minute bubbles, looks like dust in water, itchy fish

[2008pollyanna]

Any ideas on what causes alot of minute bubbles in the tank? It appears to be coming from my exchange tube that exchanges water back up into my tank from my sump. By the way, what is the difference between a sump and a refugium? Gaining knowledge. At times my poor tang gets just full of lil bubbles. My hawkfish as well gets very itchy. He will go and itch himself on my thermometer hanging on the tank. My blue tang gets aid from my skunk shrimp. Is this what they call calium carbonate precipitation??? How can I help my fish and tank get over this situation. I have done water changes, cleaned sump, pumps, and hoses. Also, when this problem arises....my arm and hand in the tank gets full of these lil bubbles. And my wavemaker also shows these lil bubbles that have settled on the housing...
Clues???

 

[RyanG]

They are called micro-bubbles. They can be detrimental to your fish. Someone with more experience than I will have to help you rid your system of them. They are mostly caused by gaining air somewhere in your plumbing or powerheads. If you have an air intake on any powerheads remove the tubing a plug them ASAP.

A refugium can be a compartment in your sump. It is use with higher flow to reduce nitrates through useing a Deep Sand Bed(DSB) or using a type of macroaglae calle chaetomorpha or both, you can also use mangroves. With lower flow you can use a fuge to grow pods used as fish food and part of your clean up crew.

 

[reeffreak]

Usually you have to add something like buffer,calcium to cause precipitation.If you didn't then it's most likely micro-bubbles.

I had problems from sump pumps causing microbubbles.The cause was from water being pushed to fast through the barb fitting into larger diameter tubing.Another reason return pumps spew microbubbles is from to much agitation in the sump and drawing air from the surface.If you have a ball valve,try slowing the flow to see if bubbles are coming from the return pump.Even faulty pumps will cause microbubbles.Where ever it's coming from,it's something you will need to fix.It's obviously is bothering the fish,longterm it can cause gas bubbles on the fish and damage the gills.

A refugium can be incorporated into a sump or separate from it.Consider the sump a container/tank that holds the equipment(skimmer,heater,ATO devices).The refugium,either built into a sump or separate houses the sand,rock rubble and macro-algae.It's purpose is to aid in denitrification and a safe haven for fauna(copepods,etc) to reproduce.

 

[messiah023]

Keep an eye on your fish too.
Itchy fish could be an early indicator of ich. Look for small white dots on the fish that is "itchy".

 

[Bifferwine]

It is very common for blue tangs to get ich, they are especially susceptible to it, and like Messiah said, itching can be an early indicator of a parasite. Especially when they are kept in smaller tanks, like yours.

It will be a good idea to find the source of your microbubbles and eliminate them as they can cause problems for your fishs' health.