What is this on my magnetic algae scrubber???

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

brc81

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
12
Went to clean my tank and found this stuff on my algae scrubber magnet and found these things.

The tank as a 3 black neon tetra, 3 glow light tetra, and 1 small gold fish (yes I know...my kid brought it home from the fair). There were a few snails but the bigger ones died and I haven't seen the small ones in a long time.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0893.jpg
    IMG_0893.jpg
    159.2 KB · Views: 101
Just taking a shot in the dark here but... magnets are metal... so perhaps water got into it and the metal (I assume iron from the orange color) is rusting? If I were you I'd chuck it and buy a new one. It's only on that, right?
 
Mystery solved! A thermometer burst and the little metal balls in it stuck to the magnet. No clue how that happened.
 
Weird!! If there is mercury in there, you want to be very careful when handling it. Wash your hands really well after touching it if you do not wear gloves. I'd also be extra careful when doing water changes because you'll get mercury on your hands if there's still any dissolved in the water.
 
Weird!! If there is mercury in there, you want to be very careful when handling it. Wash your hands really well after touching it if you do not wear gloves. I'd also be extra careful when doing water changes because you'll get mercury on your hands if there's still any dissolved in the water.

The actual part of the thermometer part didn't break. The glass around it with the metal beads broke, so only the metal beads and some glass actually fell into the tank.
 
Oh okay, well then you should be okay. I would do a PWC just in case the rusting metal is harmful for the fish. You don't want high levels of metals in the water. Especially if you have any inverts.
 
Back
Top Bottom