PLEASE HELP

[Pepperoni]

I have just started a major clean on my 300L Fishtank. When I removed my fish I noticed 2 of my clown loaches had algae GROWING OUT UNDER THEIR EYE. Im not sure what to do and I'm scared for their health.

[Pepperoni]

Ok swimming around in their temp tank it seems from one of the fish the algae has dislodged, maybe its stuck in their gills?

[shari2]

Clown loaches have subocular spines. Was there algae floating about before you moved them? Could be they put out their spines (as they may do when stressed from being chased by a net) and picked some up?

[Martin Thoene]

Spines like this:



My immediate thought was the same as Shari's. They possibly extended the spines in a panic and trapped some algae when the spines retracted into the groove under the eye.
They'll probably extend the spines again once they've settled down and shake off the algae.

Martin.

[mistergreen]

huh. interesting .. Didn't know they had spines.

[Pepperoni]

Thank you so much, the fish are fine and are sleeping ^^.

Sorry if i sounded paniced, if anything happened to my clowns I'd just die.