i bought an algae eater 2 weeks ago from the pet store and now it is sucking on my goldies' fins. what should i do??? should i get rid of the algae eater or let it be?

Hi and welcome to kokos

what kind of algae eater is it?you should consider taking it back to the store before he does damage to your fish I'm no expert but I think you should definitely take him out.

Yeah, Coyote is right - take the algae eater back. Over time it will eat away the entire slime coat of the fish, or worse, and that slime coat protects the fish from parasite attacks and more. There is a thread somewhere in the disease section about a goldfish who got a large number of scales eaten away by a pleco.
There are a few out there that are fine with goldfish, if you want one to take care of algae in your tank. Among them is the Bristlenose pleco, bushinose, and the little Otocinclus.

sometimes it works, im not advising you to try it, but it worked for me. common pleco with my GF .. all of them are fine.

Raith - it is simply a matter of time before your common pleco does some damage. Eventually your fish will be big enough, slow enough or fall asleep in the wrong spot. The pleco will grow large enough he will cease eating algae and focus on the fish. And then you will have seriously injured fish.

It simply is not a good idea to keep these two types of fish together in a tank. It is just asking for trouble - and sooner or later, trouble will find you.

i guess when that happens then the pleco really have to outgrow the GF very quick. all the GF except one is already bigger than the pleco. i guess ill see where it goes. of course the advices are always welcomed.

I had a 3 inch pleco attack a 4 inch oranda and take his eye. After that, no more common plecos for me! (Not with goldies anyway.)

I've never had a pleco, but I do have 2 large chinease algae eaters. They do just fine with all my goldfish, big and small. I'm not an expert, just letting you know about my experience.

From what I hav been reading, the Chinese Algae EAters are also a danger - after a time. As the articles read - as they grow and age, they stop eating algae and start eating meat - ie: your fish. You should keep an eye on those guys, too.

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...ese+algae+eater

Man- and they are sooooo cute, too!

I would remove the offending algae eater and take it back to the store. Best to nip problems in the bud IMO

ok thanks alot guys. ill take out the algea eater today and put it in with my fishing minnows hehe