STRANGE pleco story

[hashbaz]

I have a common pleco that I got from a friend 6 months ago. Two weeks ago he was on the verge of death. He would occasionally "wake up" swim to the top of the water then drop almost lifelessly back down to the gravel where he would usually end up laying on his back.

I thought for sure he would be dead in the morning, but that was about two weeks ago and nothing has changed - he is still almost lifeless. The water parameters that I can test for (PH, alkalinity, hardness, Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates) seem OK. The water is still a little hard/salty from a battle with ick, but I thought plecos should be able to handle the salt.

Personally I think it might be a swim bladder disorder or something along similar lines - but I don't know for sure if plecos even have swim bladders. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[lyquidphyre]

This is a dumb question.. but are you feeing him properly?

When you battles with Ick did you use meds or the salt method, or both?
Because i know some ick treatments you shouldn't use with plecos in the tank (scaleless creatures)

I don't think its swim bladder. Swim bladder is where they swim upside and have problems swimming general.

Im sure someone will be more helpful then I was. Just thought id throw in my 2 cents

 

[madasafish]

Almost all fish do have swim bladders (exceptions exist in lower, more "primitive" forms). Even deep-sea fishes such as anglerfish and viperfish have small gas bladders despite the incredible pressure at those depths!

Yeah, what are you feeding him? His diet may be lacking... do you feed sinking algae and shrimp wafers? Algae wafers primarily, shrimp wafers seondarily. I recommend the 2 types offered by Hikari, as they're vitamin-infused. At this point, you'll be lucky to get him to eat. Fish in this state of health are usually about to die, and won't accept any food. Sorry to say it!

Best of luck!

 

[Menagerie]

Please post the actual water parameters. How often are you vacuuming the gravel with a water change? Who are the pleco's tank mates?
Can you see any thing physically wrong with the pleco? (aside from the swimming thing)

 

[hashbaz]

Personally, I think trying to save him is a lost cause.

Menagerie,
My water parameters are: PH 7.4, Alk 100, TH 350 (it was 250 before I added the salt), ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 40 (I only have the unaccurate strips). I (or my wife) vacuum the gravel once a month. I normally only change 30% once a month. I've been changing more lately to get some of the salt out. His tank mates are: danios, guppies, platys, a black skirt tetra, a cory cat, and a rubber lipped pleco that I just bought to replace the dying common pleco. After a week of lying on his back he has started to develope white patches by some of his fins that look like sores or wounds.

lyquidphyre,
That's not a dumb question! I actually don't feed him anything except occasional cucumber. Maybe I'm wrong but I figure that as long as there is lots of algae growing in my tank, that he should be getting enough to eat. The algae has been getting worse lately, even before he got sick. I treated for ick by raising the temp and adding salt - no meds.

Is a 29 gallon big enough for a common pleco? I decided to go with rubber lipped in the future because they stay small. Thank for the help and concern.

 

[krap101]

maybe hes getting too old? how big is he. i guess thats a dumb answer but things get old and die. have you considered putting it to sleep? or is it not that bad yet.

 

[hashbaz]

he WAS about 4in. He finally kicked the bucket yesterday. I like the idea of putting sick fish to sleep - but my wife doesn't like that too much.

 

[ClamKnuckle]

Sorry about your pleco hashbaz

 

[Xabien]

You should be changing 25% of the water once a week to remove nitrates from the water. Otherwise the fish are more likely to be stressed and get diseases. Also feed your pleco with a sinking tablet food (like hikari algae wafers). You only need to throw one in every 3rd day and do it at night time because they are mostly nocturnal fishes. Hope this helps.

 

[madasafish]

Yeah, my only comment is that water changes really should be done once a week. If I start to get lazy with my changes, my fish get less healthy...

This does depend on what school of fish-keeping you come from, but most ppl on this site strongly recommend weekly water changes. Heck, though... Takashi Amano changed water on his tanks once every 2-3 weeks, and he's a bigshot aquarium photographer/designer. I think the more frequent water change philosophy is a relatively recent, but effective, one...

HTH

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Maybe you should stop being a stupid dork! (Sorry for the tirade--hash is my bro) It might be important to note that this pleco had been basically abandoned. It was in a tank in an office and the owner was tired of all the fish dying so he started ignoring it. Who knows how long the tank had gone uncleaned. About 1/2 of the water had evaporated and there was no filtration . Our uncle worked for this guy and rescued the pleco after he saw it moving (everyone else thought that everything in the tank was dead and long gone) so he gave it to us. He was really lethargic for a while, but he got better and I gave him to hash.