CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

My son has a 10 gal tank with Mollies and Swordtails in it. Recently he found a brick and decided his fish might like swimming in and out of the holes in it. He washed it carefully and put it in. Now he is loosing his fish.

Is there anything in a brick that will hurt the fish? It is a regular old red masonry brick.

Please help, he doesn't have many fish left!

Hi...firstly if you havn't done already then take the brick out.

I will be honest and say that i am no masonary expert,but i know that many bricks contain lime in them along with lots of other chemical compounds,which is no good for an aquarium.
I think you have been unlucky in your brick choice because im sure i have seen bricks being used as decor before in a LFS.(Unless the bricks has been treated with something??)

I would use activated carbon for a while to absorb any nasty's in the water.

good luck...........jay:)

Yeah, I would go with no brick. Not safe for your fish. You might try giving one a really thorough coating of Polyurethane (spelling?), and then soaking it in some water for a while. I assume you would be able to taste any chemical absorbed into water after soaking it a week or two, right? If I was set on getting a brick in my aquarium, I would probably go about it that way.