Algaefix Poisning

[luckbox33]

Hello. I'm new here and realitivly new with aquatic pets. Ive been successfull with my tank for the last 7 months up untill yesterday. I have had a hair algae problem thats been maintainable for the most part but was getting a little out of controll. I decideed to try and fix the problem with Algaefix, after all it says its safe for live plants and fish. LOL not so much I miss read the instructions and accidently added enough for a 150 gallon tank (mine Is 29 gallons) Thinking it was safe for fish and plants didnt think much about it, Except oops. Well the next day after work not so happy I had lost 7 narrow wedge rabossas, 2 tiger barbs and all my other fish look sick. I immediately did a 50% water change and added some stress coat. I am at a loss as if there is anything else I can do or if my remaining fish have to tuff it out and hope for the best. I still have 5 angel fish, 3 barbs, and 4 rabossas. I dont care so much if the plants all die just as long as my fish dont. Thank you for any advice its much appriciated.....

 

[Colin_T]

Hi & Welcome

If you ever overdose a tank (ie: poison the fish) then you should do a massive 75-90% water change immediately. Then do another one the following day. A 50% water change will only dilute it by half and that is still way too much for your tank. I would do a big water change today and each day for the next week.
You can add some stress coat after each water change.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine and has a similar temperature & PH to the tank before it is added.

Anything that kills algae will also affect plants. Most algicides are used at a low dose rate so they knock off the algae but don't kill the plants.
A lot of people use shrimp to get rid of beard algae and hair algae can be physically removed by you. Then a mild dose of algicide can be used after you have removed most of it. The other option is an algae eating catfish of some sort. But don't add any shrimp or fish for a couple of weeks.

 

[luckbox33]

Thank you Collin your insight is much appriciated
I lost two more rabossas today and one of my Angel fish had jumped out of the tank as well as a Barb. I was able two save the Angel Fish but not the barb. I forgot to mention that I have a rubber lip as well he dosnt do much. I got him because he will stay smaller. Do you recomened a pleco instead when my tank restabilizes? Will my tank go through a new cycle now? I imagine that the Algaefix destroyed my community of bacteria in the tank. I really think that API should have some better labeling on there product its kinda misleading well anyway Thank You again any additional advice or coments would be greatly appriciated.

 

[luckbox33]

Oh I almost forgot I use distilled water and cant get my PH up i have tried lake salt, sea shells, buffer and PH up my testing reads about a 6.4 and alkalinity is low too about 30-40 any Ideas

 

[Truck]

whats wrong with tap water?

 

[luckbox33]

I dont even drink my tap water its loaded with chlorine and floride kinda gross cant imagine putting it in my tank

 

[Truck]

chlorine can be removed, and my tap water contains flouride but ive never had issues

 

[luckbox33]

is it bad to use distilled water? Ive never had to mess with removing chlorine.

 

[Truck]

well i dont see the point its a waste of money

 

[luckbox33]

thats not the point to this thread but you spend money on tap water and money to remove the chlorine just the same I would rather use distilled water you can use the tap water any ideas on my concerns though?

 

[Colin_T]

Algicides don’t affect the filter bacteria so you shouldn’t go through a mini cycle.

Small plecos are fine for tanks but definitely wait a while before you add one.

Distilled water is pure water that has nothing in it. That means there is nothing to buffer the PH and stop it dropping. A “rift lake” water conditioner would be an ideal choice as it contains calcium, magnesium and other minerals that will increase the general hardness (GH) and the carbonate hardness (KH) and prevent the PH from dropping. It will however raise the PH of the water and that could be a problem if you raise it too fast.
You can use rift lake water conditioners at any strength but I would suggest using a 1/4 dose to start with and then increase it over time if you want to.
You can buy rift lake water conditioners from any petshop in the aquarium section. It is used to increase the hardness of water for African rift lake cichlids.

The other thing you can do to raise the PH is add some sodium bicarbonate or baking soda. You only want to add a little bit at a time and slowly increase the PH over the course of a couple of weeks.

 

[luckbox33]

Thanks again Colin some more great Ideas
I am doing a 90% change today since I did a 50% yesterday I will let you know how it turns out I saved onother barb I saw him on his side looking ready to die I moved him into a bucket (where the others will go when I do the large water change) now he seems very happy swimming in circles ...

 

[luckbox33]

I removed almost all water and washed and replanted my plants (a little differnt than before ) The tank looks great and the fish seem to be struggling lessThank you for the advice I have no barbs left 1 narrow wedge rabossa and managed to keep all my angle fish 1 koi, 1 ruby, 1 gold and two black and wite stripped ones on the brighter side I will be able to get some fish Ive been waiting to get. Some male odessa barbs, a golden nugget pleco and a new school. I will wait though till my tank is more established. Thanks Again.

 

[saz326]

remember that tap water contains many beneficial salts that fish will miss if you use only distilled water. Salts make up many of the essential minerals that even us humans need.

Flouride is useful in the creation of healthy bones. For example, flouride is added to tap water and even to toothpaste as it helps prevent dental decay and strengthen tooth enamel.

If you like using the distilled water then do continue. It does have benefits in that you wont introduce bacteria and algae spores with distilled water, but it is expensive and misses a lot of goodness, so please be sure to add a water treatment to replace missing minerals and nutrients that arent present in distilled water. As mentioned already, you may also need to add something to help stabilise your pH.

If you switch to tap water, do so slowly (i.e. half and half for a while, not just suddenly 100% TAP WATER) and be sure to use a good dechlorinator that can bind up harmful metals. Remember you can buy Pond water treatments for dechlorination - these are far more concentrated and so you use less and it costs less in the long run.

By the way - Welcome to the forum. Be sure to get some pictures of your tank uploaded!! (we all like to peek)

 

[Blax]

I would love to be able to use tap water in my tank, but it's ridden with nitrate... I've got an ever growing stack of water bottles in the corner of my living room haha