# Fish eating silicone



## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

I have had my tank setup for about 3 months now. Recently while wiping off the glass I noticed a tiny amount of algae that had started to grow under the silicone and also a large amount of the silicone missing and it looks like it has been nibbled off. I have been keeping the area scrubbed clean the last few days and it is the only spot in the whole tank that has any algae growth.

Is there any health issues with fish eating silicone ? I don't plan to make it part of their diet but was just wondering if anyone had seen this before. Any tips on how to discourage them from doing this other than killing off the algae ? Hope the fish don't start to like the taste of the silicone !

The cichlids are 3 male and 3 female electric blue and otherwise seem to be okay.


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

The same thing happened to my 40g tank, it was a continuous problem until tank finally leaked and had to be re-sealed. It took about a yr from the time I first noticed this until it sprung a leak.


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## Partyboat123 (Aug 12, 2010)

No idea but you can use bigger pieces of silicon on the up.


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## John27 (Jun 6, 2010)

Just out of curiosity, what species do you have?

-John


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## Malawi_Junkie (Nov 26, 2009)

That tank housed Greshakei,Trewavasae,Zebra long pelvic,Johannii.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I also have pieces of silicone missing on a 5-year old tank but I never attributed it to the fish eating it. Maybe the fish are eating the algae at the edge?

I think mine got messed up from me overscrubbing every week to get the algae off the edge. Have not had any leakers yet though.


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