# Sudden Bubbles & Brown Goo on Water Surface???



## marieb519 (Aug 6, 2010)

1


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## Suenell (Mar 26, 2011)

I'd suggest to just skim it out & see what happens then next time not to feed so much.


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

brown goo is definately from the bloodworms.. its probably bacteria infested protiens.. the bubble could be the resultant gasses from the digestion of the stuff by the bacteria. since it doesnt look like you have sufficiant surface agitation, that's likely the reason for the collection of junk. Like was previously said, remove the stuff from the top. But also check your water parameters for high ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. If they're high, do a water change.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If you didn't have surface agitation, chances are you'd have no bubbles to begin with. In this case, it may have been exascerbated by the amount of agitation you do have.


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## squishy (Apr 13, 2011)

i just learned that when you use the frozen blood worms, you should rinse them off first because of the chemcials used in them. i hope someone else can elaborate more on this topic. maybe do a partial water change and wipe down the sides of the glass cuz it may have been stained.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

Better question is WHAT SUBSTRATE are you using?

my eco and flourite heck ANY planting substrate ive used thats factory bagged does this.


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## Suenell (Mar 26, 2011)

I've never used frozen, only dried. Yes, possibly that blood has a lot to do with the surface junk you have. You can take some paper towels to quickly drop a dry one on the surface then pull it up to get some of that surface stuff off. That might work. Then clean all the edges of the aquarium. If you don't have, you should get some snails & bottom feeders such as loaches, catfish, plecos. 

BTW planted tanks are wonderfully healthy for your fish! I don't use CO2 but have the special grow light bulbs & mine are doing great after a bout of the black hair-like algae.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

I feed frozen bloodworms.I think it was a collection of the blood and was being pushed to the surface by the current.FWIW,I have one of my tanks with very little surface agitation,as they are bubblenesters and it pisses em off.I have a protein film all along the top and its very annoying.Most likely due to the fact I have insufficient lighting for it,but whatever,im working on it.I use a rigid airline tube,most of what is found in an UGF,attached to regular airline tubing and use this to skim my surface every few days.


Plants are very beneficial to aquariums.I honestly think they should be one of the main requirements that pet store staff tell about when it comes to the health of the tank.It adds oxygen and shelter for shy fish,and natural beauty.And if you pair the fish with the plants of the native habitat,thats just really neat looking!


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

Agitation is just really the water surface being constanty broken/penetrated by water movement. The reason i say you dont have enough surface agitation is because usually, if you do, the surface water actually gets recycled or moved back into the water. If you have the bubble stones in the back, stuff will build up in the front like you see. I see this on my 2.5 gal. when the water level is lower than the water output of the filter. The bubbles could be left over from the bubbler in your tank. The crud you saw likely increased the surface tension of the bubbles and water in that spot making them more difficult to pop on their own under normal conditions. 

I also use frozen blood worms in my 55 gallon. I drop the cube in the tank and it usually breaks apart after about 30 seconds and gets eaten fairly quickly. I've never seen or heard of a problem like you guys have and havent heard that you should wash them. I'll have to check that out. I dont have any film on the surface of my tank and i assume its due to my HOB filters, air bubbler, and UFG filter bubbling and causing a lot of surface agitation all the time. So for you others that may have this issue, buying a small powerhead for the surface water may help out your issues. Just a suggestion though. For those running CO2, you may only want to run it at night while your plants are in thier 02 consumption periods if you decide to get one.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Other that what has been said already. If the tank has only been going 3 weeks it might just be moving into the hight of cycling which can cause funny water issues. Did you replace your old filter and gravel or did you move it to the new tank?


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

don't add food for a couple of days and see if the platys will eat the crud off the surface.

my .02


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

I've seen no adverse affects from dropping the ice cube in the water. If you'd like to be safe, then go ahead and melt it in some water first. If you drop it in different locations, that may help it melt a little before. Be sure you're not putting too much in the tank. After about a minute, there should be almost nothing left. I'm not sure why eating cold or even frozen food would kill them. The bloodworms are so small the temperature is raised up fairly quickly and wouldnt effect the fish in any adverse ways.. its like you taking a bite of icecream.

i think as long as they have sufficiant room to rest in, the higher current in spots will not be bothersome for them. But if they're unable to come to rest in some parts of the aquarium and they're always swimming, it could get them tired.. and that could be bad. I have two filters in my tank's center that has a fairly good current but a lot of the tank has lower current if they need a spot to rest.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

marieb519 said:


> majerah1 said:
> 
> 
> > I feed frozen bloodworms.
> ...


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

marieb519 said:


> @phys --- Thanks!  That's EXACTLY what I wanted to know. Thanks for all your help and advice.
> 
> And thanks to everyone here who responded. Actually, this problem cleared itself up within a day. The brown film was scooped out of the tank manually with a spoon, and it never returned. The bubbles gradually went away. But now the tank is* super cloudy*.... which I'm pretty sure is it starting to cycle. (Remeber, the tank was just setup about 3 weeks ago.) So now I'm simply trying to keep the ammonia/nitrate/nitrite levels safe enough to keep the platies alive until the cycle ends.


Kill the lights, stop adding food for a few days until the tank clears.

then continue with less duration lighting and less feeding so it stays clear.


my .02


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## rtbob (Jul 18, 2010)

The only frozen food I have feed my fish is brine shrimp. I drop a cube in a cup of tank water. In about two minutes it is completely thawed. I stir it with a fork to break up the cube than pour it in and watch the fish go nuts.


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