I think I killed my BNP

A while back I started battling BGA. I did the black out for 4 days and it was gone. Well this week I noticed it looked like it was coming back. So this afternoon during my weekly cleaning and WC I decided to spot treat some of the BGA and BBA I have with hydrogen peroxide.

I started cleaning my 10 gallon while I let it sit for a while. A little while later I looked in the 55 gallon and noticed my Bristle Nose Pleco upside down on the bottom. Evidently I used too much hydrogen peroxide on the algae and killed it. It looked like it was still moving some so I scooped it up and put it in the 10 gallon real quick. It's still laying where I left it. I'm so mad right now at myself. I love that little booger.

 

I don't think the peroxide killed it. When peroxide is put in water, it changes into... water. Did you scrub out the tank with peroxide, or just dump it into the water?

 

No I used a syringe and spot treated. It had to be the peroxide. The BN Pleco was swimming around fine while I was scubbing the glass before I used the peroxide. It doesn't turn to water as soon as it's put in water. If that was the case then it wouldn't have any effect on treatment of algae and it wouldn't send bubbles to the surface for 30 minutes or more.

What I think happened was it may have been been under the driftwood I was treating and maybe it got in some of it. I don't know, but I'm seriously mad at myself for it.

 

wow, that's a bummer. never use peroxide in my tanks for that very reason. just to much of a risk. what did you use the syringe for prior to this? any chance the syringe was to blame. maybe a film of soap in it. just an after thought. doesn't sound good for him, I certainly get upset with myself as well when I know I may have done something to cause the harm. good luck.

 

No only used syringe on my tanks for dosing prime and ferts and I always rinse it in tank water after every use. No other fish have died. Not even one of my neon tetras. It had to have been on the driftwood and got dosed too or something.

 

HI guys,

I had a similar pleco death immediately after an H2O2 tank dosing and my Google search found an interesting study done at the Univ of Florida. Here's excerpt from it:

Are any species known to be sensitive to hydrogen peroxide?
Tolerances of different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide by five species of ornamental fish, representing five different families, were tested at 1 hour and 24 hours (Russo et al. 2007). Blue gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus) did not tolerate any of the concentrations tested for 1 hour (11.4–15.9 mg/L) or for 24 hours (3.3–6.0 mg/L). Likewise, the suckermouth catfish (Hypostomus plecostomus) did not tolerate even relatively low doses at 1 hour (6.6–21.9 mg/L);

Here's the link to the study write-up
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa157

 

So sorry, Cletus. It's sad but true, that things like this happen in our hobby.

Sten, welcome to FishLore and thank you for the information. I think it should be stickied somewhere so we can all learn from it (memo to moderators!).

 

You're welcome. I'm always learning things from lurking on all the fish and aquarium boards so it's nice to be able to pass something on for once.

One thing I've learned from all my lurking is that anecdotal information can sometimes conflict from one site to another so, whenever possible, I like my information backed by science and this seemed like a fairly reputable source.

I fight for the lives of every one of my fish and losing the Pleco was sad. But even sadder for me would have been to lose one of my Cory Cats or Chinese High-Fin Banded Sharks.

 

OOH! you have a HFB shark! Wow I am so jealous! lol

 

Cletus
I'm sorry about your fish

Sten
Welcome to FishLore!!
That's a great resource.
It's referenced many times on this site.

 

New Topic...
Chinese high fins are truly a beautiful and peaceful fish. They'll outgrow the 125 in a few more years and I'll have to get a bigger tank (and possibly a new wife). Otherwise I'll have to move them into the Koi pond on the front porch. But then I wouldn't be able to see them very well and they're so calming to watch. I'm glad they're slow growers.

 

New Topic...
Chinese high fins are truly a beautiful and peaceful fish. They'll outgrow the 125 in a few more years and I'll have to get a bigger tank (and possibly a new wife). Otherwise I'll have to move them into the Koi pond on the front porch. But then I wouldn't be able to see them very well and they're so calming to watch. I'm glad they're slow growers.

New topic should be in a new thread.
This thread is about the effect hydrogen peroxide had on cletus's BNP.