Plecos refuse food till starvation

[cammac]

Hello everybody. I have searched to the ends of Google to find some solutions for my pleco and have found it very repetitious.

I have a tank with 18 very activate, friendly, happy, hungry fish that are doing fantastic. However I have had 2 young plecos die and I'm sure it's because they refused to eat.

I currently have a long tailed bushynose that is shy compared to the rest of the fish. Come feeding time the fish jump on everything I put on the tank and don't give the pleco a chance.

Last night I found the little guy by himself in a corner right before I turned the lights out. So I dropped an algae wafer right beside him and went to bed. In the morning he was right there with the wafer dissolved, but all there still.

I also always have a slice of zucchini in there. Which today I weighted to the bottom of the tank. How ever everyone seems to fancy the zucchini as well.

Any ideas to get this guy to eat something?

 

[Autumnsky]

Do you have any real Driftwood in the tank for them to rasp on?

 

[cammac]

Do you have any real Driftwood in the tank for them to rasp on?

No I don't, that is one thing I read about. Some people's view was the pleco would primarily feast on the driftwood and not get the nutrients it needs. What are your thoughts? Will the driftwood promote its appetite?

 

[Bubba643]

No I don't, that is one thing I read about. Some people's view was the pleco would primarily feast on the driftwood and not get the nutrients it needs. What are your thoughts? Will the driftwood promote its appetite?

Definitely need some real wood in there for them. I ordered Manzanita of eBay for my Royal pleco and he loved it, just make sure to get all natural and boil etc

 

[cammac]

I believe they have a good selection at the local store here. I will give it a shot thank you! I have put wood in Bettas bowl
Before, the water turned dark brown very quickly. Did this happen for you at all with the manzanita?

 

[Autumnsky]

I have never noticed any issues with the Plecos I have owned. Presently have nearly a dozen.

Mine have tons of DW, and are always somewhere munching but come over to eat every night.

Other things I feed, are Hikari bottom feeder wafers, I have never seen a fish turn one down. Also Hikari Seaweed Extreme, is advertised for saltwater fish but the plecos love it to, just feed sparingly until you know they figured out what it is.

If the Pleco is constipated it might be able to eat the wood and get things going as normal. You can also feed him some canned peas, I saw Safeway has canned peas without added salt, on sale right now. Try using the inside of the pea first and then if he eats it try a couple with the outer shell part, they can eat them but initially if he hasn't eaten them before, he may be less likely to try a sample of it.

If that isn't working you might do some Epsom Salt baths for him the kind from the health department/pharmacy without any additives, magnesium sulfate.

 

[Bubba643]

I believe they have a good selection at the local store here. I will give it a shot thank you! I have put wood in Bettas bowl
Before, the water turned dark brown very quickly. Did this happen for you at all with the manzanita?

It didn't turn brown but it does add some tiny brown micro particles to the water but that's because he loved it so much. He would saw on it constantly when I didn't have a zucchini dropped.

Also with the zucchini try a large piece, raw, like half or a whole zucchini. I then cut the half at a 15 degree angle into two halfs making like a oblong standing triangle. My other fish like yours loved it too but if you leave it in there for about 5-10 hours he will find it and it's a large enough amount to have some good stuff left for him. Mine used to patiently wait while the frenzy subsided and in about an hour or so would attach to it and rarely leave it from there. Hollow out the larger end of one of the cut pieces with a straw and plug in a 7 ounce sinker fishing weight. Walmart carries them they were like $1.99 for 10. Hopefully you can get him eating. Even if you want to remove wood from time to time you can but from what I know it's a very important part of their diet and should be in the tank at least every few days.

 

[cammac]

It didn't turn brown but it does add some tiny brown micro particles to the water but that's because he loved it so much. He would saw on it constantly when I didn't have a zucchini dropped.

Also with the zucchini try a large piece, raw, like half or a whole zucchini. I then cut the half at a 15 degree angle into two halfs making like a oblong standing triangle. My other fish like yours loved it too but if you leave it in there for about 5-10 hours he will find it and it's a large enough amount to have some good stuff left for him. Mine used to patiently wait while the frenzy subsided and in about an hour or so would attach to it and rarely leave it from there. Hollow out the larger end of one of the cut pieces with a straw and plug in a 7 ounce sinker fishing weight. Walmart carries them they were like $1.99 for 10. Hopefully you can get him eating. Even if you want to remove wood from time to time you can but from what I know it's a very important part of their diet and should be in the tank at least every few days.

How long do you leave the zucchini in the tank?

 

[Bubba643]

How long do you leave the zucchini in the tank?

No more than 10 hours no less than 3 hours. It's not like overfeeding flakes or Brine shimp/blood worms. It's mostly water anyway but after 10 hours it will start to break down and get messy. I usually just fish whatever's left after 8-10 hours out with my net. For one pleco I would do that 2-3 days a week and just have wood in tank all the time for the days in between. There was usually about half left over after he and the 6-8 small African cichlids had their 8 hour fill. They like the seeds and middle but will eat so of the outside dark green as well.