Bubbles Clinging To Fish

[Ludwig Venter]

Is it just me or does this happen to everyone.... Why??... Sometimes it is (multiple) fatalities. and sometimes it's just a nuisance.

Personally, I think it is when the minucipality dozed the supply water recently....??

Anyone know how to counter the effects.....

 

[minxfishy]

I have this sometimes, dont know why and it doesnt happen at every change, never caused a problem and the fish seem to shake em off after a while.

 

[Colin_T]

It is caused by you doing too big a water change with water that is significantly different to the tank water. It is usually temperature related but can be caused by PH or hardness. Basically the fish get stressed and produce more mucous than normal and this allows fine bubbles to stick to them. After 12-24hours or so the fish have calmed down and the bubbles float off.
Make sure the new water is free of chlorine and has a similar temp & PH to the tank water.

 

[minxfishy]

But sometimes it happens when Ive only done a 20% max change and I always temp match my water, comes directly from the hose (python) into the tank via a mixer tape to get the right temp, I add dechlor directly to the tank before filling. Poor fishes, never realised I was causing them stress, its not on all the fish and not all the time, just occassionally.

 

[Truck]

i think the bubbles are pockets of nitrogen.

 

[Colin_T]

nope the bubbles are just air bubbles, usually produced by the filter or the new water spraying into the tank. It can also come from the join where the hose and tap meet.
Excess chlorine in the water will stress the fish and cause them to produce more mucous. Then the air bubbles will stick to them. Water should be dechlorinated before it goes into the tank. Otherwise it can take a while for the dechlorinator to come in contact with all the chlorine molecules. During this time the fish can be affected by the chlorine in the water.
If you don’t have water holding facilities to dechlorinate the tap water then you should double dose the tank and try to add some dechlorinator every minute or so while the tank is filling up. This should help remove most of the chlorine quicker.

 

[minxfishy]

Yep sorry should have made it clear, I do double dose before re-filling, shall try one dose before and one during then, see if that makes a difference, thanks Colin.

 

[atariacid]

Ive had similar problems in the past with air bubbles in the water - no probs with the fish though...
What i did find is that is was related to how fast i added the new water.
Done slowly the problem went away.

 

[tenohfive]

Before now I've put my bucket of clean water on top of the lip and syphoned the water from the bucket into the tank...don't know if thats a technique that would help.

 

[Bignose]

Colin, I'm sorry, but I think that your mucus making the bubbles stick story is just plain wrong. If anything, fish mucus makes the water have a lower surface tension and viscosity, which would make it a lot less likely that bubbles would stick.

I think that the issue is probably one of excess dissolved gas in the water and/or cold water. The two aren't completely unrelated.

Cold liquid dissolves more gas in them than warm water. So, if the water changes are being done with cold water and then added to the warm tank water, the newly added cold water gets heated up really quickly, the water loses its ability to hold the dissolved gas and the bubbles form. Similarly, if the water in the pipes is under pressure (and a lot of the water is under pressure), the higher pressure causes the water to dissolve more gas. When you do the water change, the water is now exposed to only 1 atmosphere of pressure (not the many atmospheres that it could have experienced in the pipes/system). So, again, that gas comes out of the water and forms bubbles.

I would be very concerned about bubbles forming on the fish. If a bubble were to form in their gills, the fish can effectively suffocate. A gill is designed to take up oxygen from water flowing over it continuously, it cannot take up oxygen from air. Air cannot support the intricate ridges and membranes of the gill.

I do like the suggestion of letting the water sit out over night. Even just letting a few gallons sit in a bucket overnight would help. The temperature will equilibrate with the room temperature, and the pressure will equilibrate with the atmosphere.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Yes, because in a very bad case scenario, the bubble even cling to the glass, plants, rocks etc. and despite the very strong aeration, takes a long time to dissapate....