View Full Version : white foam at top of tank
daytonaguy1111
06-20-2003, 2:24 AM
Hi all I have a 29 gallon and i am about 4 weeks into the cycling process. And i have about 4 red eye tetras in their. But my question is i have a little bit of white foam forming around the top of the water around the edges and im just wonderin if this is normal ? Thanx Jon
kveeti
06-20-2003, 9:02 AM
It's not normal. The foam itself is not bad per se... but it is the end result of something organic breaking down in the tank, which you will have to investigate and correct. What else do you have in there besides the fish? Plants? (make sure you remove any dying leaves)... maybe you are overfeeding and the leftover food is breaking down; try cutting back on the amount you feed. Did you have any algae? Could also be dead algae breaking down...
daytonaguy1111
06-20-2003, 12:05 PM
ok well i have about six red eye tetras in their and fake plants and a fake stump that i bought from the pet store. Someone else told me that i could just be a detergent on somthin that i bought coming off? And yes i think i was overfeeding and now i cut back to once a day. could that be what it was? i dont have any visible algea.. the tank water itsself its vary clear . thanx for the help
I would just make sure to skim off that foam, cut back on feeding. Feed enough food for the fish to eat in a couple of minutes. With that few fish it won't be much. Definatley do some water changes and buy some test kits if you can.
daytonaguy1111
06-20-2003, 1:21 PM
thanx i am going to skim it off, although its really thin but still there . also payday is monday so im off to the pet store to get some test strips.. and maybe two angels although i prob should wait till my cycle is done... i have six red eye tetras, and one algea eater ..btw he isnt eatin the algea wafers but hes surving on the algea alone ? is that possible for him... thanx alot
I would hold off on the angles until it is fully cycled. Plus they get really big, maybe too big for your tank.You might try some nice dwarf gouramis instead for a change of fish. But again not until the cycle is done. If there is food available I am sure the algea eater is eating it. I wouldn't worry about him just yet. Good luck!:)
kveeti
06-20-2003, 4:26 PM
How often are you giving your algae eater wafers? A supplement food for him is good, but you can probably cut down on that, he doesn't need one every day.
The foam would not be detergent or your fish would not be alive, I don't think. If you've ever walked down a lake shore, you will see the same type of foam on occasion - tons of it, enough to make the shoreline look like a bubble bath. Learnt a long time ago it wasn't due to detergent. The actual occurrence is the surface tension of water being reduced from the decaying organics and air being mixed in.
daytonaguy1111
06-20-2003, 4:30 PM
yeah i cut back on the wafers a couple days ago since im not sure if he or the two goldfish are eating them, they eat everything. but they are soon to come out .. thanx for the info.. its not much of it so i guess its nothin to worry about...also does anyone have a suggestion about the number of fish i should keep in a 29 galllon so far i have six red eye tetras and the two goldfish and the algea eater is that to much already? thanx
The goldfish will easily fill that tank up, just read the species profile on this site. And red eyed tetras get to be 3" in size, so I would probably stop where you are. I would try to keep the tank in the lower 70's for the temp as goldfish produce a lot of waste and this can quickly become toxic at higher temps.
daytonaguy1111
06-22-2003, 10:29 AM
well my current temp is stayin at 80 , without a heater , so is there a cooler i can buy to make it less? And also at the moment im having a problem keeping it at 80 cause my a/c broke and the temp in the tank is now at 84 and im worried so im tryin to find ways to cool it ...
Well you can buy coolers but they are really supper expensive and from what I hear are a lot of maintanence. If you are having really hot water then you should probably airate the water with a small pump and air stone to make sure that oxygen gets recycled more frequently. You may have to replace small bits of water more often to make sure that no ammonia builds up and gets really toxic. And goldfish are really good at making ammonia!
Cloud-9
06-22-2003, 11:15 AM
Chillers are expensive. You will definitely be better off getting your A/C repaired. There are some emergency measures you can take but you would not want to do that for any long period of time. For example, you can take a big cooler full of ice and place it near the tank. You can then take plastic tubing and run that from the tank, down to the bottom of the cooler and back to the tank. Connect a powerhead and you will have the tank water circulating, but not mixing, through the icy water. It would work better if the piece inside the cooler was metal. But again, not an ideal solution.
tnlguinn
06-22-2003, 11:17 AM
do you have a water softener? watrer from water softeners can cause foam in your tank.
daytonaguy1111
06-22-2003, 11:26 AM
well thanx for the idea there .. the a.c is currently getting fixed so it shouldnt be long but in the meanwhile i have some bottles freezing in the freezer to put in there to help a little if it got to bad ... at what temp do you think would be real bad for the fish ? its at 84 now.. also no i dont have a water softener but i scraped the foam out the other day and it hasnt returned yet.. i have a 29 gallon with six red eye tetras and two goldfish
anonapersona
06-22-2003, 4:05 PM
Could be milt. Does one goldfish chase the other? Trying to press her up against the side of the tank? Is the foam worse in the morning?
Goldfish should not be in the same tank as any other type of fish, particularly with the algae eaters, including otos, as they will attack the goldfishes slime coat, then the goldies get bacteia and parasite invasions, then the whole tank gets sick.