chinese algae eater

Question
i have 2 chinese algae eaters who live in a 3 gallon aquarium (temporary) and one of them are an inch in a half and the other is about an inch. they both have two red spots on their gills at the top and only visible when looking at them from above. I've looked for pictures of this on googles image search but haven't found any thing like this. i also read an article about fish diseases learned about slime disease, i found a lot of clear gooey stuff in my aquarium so this may be the cause. i don't have a heater in my aquarium so it might be too warm. also the algae eaters don't swim much they seem to just hide. i clean the by dumping the water and rinsing everything with tap water then fill it up with distilled water and put some water conditioning called aqua safe. how do i check the water foe chemicals like nitrites and nitrates and chlorine and chloride? and is there anything wrong with my fish?


Answer
You can take a sample of water to the local aquarium store. Most stores will test it for you at no cost.  Algae eaters are nocturnal so they like to hide in the day time.   Feed them algae wafers as a dietary supplement. There is probably not enough algae in your tank to feed them.  The red spot may just simply be that they are young and small.  If it gets worse let me know...otherwise... just feed them a bit more.  dave