choochiegirl

He`s only been with us for 4 days and the top of his tank is covered in slimy looking bubbles. Do I just leave them? He`s so not getting a female :P

Barbrella

Do the bubbles look like the one in the pic below? If so, that's normal since bettas make bubblenests. Just leave them.

Attached Images

bubblenestunder.jpg (23.3 KB, 13 views)

choochiegirl

no they are all over the surface, big ones, little ones, not in one place just all over the place, looks like someone spit in there

Shrimpy

are you using a air stone of some sort?

Barbrella

Did you thoroughly rinse the gravel before putting it in the tank? Rinse it like 4 or 5 times?

COBettaCouple

Have you checked the filter to see if it may be clogged up any? Is the water surface kind of filmy, maybe even whitish?

choochiegirl

I don't have an airstone in there, I can easily add one

The gravel was soaked & rinsed

the surface looks like it has a skin on it, would be my best description, with bubbles in it, not all in the same place, but dotted around the surface

The filter is new, I rinsed the media before putting it in

Oh and I tested the water today, ammonia & nitrite 0 nitrate at 5. Filter media has a piece from my established tank, and added some gravel from there too, my main tank does not have this problem tho so I don't think it transferred

COBettaCouple

Sounds like a bacterial bloom. Those happen sometimes and an airstone to provide surface agitation will help.

Shrimpy

or maybe it's a nest

leafgirl115

I would say its a nest my late HM Male used to make ones like that. When i breed him i had to steel a normal bubblenest for him to use. He just did not make a normal one.

COBettaCouple

The skin on the surface wouldn't accompany a nest. We had some bacterial blooms in our betta tanks before we added air stones. They're not harmful, just annoying.

pamd

I hope and suspect Dave (CoBettaCouple) is right that it's a bacterial bloom.

However, are you SURE nobody accidentally got soap in the water? A kid with soapy hands -- even some soap residue -- could cause big slimy bubbles on the water surface, considering the water agitation and nutrients in the water. If that's the case, your Betta is in great danger.

It doesn't sound like a bubble nest. From what I've seen (and I certainly haven't seen it all when it comes to Bettas) the bubble nests are lovely sparkling things composed of almost perfectly same-sized bubbles in a small area of relatively still water.

choochiegirl

i am 100% sure it's not soap, My daughter knows better than to touch the tank water, and I noticed a bit of it last night and she wasn't even home. when I rinsed everything out of the box I used just water.

i added my spare airstone and stuck it by the filter so it won't move, I don't have a suction cup and I don't want it coming out. If it clears a bit I will go buy something more permanent for him. i will hope it's bacteria. I really looks like someone spit in his tank but I know that's really not it

choochiegirl

Tank surface looks great today with the airstone added. I`ll run out & grab a suction cup for it to stay in there permanently!! Thanks!

COBettaCouple

Great! I'm glad that worked. Just try to leave a corner of the tank that is relatively calm for feeding.

choochiegirl

I have it stuck kinda behind the filter as I still haven't got it secured to anything and the airline wants to curl up & out. I may try to find a small bubble decoration to put it in if I can't find a suction cup

COBettaCouple

petsmart has packs of them, if you have a petsmart nearby. They also have these decorations that are like a piece of wall with a bubble hose behind it. One of them is smooth with no rough edges and our Betta Angel LOVES it. A flexible bubble wand could work too.

choochiegirl

of course the 2 store I went to didn't have any so i got a disc similar to this http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...9&pcatid=10669 and just stuck his rock over it to slow down the bubbles. It sits fine on the bottom