Disturbing Pleco excriment!

[spittinfly]

My pleco seems just fine and dandy but this other thing is kinda awkward. His poop comes out as a GIANT string. It is real solid and very very long up to @ 10". It is usually all brown not stringy.

Do I have to change his diet or add to it? I feed flake food and about once a week drop in a food pellet for him.

Any thing to break up the poop ropes he makes?

Thanks a lot.

 

[plecoperson]

What kind of pleco is it? Different types need different feeding. Internal parasites can also cause the "festooning" effect with the poop!

 

[spittinfly]

It is just a common pleco, it is about 5" long right now.

 

[rich311k]

iI think what you describe is pretty much normal.

 

[spittinfly]

It seems normal but I wasn't sure if like peas or zucchini would help break it up a little.

 

[theotheragentm]

If you're so inclined, you can reach in there yourself and break things up. Personally, I'd just view it as a long second tail.

 

[spittinfly]

nice

 

[smn723]

If you're so inclined, you can reach in there yourself and break things up. Personally, I'd just view it as a long second tail.

hahaha....sick theotheragentm! absolutely sick!

 

[plecoperson]

Yer pleco should definitely have lots of vegetable foods. Do try: RAW- zucchini (raw), cucumber (raw), PARBOILED: peas (squeeze them out of their tough shell), collard greens, even romaine lettuce.

plecofanatics.com has a lot of stickies on appropriate feeding, too--

 

[spittinfly]

I'll probably try the cucumbers that way I can eat them too if he doesn't like them.

Ok, I am not a chef but what the heck is parboiled or blanched I have heard of both?

 

[theotheragentm]

Blanching is a term that means putting whatever you cooked into coldwater right away after cooking it so it stops cooking. It prevents the heat left in the food from continually cooking it. It really doesn't matter for your fish, but if veggies keep cooking, they may get soggy. That's the only reason to blanch that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[zao]

Yeah your pleco should be fine. My friend pleco was doing the same thing, and he only tossed in three or four algee wafer. So I think the main reason is the not actually veggie diet. But what I did find really weird on my friend pleco is that it really LOVED chilid pellets, it would go clear to the top of the tank grab one and head back down. But then again that could be a sign of not getting enough of a veggie diet too.

 

[QTOFFER]

I think your pleco is fine, but you don't want your friends coming over, pointing to a 12 inch long pleco turd and asking what kind of fish is THAT?!!

I'm all for adding fresh veggies to your pleco's diet. In my experience, they are not very fussy and seem to like every veggie I've offered (zucchini, cucumber, whole leaf spinach, broccoli stalks, asparagus stalks, peas, lima beans, and carrots). The key to tempting them with food is to offer a piece much larger than their sucker mouth. They get frustrated easily and move on if they can't get a good grip on a morsel and rasp at it.

Also, most plecos thrive if there's a piece of driftwood for them to rasp on. The indigestible wood may aid in digestion the same way dietary fiber aids our digestion.