[AquaticLife] Siamese Algae Eaters
The other thing you can do is use Hydrogen Peroxide (HP) squirted directly onto the algae with a syringe. It’s probably a lot cheaper than Flourish Excel. Here’s a “old” thread from the old bulletin board days, about using HP on algae. http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/hydrogen-peroxide.html I’ve used HP on some hair algae and it worked. HP is H2O2 so it’s basically water (H2O) with an extra Oxygen molecule which is what causes the bubbling when it oxidizes. Something about the oxidation from the extra O molecule that has an effect on breaking down the cell walls on simple organisms like bacteria, algae, etc. Once it oxidizes, it basically becomes water. Used in the doses recommended in that thread, it will not harm your fish as long as you do not squirt the HP directly onto the fish. Just shoo them away prior to squirting. The HP dilutes with the water almost immediately so it won’t do any harm once it’s in the water column. Most store bought HP is only 3% solution anyhow so when you mix only an ounce of that with 10G of water, it’s almost negligible. They actually sell HP tablets for people with ponds, when they are having low oxygen problems in their ponds due to high temperatures. Also for ponds, people add barley straw to combat algae problems and as the barley straw breaks down, it releases HP, which is what helps eradicate the algae.
Now back to algae eating fish… do some Googling or read thru some threads about ‘Mbuna and algae eaters’ to see what you can find out. I know I’ve read where the algae eaters will not go near the territories of the Mbuna as they will be attacked so having one in the tank kind of defeats the purpose if they won’t go near the rocks where the Mbuna have established as their territory. I’ve even read of Mbuna killing and eating a common pleco down to the bones…. even though they are supposed to be herbivores but sometimes I’m not sure fish read the same books or online info that we do. I’m sure that may be a rare occasion but if a pleco which is an armored catfish can succumb to Mbuna, then you definitely have to be careful about which un-armored algae eaters you may introduce.
Actually, while typing this reply, I did a Google search for ‘mbuna and algae eater’ and the top hit was “Poll - The BEST algae eater for Mbuna Tank - Page 2″ so check out the entire thread to see what they have to say about it. http://www.cichlidforums.com/showthread.php?t=3871&page=2 (Click on Page 1 as soon as you get to that Page 2) A quick glance at the Poll shows SAE’s at the bottom of the list with the Bristlenose Pleco at the top and the Common Pleco 2nd but I would worry about either of them in the harder, higher pH water.
Here’s another article about suitable algae eating fish for Mbuna tanks. http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/mbuna3.htm
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
