Is Rust (iron Oxide) Bad For Fish?

[Elrohirthehasty]

Is Rust (as in Iron Oxide) bad for fish?
I recently put some slate rock in my new tank that doesn't have fish in it yet. I'm no geologist, but I think there may have been some iron strands in the slate because there is rust forming.

 

[Ficious]

it depends what kind of slate it is. i have granite slate...all rocks are composed of two or more minerals. sooo im assuming your slate has some traces of the mineral iron in it. ive had rocks in my aquarium that also had iron in it and as long as it doesnt look like a rusty fence, id say its ok to use!

 

[5teady_2012]

One of my slate caves has this on both sides, just looks like they are rusty, thats how it came and its been in my tank for ages now, but now u have asked is it ok, im wondering also so look forward to a reply

 

[celaeno]

awhile ago, i made a post with the same concern about the safety of rust in the aquarium. another member said that iron oxide is an ingredient in some fish foods, so i suppose iron oxide is not dangerous as long as there's not too much of it in the tank. so i'd avoid rocks with too many rusty streaks.

 

[tyyrlym]

Same here, sort of.

However I can take the "rust" off with a paper towel. I don't know whether or not I should be happy about it being brown algae instead of rust. Have you tried wiping it off? Could just be brown algae

 

[Hawkins]

its good for plants apparently but bad for some fish.. catfish maybe

 

[Miss Wiggle]

a lot of inverts like shrimp are sensitive to heavy metals and could be killed by large concentrations of some metals in the water. I'm not 100% sure if Iron counts as a heavy metal or not. Iron is commonly contained in plant fertilisers and these are commonly used in tanks with amano shrimp in so I'd guess that it's not, but not positive one way or another.

I woudl think that's the main concern.

 

[Elrohirthehasty]

hmm

thanks all
ill see if its just algae, but im pretty sure its Ir2O3

 

[OldMan47]

You sure you don't mean Fe2O3?