Black Marks Appearing on Red Bristlenose Pleco

[GIZMOSPAZZ]

Hey Everyone,

I have answered the questions below and attached a couple photos to hopefully find out what's going on with my Pleco...

1~What type of fish is afflicted?
**Red Bristlenose Pleco
In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability
**Black spots appearing on tail and body. See before/after pictures.
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
**0 ppm Ammonia
**0 ppm Nitrites
**10 ppm Nitrates
**70.8°F
**7pH
3~ How large is the tank?
**55g
How long has the tank been set up?
**A little over 6 Months
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
**2 AquaClear 70s.
**600 gph (300 gph per filter)
5~How many fish are in the tank?
**2 Fish
What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
**Red Bristlenose Pleco: 3 in.
**Shubunkin Goldfish: 5 in.
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel?
**6 Days ago
How often do you do this?
**Once a week
How much water do you remove at a time?
**50%
7~How long have you had the fish?
**4 Months
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
**No
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
**Pleco gets an algae wafer every other day
**Goldfish gets sinking pellets twice daily
**Food has not changed

Before:

After:


I have scoured the Internet to try to figure out what's going on with him. The black spots are not raised at all.. I netted him to see if it was just dirt, but it's not. It seems to be his skin changing colors. I have seen black and red marbled Bristlenose Plecos, but he is not supposed to be marbled. He is supposed to be just red.
Thank you for any help!

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[Wiggles24]

Mine started getting black spots, unfortunately he died shortly after. So im curious too

 

[GIZMOSPAZZ]

How long after the marks appeared did he pass away? The black marks have gradually appeared. They were just on his fins but they are now on his body too, as seen in the picture. It's been well over a month since they started. He still eats his algae wafer and cleans. He doesn't seem unhealthy in any way. He's not sunken in, as if h were starving. There's a heater so the temp of the water doesn't change. Weekly water changes are done. The tank is heavily planted. Ammonia is always zero. Nitrites are always zero. Nitrates are always low because of the plants and water changes.
Like I said, I've searched and searched online, but I haven't found anything similar to this.

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[GIZMOSPAZZ]

Is it possible that he's just developing a marbling color after this amount of time?

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[GIZMOSPAZZ]

I'm guessing no one has any idea either.
If anything happens to the little guy or if he starts acting strange, I'll definitely update here.

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[Surfer]

I was about to say marbling but gizmo beat me to it. Looks like natural color changing to me. Sometimea you get an odd red BN that exhibits minor calico traits. Thats how the red/super red BN came about anyway, from selectively bred calicos.

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[GIZMOSPAZZ]

I love him just the same. Doesn't matter to me if he marbles. I just wanted to check with everyone to see if this was in any way a sign of him getting sick. I guess you could say I'm a paranoid parent? XD

Thank you though!

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