Plecos and algaecide

[haydns]

Over three days I have lost three plecos in two different tanks and I am more or less convinced that their deaths resulted from my previous use of Algae Destroyer in the tanks involved.
I wrongly assumed that since the other fish, including Discus, were doing fine and it was over four weeks since I had tried the algaecide, that it was safe to add the three BN plecos.
However it appears that the algaecide had been absorbed by the algae and this proved to be fatal when the plecos ate the now contaminated algae.
Their demise was quite dramatic, the one which was the most eager eater died within a day. I actually observed the second one die. He was eating algae off the glass and literally keeled over and died.

[plantbrain]

The algicides most often used are copper sulfate.
This is pretty toxic to fish, if you have softer KH water, even more so.
Catfish and loaches, tetras are especially sensitive.

Bad idea to use algicides in general.
If it's a non planted tank, turn the lights off for a few days/do water changes(more).

Regards,
Tom Barr

[spypet]

anyone considering using an Algae Destroyer should first review this article;

Simazine - An Algicide

bottom line; when you use algaecide you play Russian roulette with your fish.

if you still feel an algaecide is required, best be prepared to remove
your fish from the tank being treated for at least two full weeks.

as Tom pointed out, catfish and loaches and any other scale-less fish are
especially vulnerable since they are much more dependent on their slime
layer for protection, which gets compromised by chemical treatments.
obviously any fish that consume the algae the algaecide is concentrated,
are even more adversely effected by the chemicals potential toxicity.

the fact that the bottle warns you it will kill verts, should not make it
such a surprise that it would adversely effect other specimens as well.

trust me, I know the frustration of algae, and have myself almost bought
the stuff again and again, but each and every time I concluded it was
better to live with some ugly algae, then risk killing the fish in my care.

[alohamonte]

a series of water changes and activated carbon treatments should clear up that problem after a few weeks.

[LGHT]

Wow, I have used this stuff in a non planted tank that includes a 8" pleco and 13 RBP's and haven't had any problems. The guy did warn me about it, but said it would be ok to use in half doses over ever other day instead of a full does all at once. I never had any problems with the fish and the algae did go away pretty fast. However since it's an acrylic tank there wasn't a lot of build up for the plecos to eat who normally eats catfish after the RBP's are done with it.