
This is just a theory mind you, I have not researched this in any depth at all, so it may be worth looking up to see if there is any basis on that theory of co2 building up in the water column.
 
It would be excellent if a more knowledgable members who know more of oxygen exchange and co2 could possibly confirm or eradicate this theory, as I too, would like to learn more of this.

Ch4lie thanks for the advice man! But the bubbles are actually coming from a spray bar from my filter. i cleaned the filter the next day and the bubbles were gone soon after. Im going to bet it was an excess amount of proteins. Thanks though

Flinkbag said:

Im going to bet it was an excess amount of proteins.

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What do you mean?
 
This is not something I have heard of to be frank.
 
As far as I know, excess protien means your body will simply convert this to fat and possibly leading to dehydration (I think). SO your fish would need to consume a LOT of protein for this to happen.
 
Is the spray bar above the water, can just see the edge of sucker at the water sufrace and assume the spray bar is attached to said sucker. So that means the bubbles that i see in your pic are going downwards from the spraybar, not coming up from the substrate or airstone as originally thought. That makes more sense.
 
But still have a feeling could be due to this bubble co2/oxygen exchange that caused your fish to gasp as you described. Just a gut feeling is all.
 
But since you say the bubbles are gone once you did the maintenance on your filter, perhaps thats good and are your fish in a better state now?

Ch4rlie said:

 

Im going to bet it was an excess amount of proteins.

Click to expand...

 
What do you mean?
 
This is not something I have heard of to be frank.
 
As far as I know, excess protien means your body will simply convert this to fat and possibly leading to dehydration (I think). SO your fish would need to consume a LOT of protein for this to happen.
 

Click to expand...

 
 
Oh I didn't mean proteins as in dietary proteins, i meant proteins as in organic waste and etc found in the water itself... Supposedly it can cause foamy bubbles like what i was experiencing. Its caused by, you guessed it, an excess of nutrients. It was probably a build-up in my filter. BUT I could be COMPLETELY wrong, so I'm not counting out what you've said by any means
 
And yes that is where the spray bar is located. If you zoom in, you can JUST see the surface agitation at the back of the tank

Ah, now it makes sense, sorry about that.
 
Could be, an interesting theory.
 
Lets see if anyone else can back this up or not, am afraid its not something i know much about i must admit