Soap?

[Amy]

Woke up to this, could it possibly be anything else? Skimmed it of the top and doing large water changes. Will my fish be ok? They seem to be acting normal and eating,

 

[Tula]

Wow, it sure looks like a bubble bath. Is there anyway soap was introduced to your pond's system? Spawning and lots of DOC's will cause foam....but this really does look like soap bubbles. If it is soap, it will harm the fish. Any way you can place them in another container and completely rinse and refill the pond?

 

[Mmathis]

Gosh! Have never seen anything like that [outside of my bath tub.....]. It does look like soap, so would really wonder where it came from. I would start doing water changes [adding de-chlor if you have city water] until it's cleared up. I would think, not only is it harmful to your fish, but it can't be good for your bio-filter.

 

[ZmanArt007]

Some rotten neighbor kid might have poured dish soap in thinking it would be funny. I agree with the advice given above.

 

[Skydog]

Zman, that's the first thing I thought, too.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Sorry to see this mess Amy, I hope you were able to get your fish out of the pond.

I really hope this isn't soap but it sure does look like it......

 

[MitchM]

Looks like vandalism to me.
That's terrible.

Water changes are the best thing now. If your fish are still doing fine, chances are it was a mild soap.
Best of luck.

 

[cas]

What do the bubbles smell like? You should be able to smell any soap product.

 

[tbendl]

Cas great point, I agree, have you tried to smell it?

 

[crsublette]

Yeah, I would scoop up a bunch of the bubbles and let them settle/liquify in a bucket.

If it is bubbles from DOCs, then it will have a slight brown to very dark brown color...

I have seen DOC bubbles get this bad, but, when it happens, there is usually brown floating skim where the bubbles are dissolving back into the pond and tough to notice this from that picture...

Although... I am afraid it is not DOC bubbles and someone lobbed a live grenade into the pond.

I think slow, over a period of 12 hours or so, major 80%+ water change would be the best fix for this.

 

[cas]

If it is bubbles from DOCs, then it will have a slight brown to very dark brown color...

I didn't know that. Thanks.

 

[RobAmy]

Great advice already, sorry to see this.

 

[Dave 54]

M'mmm soap or natural if its soap then its time to pay a visit to the local police department if I were you stamp it out before they attack it again

Dave

 

[MitchM]

This what a lot of DOC looks like...yuck!
I wonder if anyone told them what they were playing in?

 

[Amy]

Alright. I will try to answer all questions. Been doing water changes (I hour on, 1 hour off) all day. I am on a well. I cleaned out my filters and added lots of Prime! Skimmed all I could off the surface with nets. I will continue water changes tomorrow. Fish seem to be fine and eating well. I have some MediKoi on hand, so I fed that today just to boost their immune systems a little.
I don't know what DOC's are? My water has been excellent. PH=7.8 Ammonia=0 Nitrites=0 Nitrates=0
I have a filter box that contains 4 deep filter pads and 15 bags of crushed coral(for PH) it feeds a 7x7 planted pond. There is a 30 foot creek and a small waterfall into a 8x19x3 feet deep pond. I also have a timer hooked up to my pump that comes on for 1 hour every morning. It diverts some water to a sprinkler that waters my vegetable garden. Then I have an auto top off that fills the pond back to proper levels. Basically, small daily water changes.

I haven't had any brown sludge, just bubbles. I unfortunately think it was soap poured in out of malice, but can't imagine who would do such a thing. I was hoping there was some other explanation.
I am only happy to report that the fish seem well and I have most of it cleared up. Updated pictures along with a picture of suds in a white bucket.