Foam at the top of water?

[Tomie]

This morning I noticed a bit (not much at all) of phlegm/foam at the top of my tank. I was going to my local garden centre anyway so I decided to take a water sample with me to check the water whilst I was there. I do have my own test strips but the guys at the garden centre are great and seem to know what they’re talking about, they told us to bring a sample in whenever we want and he would do a liquid test for us.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
PH - 6.2

The results came back fine but I didn’t mention about the foam. I’ve attatched photos to see if anybody knows what it could be.

 

[Colin_T]

have you added any fertiliser, medications or anything else to the water?

foam on the surface is usually caused by protein breaking down in the water (from meat based foods), but can also occur when medications are added. Melafix and Pimafix both create a bit of foam. Plant fertilisers create foam. If you have a few male gouramis they might be building a bubblenest, altho the bubbles in the picture don't look quite right for a labyrinth bubblenest.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

I can think of 3 possible causes...

1 - From the photos, it looks like you use a hang-on-back filter? The filter's waterfall-like output could be causing those suds, as it disturbs the surface of the water.

2 - You could have excess waste in the tank and need to do a water change, but with ammonia reading 0, I doubt this is from waste.

3 - Another possibility is that you are using too much water dechlorinator. Adding more dechlorinator "just to be safe" is not safe, it can be harmful to your fish. Make sure you are following the directions exactly. That stuff is super concentrated, and a little bit goes a long way. And it may not show up on water tests.

I would do a water change of ~30%, making sure you follow the dechlorinator directions exactly, and see if that helps clear up the suds. They don't look excessive to me, though, so I personally wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't clear up your suds and the filter did this. Just my two cents... I could be totally wrong here.

 

[Tomie]

We did a water change yesterday and these started to form early hours of this morning, but since you’ve mentioned about the gouramis I have noticed a few times they sit at the top of the tank a few seconds whilst blowing bubbles out of their mouth then they will repeat this after they’ve had a leasuely swim around the tank. Also we have the API water conditioner which is extremely dioluted, I may have put too much in each bucket of water as I have only just bought the product, the TapSafe I used before took nealry quater of the bottle! The fish seem happy and I’m seein no signs of weird behaviour it’s just puzzling me lol. Will do a water change ASAP and follow the instructions as it says.

 

[mikey11]

have you been sticking your hands in the tank without rinsing all the soap off?

 

[NickAu]

API water conditioner which is extremely dioluted

Let me guess you use stress coat?

 

[Tomie]

Let me guess you use stress coat?

No. It’s called API Tap water conditioner.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

No. It’s called API Tap water conditioner.

Same stuff I use. That comes in two forms, a more diluted version, and a more concentrated version. I have the more concentrated version, and at first, I was overusing it too. And I used to get suds like that, too. Some of my fish were also getting redness around the gills. Once I toned down the dechlorinator to the recommended dose, the suds went away, and within a week the redness around the gills was gone.