Why is my algea eater white?

Question
I had an algea eater and we've had him for about 3 months it wasn't fully grown but it was healthy as could be.  We recently had to replace our old goldfish with new ones and i was wondering why our algea eater died. We cleaned the tank out and bout new rocks and new plants and put chemicals in the water before putting new fish in but.  My question is would a cat drinking out of the fish tank harm the fish?  We have six cats and 3 of them take turns drinking out of the fsh tank our algea eater was fine dismorning and we just came home and noticed it was floating yesterday we had noticed that it was turning white what could be the cause for this please help me?

Answer
Hi Tiffany;

The algae eater probably had irritated skin from the break-in period toxins and it became infected with bacteria or fungus. The toxins burn the fishes' skin, eyes and gills and can leave them open to all kinds of infection. Bacteria and fungi live everywhere so when a fish gets weak in some way, these things just grow like crazy.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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Hi Tiffany;

The cats can't harm it unless something toxic was in their mouths. That would hurt the cats too so I doubt it. You should have a cover over your tank though because your fish could jump out and harmful things can fall in.

If you replaced all the rocks and put new fish in, your tank is probably going through the break-in period. It can easily kill your fish if break-in toxins rise too high. Here is more about it;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

Here is a great web page on goldfish care too;

http://www.firsttankguide.net/goldfish.php

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins