Excess foam in my sump

[mskvarenina]

My tank's been running for over 2 years. Today I noticed the water was a little cloudy and thought maybe my filter pad in the sump had filled up and something was going on downstairs (my sump is 1 floor below in the basement).

What I found was a lot of foam bubbling up where the intake arrives at the sump and also surrounding the filter pad right above the biomedia.

My skimmer was full so I emptied it but I've never seen foam like this before.

I slowed down the water flow into the sump which seemed to lower the foaming level but it almost looks like someone put kitchen soap in the tank (obviously not because everything would be dead) with all this foam.

Any ideas?

 

[mskvarenina]

Actually after emptying the skimmer cup twice the foaming has almost gone away. I guess I was getting a real big build up of organics that the skimmer just removed?

 

[whosurcaddie]

Sounds like something got in the water. Probably wasn't soap but it had to be something for a change like that to happen. Plus with the over active skimmer that points to something foreign entering the water.

 

[mskvarenina]

So the excess foam was actually from a dead lyretail anthias. I never thought a dead fish would cause this. Once I pulled him out and drained the skimmer a 3rd time it stopped and went back to normal.