Help - Strange Pleco Behavior

[Oscarluva]

My plecostomus has been acting weird. He's been floating on the top on the feeding ring at first I thought it was dead so I touched it and it went back the the bottom I still have a couple days to return it should I Could this plecostomus ( common) be with my cichlids. Which ones could.

 

[Oscarluva]

Here are more pics

 

[HUKIT]

I don't see anything wrong from those pics but really hard to tell from what your describing. Could you give us a little better description of his behavior? Did you QT this fish? Is he being bullied from tankmates?

 

[Oscarluva]

He has a lot of red parts on his body that aren't supposed to be like that and as u can see sometimes he float on the top not sticking to anything

 

[Oscarluva]

I dont see him bein bullied an no I don't qt him

 

[Tim Wheatley]

My Pleco used to eat brine shrimp almost exclusively. It would feed from the top all the time. He smelled them the instant they hit the water and would grab it in his mouth they float to the bottom feeding on the ice block.

IMHO he may just be going where the food is. Your food ring is maybe near your lights and has algae?

 

[Oscarluva]

Yea but what about those red stuff on him on his belly and fins

 

[Snails R us]

Is there any objects he could have bumped off of, scratched himself on etc?
What's your water parameters?
My pleco will lie limp sometimes on the gravel/across his log and even let me touch him (he is very skittish and doesn't let my hand anywhere near him normally) this rarely happens, but no illness appears wrong with him I figure he's just chilling although your case seems that your pleco does it a lot and at the surface too.

 

[Oscarluva]

K thanks. I'm bout to treat my tank with mela and pimafix. For a different reason will this hurt it. Normal dose?