# Please help ASAP algaecide overdose



## Sickcichlids (Aug 16, 2017)

To get to the point my gf was taking care of my cichlid tanks for a couple days while i was away and she accidently dumped a large amount of Tetra Algaecontrol containing poly ethylene dichloride. I never use algaecide and do not even have much algae in my tanks ever...she found the bottle in a bin of stuff that i never use and dont even know where alot of it came from.. I have a 55 gal with 10 cichlids at the moment a 30 gal with just 2 and a 10 gal just temp holding a crazy kenyi. She said she put about 3 capfuls in 55gal and 1.5 in the 30 gal... It says to use 1ml/12 gal so she assumed a capful was 1ml bc it doesnt tell u anywhere how much each line on bottle or capful equals. She has no experience at all other than watching me take care of the fish and i know she thought she was helping but i came home about 6 hours after she added the chemical and all my very active gealthy aggressive fish are no where to be seen..hiding in the deepest darkest corners they can find.. Their colors are off and dull..they are just sitting on the bottom mostly although they dont appear to be breathing heavily. I did a 25 % water change so far and im getting more fresh water prepoed to do more changes..she did not remove the carbon or turn off the filters which it says to do on bottle so i pray the carbon i just changed 3 days ago sucked up enough of the algaecide i dont want my fish to die i havent lost a fish in over a year since starting the tank. They are all malawi mbunas 3 to 5 inches theres a fluval 305 as well as an aqueon 55 gal hang on back both with fresh carbon and the 30 gal has a aquaclear 30 n fluval 205 with new carbon as well...i also added extra air pumps..will the carbon have helped get rid of the algaecide..if so will the chemical leak back out of the carbon? Should i replace it again... What else can i do to help?? I dont know exact amounts but it seems like around 5x the amount ur supposed to use. I feel like i should do more water changes but i am afraid too much too quickly could further stress the fish n make things worse. Please help im sorry i rushed to type this without checking so if anything is unclear i can give additional i formation


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What were the test results for nitrates and the others before and/or after your recent 25% change? what is your usual weekly change percent?

I would change 50% tomorrow and 75% the next day if your nitrates are already low.


----------



## Bd79 (Apr 11, 2011)

DJRansome said:


> What were the test results for nitrates and the others before and/or after your recent 25% change? what is your usual weekly change percent?
> 
> I would change 50% tomorrow and 75% the next day if your nitrates are already low.


Yep. I'd do a bunch of water changes. Algaecides are very tough on fish.


----------



## Sickcichlids (Aug 16, 2017)

Thankfully everyone survived and seem to be getting better although not totally back to their normal behavior. I was doing about 30% water change every 12 hrs for the first 2 days. I added som seachem stability to make sure the biofilter was ok after the media change and all the water change plus the overdose. The water is a little cloudy kind of the way it looks when theres a bacteria bloom when u first cycle a tank but i didnt know if the algaecide could cause the water to be cloudy somehow even after water changes? Also i do about 25% a week..nitrates usually get up to almost 40 by end of week and down to 10 after change. I didnt test water after the overdose but right now its still over 20 even after all the water changes and wont seem to go down. I cleaned all the debris from the filter foam and inside canister and made sure to use non chlorinated water and left the biorings in tank water so im not sure why the nitates go down.ammonia and nitrite are always 0. Ph is steady8.2 and temp is 77.


----------



## Sickcichlids (Aug 16, 2017)

Also i appreciate the responses and i figured water changes would be the only thing i could do to help but was in a panic and have never used algaecide and know nothing about it so i wasnt sure if there were other consequences. Thanks again


----------

