[GrandpoppyJack]

It’s with great sadness that I pass along a warning. The pride of my tank (fish wise) was a clown loach. He was very active and had lots of personality. The little fellow was beautifully colored, about 3 inches long and I’d had him 4 years.

When the cheap led light on my tank failed I added a Fennex planted+ 24/7 led light. Very nice light, but algae has been out of control. After researching the issue I learned that it is a common problem with this light. I’ve adjusted the program to have more time with the light on max but the algae wasn’t going away.

This is where things went bad. I dosed the tank with Tetra Algae Control. The label says it won’t hurt fish or plants and I dosed per directions. The clown was okay when I went to work. When I got home he was dead.

The ghost shrimp, albino bristle nose plecto, and otocinclus cat are fine.

I should have asked here about Tetra Algae Control and Clown Loaches before using it. So here I sit feeling feeling terrible.

 

[Econde]

It’s with great sadness that I pass along a warning. The pride of my tank (fish wise) was a clown loach. He was very active and had lots of personality. The little fellow was beautifully colored, about 3 inches long and I’d had him 4 years.

When the cheap led light on my tank failed I added a Fennex planted+ 24/7 led light. Very nice light, but algae has been out of control. After researching the issue I learned that it is a common problem with this light. I’ve adjusted the program to have more time with the light on max but the algae wasn’t going away.

This is where things went bad. I dosed the tank with Tetra Algae Control. The label says it won’t hurt fish or plants and I dosed per directions. The clown was okay when I went to work. When I got home he was dead.

The ghost shrimp, albino bristle nose plecto, and otocinclus cat are fine.

I should have asked here about Tetra Algae Control and Clown Loaches before using it. So here I sit feeling feeling terrible.

Awe man. I'm sorry to hear about your Clown Loach.

Setting the light on high will drive plants/algae to grow faster. Try 50% of the light intensity and do more water changes.

 

[en7jos]

Sorry to hear about your clown loach; I know exactly what you mean about their personality and appeal so can appreciate the loss of this little fellow. Years back (yikes, must be 20+ years back now - man I'm getting old!) I had a small shoal of about 5 of these little guys that I had had since they were really small. Can't remember why, but they went on holiday to my LFS, I think maybe I was rescaping the tank a needed a 'safe' place to keep them for a week or two. But that was the last I saw of them. The LFS said they had "died" but I think (being optimistic) they had old them. I was devastated! Still think of them every time I'm in a fish shop and see the a big shoal of baby clown's darting about, and they'll be the first fish I'll be bringing home when the day comes I have a big enough tank that isn't already stocked with loach food (shrimp).

James

 

[Deanna]

The active ingredient in Tetra Algae Control and API Algaefix is a surfactant (think: soap, although not exactly). Surfactants alter surface tension which, in the case of fish, disrupts the ability of their gills to absorb oxygen. It is known to cause problems with fish.

It does work on algae, by causing the cells to burst, and fish do adapt to it. At full dose, though, the sudden change can kill some fish. The algaecide effect can still be accomplished by dosing half the recommended amount and then dosing the other half several hours later. This reduces the stress on fish. It also helps to heavily oxygenate by ensuring strong surface rippling when using these products.

 

[monkeyruler90]

oh nooo. I'm so sorry about your loss. I know I get very emotional too when I loose a fish

 

[GrandpoppyJack]

Awe man. I'm sorry to hear about your Clown Loach.

Setting the light on high will drive plants/algae to grow faster. Try 50% of the light intensity and do more water changes.

Thank you. I’ll give that a try. Obviously what I read about increasing the intensity was wrong.

Bump:

The active ingredient in Tetra Algae Control and API Algaefix is a surfactant (think: soap, although not exactly). Surfactants alter surface tension which, in the case of fish, disrupts the ability of their gills to absorb oxygen. It is known to cause problems with fish.

It does work on algae, by causing the cells to burst, and fish do adapt to it. At full dose, though, the sudden change can kill some fish. The algaecide effect can still be accomplished by dosing half the recommended amount and then dosing the other half several hours later. This reduces the stress on fish. It also helps to heavily oxygenate by ensuring strong surface rippling when using these products.

Thank you. I’ll add additional oxigenization and run the rest of the course an half dose.

Bump:

oh nooo. I'm so sorry about your loss. I know I get very emotional too when I loose a fish

Thank you. He was a great little fish.

 

[mourip]

Bummer. I used to have a couple of clown loaches. They really had a lot of personality. Very inquisitive. Sort of like two water puppies.

I also had a bad experience with my tank where I forgot to add Seachem Prime for my weekly water change. I left for a few hours and when I came back some fish had died and the rest were gasping. I quickly added Prime but it was too late for some. We have so much chloramine in our DC water that you can often smell it by just turning on the tap.

 

[Fishly]

I'm so sorry.

I hope you consider sending Tetra an email about this. They can't do anything to bring your fish back, but they should put a warning on the product so this doesn't happen to others. "Fish safe" should mean exactly that.

 

[GrandpoppyJack]

I'm so sorry.

I hope you consider sending Tetra an email about this. They can't do anything to bring your fish back, but they should put a warning on the product so this doesn't happen to others. "Fish safe" should mean exactly that.

I will do that. Thanks.

Bump:

I'm so sorry.

I hope you consider sending Tetra an email about this. They can't do anything to bring your fish back, but they should put a warning on the product so this doesn't happen to others. "Fish safe" should mean exactly that.

I will do that. Thanks.

 

[GrandpoppyJack]

After much changes to the lighting program Fennix Planted+ 24/7 to control algae, with limited success, I finally got the algae in control. Four gold, three black and two blue mystery snails. 🐌

I also purchased new fish; 15 neon tetra, 3 clown loaches, 1 glow light tetra and 1 albino bristle nose pleco.

I’ll probably add a few more neons to the tank, but it’s only a 29 gallon tank.

 

[Somefishguy]

The instructions say..."Ensure the aquarium is well aerated." Is your tank well aerated as I don't see anything but it could be the picture.

 

[GrandpoppyJack]

The instructions say..."Ensure the aquarium is well aerated." Is your tank well aerated as I don't see anything but it could be the picture.

Actually no aeration except for what the filter provides