Salt Corrosion? Algae for other loaches?

[pedzola]

A couple of recent topics got me thinking...

The shorter thought, first: I've seen some "algae farming" threads lately. Would Clowns and Yoyos eat algae? Or is this just for hillstreams?

The longer thought: Salt seems to be a popular treatment for ich in clowns. Indeed, I treated a group of new and sickly clowns very successfully w/nothing but a bit of salt and slightly higher temp.

Here's the question... yesterday my Eheim 2128 thermofilter went nuts. The thing was pulsing on and off, the LCD display was going crazy, and the thing was making all kinds of weird noises.

I pull it apart to find the heating element corroded all the way through on one end. My first thought was that my fish must have got quite a shock w/bare wires in the filter!! But they are all alive and don't seem any worse off.

Anyway... Do you think it was the salt that corroded the heater in my Eheim??? Is that possible? Or is this a manufacturing defect or something?

The filter is only 6 weeks old!!

I couldn't find any contact info for Eheim in the US, and of course I was frantic, so I called Petsmart (where I bought it). They are sending me a new one and paying return shipping for the busted one. GREAT customer service!

[Emma Turner]

What concentration of salt did you use?
Eheim used to manufacture both a freshwater and a saltwater version of the Thermofilter. The saltwater version had a completely different coating on the element so that it was able to resist corrosion. However, I think they now manufacture universal Thermofilters that can be used in both situations. The fact that yours has gone wrong after only 6 weeks is still surprising, it is probably best to contact Eheim directly so that you can check whether salt can affect the model that you have bought, and to see if anyone else has reported a similar problem. I think the US site can be found here: http://www.eheim.com/index2.htm.

Having said all this, I would have to point out that there are better ways of treating loaches for whitespot, and personally I would never use salt with them. (Obviously some people will disagree with me on this, but it is my view).

With regards to your other question re: Clowns and Yoyos eating farmed algae, they probably wouldn't go for it in the same way that hillstream loaches do. Botia do very much enjoy greenfoods as part of their diet, such as algae wafers, cucumber, courgette, peas, broccolli etc, but I have never seen them actively cleaning algae off of rocks.

Emma

[pedzola]

Hey, thanks for your response! I had forgotten that I posted this.

So there is no longer a salt and fresh version of this filter?

Hmmmmmm.........


I was a little curious when I first got it cause the heating element looks pretty much like a thick metal wire and nothing more. From the corrosion though, it's more like a metal tube I guess. I know "regular" heaters have a glass or plastic coating so I always thought it was kinda weird... I dunno...

In any case there is no more salt left in the tank. I will keep my fingers crossed that nothin bad happens this time. Looks like the new filter got delayed a couple days - will be here Thursday. (bleh!!) At least it's just the heater that broke, and the filter still works fine... otherwise I'd be in trouble w/no filter for my 75g tank.

As it is now I swiped a couple smaller heaters from other tanks (1 Q-tank w/nothing in it, and my red-tail-shark tank). The shark is enjoying the company of the loaches I think, he does chase them around a bit tho.

Debating whether to keep him in there or not once I get the new unit. Maybe I can put somethin else in that other tank.


Anywho....... thanks. Kinda dissappointing that the "best" filter breaks down after only 6 weeks. Thought that spending $300 on a filter would give me peace of mind.................

oh well.