Common Pleco in 10 gallon

[Cornstar]

Recently my girlfriend had bought a common Pleco and it seems to be harassed by her blood parrot and tiger barbs. It's fins had been nipped brutally.

I thought it might be best to separate them for now. My 55g is fully stocked with Africans and I have a10g that had been running with only MTS. Would it be ok to have the common Pleco in the 10g to recover for 2-3 weeks? It will be the only fish there, it is roughly 1-1.5 inch at the moment.

 

[Horsegirlmaddy]

It seems unlikely that a pleco- which has armor, could have its fins nipped by soft-mouthed fish. Without pics, I can't tell, but jagged/fuzzy fins could be a bacterial or fungal infection. Either way, you will want to remove him to a quarantine tank, and treat with something like melafix for infections. The only problem I can see with keeping the pleco in the 10 gallon short term would be the snails- most medications, as well as salt, are harmful to invertebrates.

 

[Cornstar]

It seems unlikely that a pleco- which has armor, could have its fins nipped by soft-mouthed fish. Without pics, I can't tell, but jagged/fuzzy fins could be a bacterial or fungal infection. Either way, you will want to remove him to a quarantine tank, and treat with something like melafix for infections. The only problem I can see with keeping the pleco in the 10 gallon short term would be the snails- most medications, as well as salt, are harmful to invertebrates.

What about the tiger barbs? That's who I suspect could be doing the nipping

 

[eduguy]

Maybe it cut itself?

 

[Teakwood]

Maybe if you post a pic it would help. Should be fine in the 10g short term. Maybe when it gets bigger it will handle being in the tank with the big boys better?