shad0wfish11
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I FINALLY got my tall 20gal fully up and running again after my catastrophic worm issue last July. I have a small school of 6 zebra danios and about 3 weeks ago I added a rubber lipped pleco (I kept him quarantined for 2 full weeks prior to being introduced to the tank). He's been a very visible and active addition to the tank - unlike other plecos I've had, he never hides, never stays in one place too long, and loves zooming around the sides of the tank. Yesterday morning I noticed him laying on the bottom, which for him is unusual but not unheard of. However, he was in the same place last night. I made sure he was still alive - he is - and went to sleep. This morning he is still in the same place and now his gills look a little red but very swollen and his fins are clamped. The danios all look fine and I haven't seen them picking on him at all but they are hovering around the bottom of the tank which is unusual as they tend to swim in the middle/top portion (it is a very tall tank).
On Monday (so 6 days ago) I did my normal weekly (sometimes biweekly, my bad) maintenance of a 25% water change (new water is conditioned with API stress coat and API stress zyme). I don't feed the pleco, there's tons of algae in the tank (which is part of the reason I got him) although I was planning to start algae wafers once he finished cleaning up (which, had he not gotten sick, probably would have been in the next few days. The tank is looking much better).
Using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit I got the following results just this morning:
pH is around 8.3. I have very hard water at my house and fighting high pH has been a problem I've had the entire time I've kept fish. Nitrites are zero, nitrates somewhere between zero and 5.0ppm (no idea why, they tested zero on Monday). Water temp is 78 degrees Fahrenheit.
I already have T.C. Tetracycline, General Cure, and for new fish introduction I keep a bottle of Melafix around as well. I just want to figure out if this is most likely parasitic or bacterial and then treat accordingly. If you think it's the pH or the nitrates (which I don't but you're entitled to your opinion), how do you think I should deal with that? Also, since the danios all seem perfectly fine, I'm not inclined to put my pleco in a hospital tank because I don't want to stress him out worse by moving him, but if you think hospital tank is the way to go I do have the means to do that.
*He moved about an inch backwards while I was writing this. So at least he moved?
On Monday (so 6 days ago) I did my normal weekly (sometimes biweekly, my bad) maintenance of a 25% water change (new water is conditioned with API stress coat and API stress zyme). I don't feed the pleco, there's tons of algae in the tank (which is part of the reason I got him) although I was planning to start algae wafers once he finished cleaning up (which, had he not gotten sick, probably would have been in the next few days. The tank is looking much better).
Using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit I got the following results just this morning:
pH is around 8.3. I have very hard water at my house and fighting high pH has been a problem I've had the entire time I've kept fish. Nitrites are zero, nitrates somewhere between zero and 5.0ppm (no idea why, they tested zero on Monday). Water temp is 78 degrees Fahrenheit.
I already have T.C. Tetracycline, General Cure, and for new fish introduction I keep a bottle of Melafix around as well. I just want to figure out if this is most likely parasitic or bacterial and then treat accordingly. If you think it's the pH or the nitrates (which I don't but you're entitled to your opinion), how do you think I should deal with that? Also, since the danios all seem perfectly fine, I'm not inclined to put my pleco in a hospital tank because I don't want to stress him out worse by moving him, but if you think hospital tank is the way to go I do have the means to do that.
*He moved about an inch backwards while I was writing this. So at least he moved?
