When adding API Melafix into your fish tank, you may notice that your tank water may start to foam with bubbles. You can check out this guide at Aquarium Blueprints to see what you can do to fix this foaming issue.
Quick Summary
Foaming from API Melafix is the result of a reaction caused by the dissolved protein and organic wastes in your fish tank. When added correctly in your fish tank, the foam from this treatment should not harm your fish.
To reduce foam during treatment, make sure you turn off your protein skimmer if you have one running.
If the foam still appears in your fish tank 7 days since you last use Melafix, then you can do more water frequent changes and/or add more carbon media (like the API Activated Carbon or API Bio-Chem Zorb) in your filter to remove the water treatment, and therefore the foaming, from your aquarium.
What causes Melafix to foam in your aquarium?
The foaming from Melafix is a result of a reaction caused by the protein and organic wastes that are dissolved in your tank water.
The more bio load you have in your aquarium, the more intense and long lasting the foam will occur in your aquarium.
Is foaming from Melafix harmful to your fish?
According to API, foaming coming from Melafix shouldn’t be harmful as long as you properly dose the water treatment product based on the official directions.
How to fix the Melafix foaming issues
In order to remove the foam cause by Melafix, we recommend that you take the following steps:
1. Since the foam shouldn’t be harmful to your fish, we recommend that you complete the Melafix treatment first.
According to the official directions, you need to dose this treatment daily for at least 7 days. On every 7th day, you also need to do a 25% water change. You need to continue dosing until your fish so long show any visible signs of the disease they are suffering from.
During treatment, API recommends turning off the protein skimmer if you have one running. Otherwise, this equipment will end up causing more bubbles to appear.
You should only stop treatment if you happened to overdosed Melafix. During an overdose, you fish may end up grasping for air, darting around the tank and/or twitching uncontrollably.
2. After you are done treating your fish with Melafix, API recommends that you wait 7 days to see if the foaming will go away on its own.
3. If foaming still occurs 7 days after you stop doing Melafix, then you can get rid of it by doing more frequent water changes.
4. You can also add chemical filter media that will help remove any remnants of Melafix in your tank. API recommends using their branded Activated Carbon or Bio-Chem Zorb.
If you are interested, you can purchase either of these two filter media products on Amazon with the following links:
- API Activated Carbon(#CommissionsEarned)
- API Bio-Chem Zorb(#CommissionsEarned)
