Red Slime Remover---A Killer?

Discussion in 'Algae' started by satch, May 16, 2005.

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  1. satch

    satch Plankton

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    I put some Ultra Life Red Slime Remover in my 20 gal. to take out the Red slime and so far after a week some of the slime(hair algae) has receded but I have lost 3 fish. I checked water Every day and all tests are good. I lost a Garamma,spotted Cardinal,and this morning found the Ocellaris dead,and haven't see the Fire Fish Goby yet. The Ocellaris and Goby were active and eating as usual yesterday,----but today? The snails and crabs seem to be ok so far.I made some water changes about 4 days after using the Ultra Life (20%) each time. Has any one had this kind of result with this treatment.If the treatment is the problem,Should I start over with this tank (clean it out and start over) or would 50% water change do to weaken the Ulta Life effects. I also checked water today and no problems showed there.
     
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  3. satch

    satch Plankton

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    Lights came on and the Firefish Goby showed up and is eating like usual and looks healthy. Happy about that but still have questions about what maybe going on. Will keep a close eye on the tank and let you know about any other developements. If anyone has any info to pass along about this let me know.
     
  4. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

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    Can you tell us exactly how you treated the tank with the Red Slime remover? A few more details about your tank would be helpful as well (age, inhabitants, set up).
     
  5. mmakay

    mmakay Feather Duster

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    Ultralife is an antibiotic. It will indescriminanatly kill all simple life forms if the dosage is high enough. That means bacteria, too, so this kind of treatment is a big no-no in FOWLR or reef systems. (Its not much better in fish only systems ... they still need biological filtration.)

    How often did you check your water? Primarily, I would be concerned about Amonia and Nitrates. Do you test for both of those? It's possible that a sudden die-off of algae and/or bacteria caused one or both of these to spike and harm the fish. Even if you test daily, the system could have "caught up" with these spikes and processed the chemicals before you tested again.

    Do more water changes. 25% once or twice a day for a few days at least. Bigger is better, but more than one change for sure. You need to try and completely replace the water as quickly as you can. No need to start completly over, though.