Catfish no longer eating algae tablets

[Frostking]

I know almost nothing about catfish. However, we have had an aquarium with tiger stripped catfish and another unknown species as well as a Pleco for two years. We have fed them algae tablets each day and for the past two years they have devoured them. For the past four days the tablets have gone untouched. The fish seem to be behaving as usual, except for not eating the tablets. We have not changed brands of food. There is a good amount of hard green algae on the front of the tank. The pH is between 6.6 and 6.8 and there are about 50 mg/l of nitrates in the water. We replaced about 1/4-1/3 of water yesterday. Could anyone suggest what might be going on? My only thought is that there is enough other food material and the fish do not need the tablets. But, since there has been no change in how we maintain the tank in the past two years, that does not really make much sense. Thanks for your time, Frostking

[Birger]

There are few catfish that are only vegetarians...including the many different kinds of plecos. It would help us to help you if we knew what kind they are, pictures would be good if you can not find them in the Cat-eLog.

Birger

[MatsP]

If "tiger striped" means something like a

Brachyplatystoma

, then:
1. It should definitely be fed a more meaty diet than algae wafers.
2. Nitrate of 50 mg/l is quite high - do bigger water changes. These fish are "main channel swimmers", which means that they, even in the dry season, have good clean water.

Of course, it could be many other things, so it would be a good thing to actually identify the fish first, then discuss what to do about it. But algae wafers is really only meant for fish that naturally eat mainly vegetable food (although most algae wafers generally contain quite a bit of protein).

--
Mats