Surface 'soapy' bubbles ....

[Scuba Guy]

Anyone know what the likely causes of surface soapy looking bubbles?

I noticed that when my water level dropped below the return jets of my filter, the surface action created tons of soapy looking bubbles....not the normal kind which break quickly, but the kind you see in a sink full of soap.

Everything is normal otherwise (fish doing great).

Any ideas?

[f1oored]

The same thing happened to me when I was hatching brine shrimp. I got almost an inch of foam at the top of the water. I think (and this is a guess) I added too much stress coat to the water. I was working with 1 liter bottles and just a few drops can be too much stress coat in that small amount of water. When I did another batch without any stress coat I didn't have the problem.

[cocoa_pleco]

I always get soapy bubblies. Nothin to worry about. I think stuff like stress coat make the bubbles thicker and the oxygen has more trouble escaping the bubbles, making more bubbles

[Scuba Guy]

I am not using anything - just water, plants and fish.

But I did have a horrific 'die off' last November which necessitated a whole tank medicating to save the remaining fish - which it did. I have been changing water ever since, but don't think I have reached complete turnover yet (other posts on mixing).

It could be protein breakdown or some other organics causing this. It doesn't seem to be harmful - but I will keep changing the water (which I HATE) until the water doesn't soap anymore.

(btw - it's the kind of 'film' which traps the O2 bubbles from the plants as well)

[cocoa_pleco]

film?? thats weird. I have whitish film in my 20g long toad tank, but they dont really care