Can algae kill fish?

[Vmax911]

I had one of my rams die today. She was fine yesterday, but this morning she was staying stationary at the bottom of the tank, dark in color. She died this afternoon.

All the other fish are fine, and acting normally. I did some tank maintenance last night. I removed some BBA and BGA algae, so I'm sure some pieces became water-born, and she may have ingested them. Anyone know if these forms of algae can harm fish?

 

[Satsumas]

BGA wiped out my local lake's livestock so i don't trust it.

However my brother's rainbow shark had a good meal when he ate a couple of sheets of the stuff and he is fine.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I don't believe consuming algae wil harm your fish at all. Algae blooms (like in ponds) usually wipe out fish because of oxygen depletion, not because its toxic.

Does your water test okay? Especially ammonia? Dead algae can produce ammnoia if its not removed.

 

[Sicklid]

Rams are supposedly sensitive to Total Dissolved Solids. Whats you water like? How long did you have this fish? I know everyone is gonna say that they are fine in hard water due to have being bred in it for so long, but I don't buy that.

 

[hc8719]

fish also dont die from algae, but more so the poorer water params, that allow the algae to grow

 

[Vmax911]

Sicklid - Not sure what you are asking for with the Total Dissolved Solids question, but my GH is 3 degrees and KH is 6 degrees.

hc8719 - I believe have BGA because I'm bottoming out on Nitrates. I thought low nitrates is good for fish, bad for plants (except Algae, which can get nitrogen by some other means?). I have ordered ferts, and hopefully when they come in I can get the plants going and start to eliminate the algae. Also, Ammonia and Nitrites are likewise zero. I'm not sure what else to check. At least I know the problem wasn't caused by ingesting the algae.

edit: Forgot to mention I've had her for about a month. The other ram (and all the other fish for that matter <click my info> are acting normal).

 

[hc8719]

what i had meant was normal algar is caused by water not taken care of greatly, not badly either, i change my 55 gal weekly, and never have algae, but my 20 gal, change maybe every 2 weeks, and algae pops up

 

[Vmax911]

Hmm... I've been doing a 30% pwc weekly in the past, and still had algae. I'm trying to change that to every two weeks, since I'm bottoming out on nitrates. I guess every tank is different.