Are tiny bubbles from protein skimmer dangerous?

stanleo · Jan 12, 2014

I made the mistake last week of using a product called Slime Away to handle a bloom of red slime algae. I shouldn't have done it for many reasons but the most noticable is the protein skimmer is spewing tiny bubbles. I thought the old skimmer was going bad, I hadn't made the connection of the product so I bought a new one. Set up the new one and it was spewing tiny bubbles. I read their troubleshooting and it said that many chemicals for the tank will cause this and I made the connection. It said this will dicapate with time and water changes (hope that's true).

So my questions are:
Is there a danger to my live stock to let the protein skimmer run with the tiny bubbles or is it just unsightly?

Is there anything else I can do to stop it besides water changes?

mike007 · Jan 12, 2014

No worries it shouldn't hurt anything.

Martyd · Jan 12, 2014

I pulled the collection cup off my skimmer and just let it overflow for 24 hours. After that, I did a 20% water change, re-installed the carbon and the excess bubbles went away

Eienna · Jan 12, 2014

Agreed...it may irritate some fish and make your tank look dirty, but shouldn't cause any real harm.

Do be more careful with the chemicals, though...speaking from painful experience.

NanaReefer · Jan 12, 2014

I feed several things that always sends my skimmer into a tizzy-it will stop and the bubbles won't hurt a thing.

stanleo · Jan 13, 2014

Thanks guys this makes me feel a lot better. And I will try the tip you gave me, MartyD! And I don't why I used that Red Slime away stuff. These always went away before so I don't why I did it this time. Idiot moment and lesson learned!

Geschke2000 · Jan 14, 2014

I know this topic was discussed yesterday and all where good points. But let's start on the bubbles being bad for the tank. All the Protein Skimmer on your tank is doing is creating those bubbles so the excess protein can be removed from the tank. Well the protein isn't being created by the skimmer it already is in your tank so those bubbles are not doing any harm. Now to the second point as far as it irritating your fish, it is possible but remember these creatures are in the ocean and there are tides that come in and out all day creating bubbles themselves. So it might irritate them as it does in the ocean but it will do them no harm. It is more of a irritant to us are viewers of the tank then to the creatures living in it. Hope that helps

tyler1503 · Jan 14, 2014

I don't know why no one has said this, maybe it's more of a theory than a fact. But seahorses can die if they mistake an air bubble for food and eat one. Particularly babies, I suppose pipefish would too.
I've heard this from multiple sources.

Geschke2000 · Jan 14, 2014

I don't know if they will die but it will mess with them on a buoyancy level since they have a hard enough time swimming in the ocean or your tank if they were to get bubbles all over their bubbles it would probably irritant the crap out of them. Thinking about it now the only creature in your tank bubbles could even effect in a way of killing them would be a sponge. Since air gets trapped in their matrixes and if you a ton of bubbles I guess it could be possible to kill of a sponge with bubbles. It's highly unlikely but plausible

tyler1503 · Jan 14, 2014

I'm using my phone, so I can't get a URL link, but this is a direct quote I found on a seahorse breeding article found from a simple google search:
"The first two weeks are the most crucial. The nursery should be a simple setup, and not too large. Be careful about what airstones you use. If the bubbles are too small, the fry will consume them, thinking they are a meal, and die. If you use a good circulation system you may not need extra aeration."
There's no explanation as to why they die, I'm assuming it a buoyancy thing like you said. Perhaps they don't have the strength (being so young) to fight the bouyancy to reach food and they slowly starve?

Geschke2000 · Jan 14, 2014

Yea it makes sense you would think that it would be more of a size thing then a seahorse since it's about how the seashores are young and mistake the bubbles for food. So under the same logic wouldn't you think that young fish could have the same problem. Now most of us I would surmise don't have super small fish but you'd like it would work both ways right

Eienna · Jan 14, 2014

I don't think they can burp...that alone would cause a major issue if they swallowed air.

tyler1503 · Jan 14, 2014

Geschke2000 said:
Yea it makes sense you would think that it would be more of a size thing then a seahorse since it's about how the seashores are young and mistake the bubbles for food. So under the same logic wouldn't you think that young fish could have the same problem. Now most of us I would surmise don't have super small fish but you'd like it would work both ways right

Good point on the fish fry. Maybe a clownfish breeder can share some knowledge on the topic.
Logically it makes perfect sense that young fish of other species could do the same. My thought on that though, is even a fully grown seahorse is a weak swimmer compared to (just about any) other fish you could imagine in the aquarium trade. So the fry would be incredible weak swimmers compared to the fry of other fish in the trade.
I'm not saying other fish cannot suffer same fate, I'm just saying because most other fish are stronger swimmers, they may be able to fight the buoyancy easier until they pass the swollowed air.
I'm just speculating here, I don't have any real fact or evidence to back up anything I'm saying lol.