Plecostomus has red spots on tip of his fins

[Plecostomus129]

Hello fellow fishkeepers,
I was just wondering about some red spots that recently appeared on my pleco. I have a common pleco and two glofish danios in my 45 gallon aquarium, and I am planning on getting 3 more glofish tommorow. My pleco, Google, has recently developed red spots on his fins, and his poop has been slightly red in spots. I just got the glofish two weeks ago, and Google has been eating the leftover red flakes. Could this have something to do with the redness in his skin or poop? Or could it just be a sign of ammonia problems or a water change? One of the glofish just died yesterday, so that could be part of it. Please help!
-plecostomus129

 

[Plecostomus129]

By the way, I use Aqueon tropical flakes for the glofish, which the pleco eats sometimes, and Wardley algae wafers just for the pleco.

 

[Pleco1415]

It's common for some plecos to have that discolouration. The food you are feeding it is fine but I would recommend buying a piece of drift wood for your tank. Drift wood contains all the good nutrients plecos need to survive and it gives them a good spot to hangout in the aquarium. Btw sailfin plecos get large so make you have a large enough tank and a good filter.

 

[ScotJudd]

Hi. From the pics the 'spots' just look normal plec colour pattern. I've had a plec with similar before. Seems to develop as they grow up.

 

[Plecostomus129]

It's common for some plecos to have that discolouration. The food you are feeding it is fine but I would recommend buying a piece of drift wood for your tank. Drift wood contains all the good nutrients plecos need to survive and it gives them a good spot to hangout in the aquarium. Btw sailfin plecos get large so make you have a large enough tank and a good filter.

Even if I couldn't find driftwood, he would still be fine, right? I have been looking around, but I have not had much luck.

 

[shark21]

The color def. looks normal and as far as the driftwood goes; I am not sure I have always had driftwood in my tank for my Plec. I am sure he would be ok for a little while but over time it is kind of essential for these fish. You should go online and look up driftwood for sale. There is allot of nice looking pieces for cheap. I found this site called Discount Driftwood by Etsy. He ships the next day! www.Etsy.com/shop/DiscountDriftwood. Good luck I love my Plec. He is my favorite out of all my fish!

 

[Plecostomus129]

Ok, well thank you everyone. I will look into the driftwood on Etsy. I asked one of the PetSmart employees as I bought more glo danios today, and they said it was just discoloration from the food. Thanks to everyone for the advice!
-Plecostomus129

 

[Khuligirl93]

Those pieces are pretty expensive. $99 for a piece of wood? I would use drsfostersmith because theirs are less than $20. I believe a small piece is $4.99. You can also use pieces you find outside, as long as they are weathered and not soft. You just have to boil them first.

 

[shark21]

First of all I would not stick some random piece of wood I found outside in my tank ever that's just looking for trouble! And there is def. 1' pieces for like $30 and if you ever purchased or looked at driftwood prices that's not that bad...its an expensive hobby it is what it is...again I would not just use a piece of wood from outside boiled or not just my opinion..

 

[Khuligirl93]

A lot of people do it, there are whole threads about it on this forum. You just have to find the right kind of wood. My whole tank is filled with wood that I found on the beach, or in streams. Check out my pictures in my profile if you'd like it's worked wonderfully for me for a year! You just have to make sure you treat it correctly before introducing it to your tank.

 

[Angelbreeder]

I have old glass bottles in my tank that I dug up at work, as long as it's clean it's fine

 

[J.Mcpeak]

You could have one of these,
Pseudacanthicus leopardus. (L114).
20cm/8"

A notable common with red fins.

 

[tanz8anz]

I got driftwood off a beach and it has been in my tank since i started it up months ago and it hasnt.caused any problems we boiled it and put it in in the sun and repeated it turned our water a funny colour for a while but that soon cleared up and we had very happy fish happy enough to start spawning and filling our tank with baby bristlenoses

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