Every time I run the well in the pond I get a surface film or should I say BUBBLES!!! I have read that it is probably protein but just trying to get a positive answer..

This is after running the well for about an hour tonight.. Plan on raising the water about a foot..

Do you have iron in your water? I know when I've let well water that is heavy in iron sit around in vats it will get a film like that but it doesn't show up in a hour.

Sean, the fish DON'T need soap to take a bath. They do just fine without it.

I have ton's of iron ore in a brood pond, and I get the same bubbles every morning. A morning breeze usually disperses it.

Yes, there are high iron bacteria levels in the water in our area.. You have to be very careful when water for the well water will stain anything it sits on..

Be aware that iron bacteria is harmless to aquatic organisms. In fact some water treatment plants use it to remove iron.

I get a film occasionally in my trout pond that uses well flow 24/7. Doesn't seem to cause any problems.

Are you sure you have iron bacteria in the well itself? Typically the iron had to be precipitated for the iron to be available for the bacteria,and for that to happen there has to be oxygen. With few exceptions well water is usually devoid of oxygen until it comes to the surface. Often supersaturated with nitrogen gas though.

Edit: after doing more research to verify my assertion it appears that iron bacteria is anaerobic or lives in a transition zone between anaerobic and aerobic so it may indeed live in the well itself. My bad! Never-the-less it would seem the iron precipitates needs to be present and from my understanding that doesn't happen without the precense of at least 0.15 mg of oxygen.

The iron precipitate itself can be harmful to small fish in tanks as it irritates their gills. Pumping it into a pond shouldn't be an issue as it diffuses and setlles out. My 2.5 mg/l iron that comes in via 45 gpm well water diffuses out to 0.4 mg/l in my 1/10th acre trout pond.

I am just going off the words of a close friend that is a plumber.. He said that people are constantly asking him about how to remove it or eliminate stains on appliances in their houses.. We have a reverse osmosis system with an iron filter on our well for the house.. Have a little issue still but nothing like if it is ran from a hose outside..

Keep in mind that just iron in the water wills stain things.

They were a lot worse this morning...The bubble are bigger and more foam like...

If you could grab a small package of hydrated lime toss some on the bubbles in the AM when they are there. DO NOT GET IT IN YOUR EYES AND IF YOU USE YOUR HANDS WASH WELL AFTER!

The protein with react with the hydrated lime and create a large molecule that will no longer float and sink for pond sealant and plant food.

Cheers Don.

Doesn't look like iron precip to me. Looks like some form of dissolved organic compound. (DOC) that is foaming due to your duffusion aeration.

If it was me I wouldn't worry about it. Koi pond folks deal with it by using a foam fractionator and diverting it away.