Loaches Online Forum

There's me thinking i had captured a great profile picture of my Nemacheilus corica, only to see the caudal fin damage! *sigh* Like Emma suggested, these chaps sure don't like to be housed in small tank set ups. Luckily i have the space to separate them. Here's the picture. Any photo-shop experts out there?

Arrg! A 'corica caudal chomper' strikes again!

That is otherwise a stunning photograph.

Tail's probably a bit too small, plus working with that small a file is real difficult

Martin.

Thanks!

Thats good enough for me, Martin. Cheers bud!

You missed a bit Martin

There is also a bite out of the Dorsal

And while you're at it Martin, you could remove that line of black brush algae from the edge of the leaf. JK, thats a nice job. I don't know if it's just me but I usually make things worse by messing around with them in photoshop.

BTW, Graeme, have you ever heard that an overdose of Seachem's Flourish Excel can kill that BBA? I hear it turns red when it dies. I'm going to try it in my tank. If you like, I can let you know how it goes. I know I personally hate the stuff and it's spreading exponentially in two of my tanks! It might be a while, though. I'm going on vacation next week.

No Med's in my tanks thanks. I rather let the plants die rather than the fish.

I tried Excell on BBA and it does work, but is not permanant. It also worked better in one tank than the other. One tank has the stuff coming back with a vengance and the other has only a little regrowth.
I used a double dose, every day for ten days and then did a water change. The stuff turns bright red and then gradually disappears. It will absolutley melt anacharis if you have any in the tank. I also wonder if some fish might be a bit sensitive to it. I lost a fish during the treatment, but it may have been coincidence. I would do a web search and see if you can find any info on other people's experiences with this method of algae removal.

One person I talked to says he turns off filters in the tank and spot treats it, squirting a high concentration on the algae and waiting ten minutes before returning circulation to the tank. At this point it is so widespread in my tank I would have a hard time finding all of it to treat throughly, though. That is concerning that you lost a fish while treating your tank. What kind of fish was it? I use excel in a higher than normal dose in one of little planted betta tanks all the time and he doesn't seem to mind it at all. He is in apparantly perfect health, bright, active and beautiful, and it has been several months at least since I started using the excel. When I add it to the tank there is no reaction from him. I've heard of people using up to three times normal dose in their tanks, every couple of days, on a regular basis. However, there are an unfortunate number of people who consider the occasional death of a fish "normal" and of no concern. Somtimes I just assume people wouldn't do anything to hurt their fish, and I didn't think to ask their definition of "no problems". Its too late now, it was quite a while back and I can't recall who it was. I do still assume that no problems meant no deaths.

Tammy

The fish I lost was a danio nigrofasciatus. It was also the oldest one I had so that may have had something to do with it too. I have been removing items such as rocks or driftwood and soaking them or swabbing them with hydrogen peroxide. That will also kill and turn the BBA red, but of course, you can't treat the whole tank with it.

It's good to know dead BBA turns red, I thought I may have had something else for a while. I've read Excel also kills vallisneria. I think I got bba from ferts close to the recommended amt, I'm usually stingy with it.

Jim Powers wrote:The fish I lost was a danio nigrofasciatus. It was also the oldest one I had so that may have had something to do with it too. I have been removing items such as rocks or driftwood and soaking them or swabbing them with hydrogen peroxide. That will also kill and turn the BBA red, but of course, you can't treat the whole tank with it.

How exactly did you go about doing the hydrogen peroxide thing? If I put some regular 3% on a cotton ball and swab it on there, would that do the trick? How long do you wait before returning it to the tank?

I dipped my java ferns and anubias in 3% h2o2. The javas did ok, the anubias lost all the leaves. They gradually grew back. Mine are still growing back in a community tank a year later and have not yet resumed their original size. My son took a piece of the naked root and his grew back very rapidly- however his is in a goldfish tank that gets tons of natural and bottled ferts. and very little cleaning.
I once again have a thick growth of BBA-- now i just take out what logs or equipment I can and scrape the darn stuff off once in a while.
I use Excell in my tanks and the vals do fine- but I don't overdose it.

Usually I will just take out the stones or driftwood with the BBA and either soak in hydrogen peroxide or take a cottom swab, dip in the peroxide and rub on affected areas. It depends on how well covered the items are. It seems as if it comes off easier since I used the EXcell. Maybe it hasn't rooted as well as before.
When I find it on plants, I will remove the leaves with the most BBA. Gravel can be difficult. I usually just remove grains of gravel covered with the stuff and just pitch them.

Man, I really need to do something about mine before it gets all in the gravel. What a nightmare. I hope it doesn't come to that.