Hi everyone. First I want to thank anyone that reads this and helps me. My pleco is bad sick. He's almost 9 years old. He's in a 30 gallon tank.* Everything was fine until he developed this tumor. It is on his face, right under his eye. It looks like it exploded and it's bleeding and the tank is very cloudy and no matter how many times I change the water and the filters, it is still cloudy. It has to be from him because he's sick. Please tell me what to do. I've spent so much money on new gravel, new filters, Tetra Easy balance, Tetra water clarifier. I bought him 2 new Aquatech filtration systems and they both have 2 filters each, thats 4 filters and I change all 4 filters twice a day, and it doesn't matter. Now I just bout Tetra lifeguard and I'm going to try that. Other than that, I don't know what to do. Please someone help me.
Someone please help me
- Thread starter Lauriepoo
- Start date
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I am so sorry to hear your little guy is having problems.
How big is this Pleco?
Are you familiar with the nitrification cycle?
This is a good article which has a bunch of important care information.
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium/
Your tank needs to have beneficial bacteria / BB in it to process waste.
When you throw out the filter pads or wash them in plain tap water with chlorine (kills bacteria to make water okay to drink), you throw out a large amount of or kill off BB that is in the tank. When you change the substrate you are throwing out the BB which has colonized there as well.
What other fish are in the tank?
What are you feeding the Pleco?
What is the temperature and do you know your water parameters?
Getting the water freshened up will be a big help.
When was the last pwc? Try doing a couple of 40-50% pwc (back to back /one after the other) if you have done a pwc in the last week. Temperature matched and dechlorinated correctly (in case your town has chloramines it is double dose if your dechlorinator neutralizes chloramines).
Back to back helps ease the water quality difference from old water to fresh clean water, making the change less more gentle for the ill fish.
If you can check the water quality please do and write it down to compare. If you have to take it to the store for checking please grab a cup /sample before you start.
If you have changed the filter pads and substrate then you are basically going through a fish-in cycle.
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-just-learned-about-cycling-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now/
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/fishin-cycling-step-dark-side/
Get a freshwater master test kit online is often a good deal. But the big box pet stores will usually price match if the item is from their own online better price, or the petco, petsmart or Chewy, sometimes Liveaquaria. They can be particular. So you might want to call and check as its a $25-ish item. (just checked and it is $23.22)
Also some have a buy online and save 10% when picking up in store.
If, your after water change samples are still unsafe, do one or another back to back water change.
*** Or if you haven't done a pwc in the past week, then start doing the same process but with a smaller amount of pwc like 25% back to back. Then wait a few hours and do another 2 pwc back to back.
Again this is to make the changes in water easier for your ill fish to deal with it.
Keep up the pwc's until the water is safe. Limit feeding to a minimum and make sure there isn't a bunch of food to waste.
Read the articles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next part will be medication probably needed. But fish can heal with a series of daily pwc to keep water perfect, so he isn't further stressed.
How big is this Pleco?
Are you familiar with the nitrification cycle?
This is a good article which has a bunch of important care information.
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium/
Your tank needs to have beneficial bacteria / BB in it to process waste.
When you throw out the filter pads or wash them in plain tap water with chlorine (kills bacteria to make water okay to drink), you throw out a large amount of or kill off BB that is in the tank. When you change the substrate you are throwing out the BB which has colonized there as well.
What other fish are in the tank?
What are you feeding the Pleco?
What is the temperature and do you know your water parameters?
Getting the water freshened up will be a big help.
When was the last pwc? Try doing a couple of 40-50% pwc (back to back /one after the other) if you have done a pwc in the last week. Temperature matched and dechlorinated correctly (in case your town has chloramines it is double dose if your dechlorinator neutralizes chloramines).
Back to back helps ease the water quality difference from old water to fresh clean water, making the change less more gentle for the ill fish.
If you can check the water quality please do and write it down to compare. If you have to take it to the store for checking please grab a cup /sample before you start.
If you have changed the filter pads and substrate then you are basically going through a fish-in cycle.
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-just-learned-about-cycling-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now/
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/fishin-cycling-step-dark-side/
Get a freshwater master test kit online is often a good deal. But the big box pet stores will usually price match if the item is from their own online better price, or the petco, petsmart or Chewy, sometimes Liveaquaria. They can be particular. So you might want to call and check as its a $25-ish item. (just checked and it is $23.22)
Also some have a buy online and save 10% when picking up in store.
If, your after water change samples are still unsafe, do one or another back to back water change.
*** Or if you haven't done a pwc in the past week, then start doing the same process but with a smaller amount of pwc like 25% back to back. Then wait a few hours and do another 2 pwc back to back.
Again this is to make the changes in water easier for your ill fish to deal with it.
Keep up the pwc's until the water is safe. Limit feeding to a minimum and make sure there isn't a bunch of food to waste.
Read the articles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next part will be medication probably needed. But fish can heal with a series of daily pwc to keep water perfect, so he isn't further stressed.
Thank you. He is a common freshwater pleco. he is almost a foot long. I know nothing about fish, except he was so cute. I bought him when Walmart was selling fish. I had him for almost 9 years. I've been using the same tap water with Tetra Aqua Safe and Tetra Easy Balance once a month. We have well water. I will order the test kit as soon as I can, plus check tap water. I live in the middle of country nowhere, so no pet stores, just Walmart. This just happened suddenly one day. I have been doing water changes every other day, sometimes every day for the past 3 weeks. I've used Tetra Water Clarifier, it didn't work. I've been changing the filters once- twice a day. I cleaned the tank walls. I removed all the old gravel and replaced it with all new gravel. Nothing worked. I searched this and some site said it was "bacterial bloom" so i bought Tetra Lifeguard. I'm using it right now. It says not to use a carbon filter while treating the tank and it's for 5 days. Today is the 3rd day. The water is horribly cloudy. It says the day after last treatment, to change the water, which will be 3 days from now. Should i finish this first? Also, is there anything I'm doing wrong, besides having him in too small a tank? I will get him new one as soon as I have the money to. If not a 150 gallon one, at least one that's definitely bigger. Thank you so much for helping me.
Getting the water quality near to perfect would be the best for the Pleco.
The cloudy water could be from foods or the bacterial bloom. It isn't usually a problem for fish wellness, if the water quality is safe and tip top quality.
What is the temperature of the tank? Infection usually increases / breeds more quickly when in warmer temperatures.
Food which does not cloud water and although a basic food, is Hikari Omnivoire wafers, has orange trim on the package. You ca order it online.
That size fish poops logs, lol, and will foul a tank pretty quickly. He will need water changes daily for awhile.
The cloudy water could be from foods or the bacterial bloom. It isn't usually a problem for fish wellness, if the water quality is safe and tip top quality.
What is the temperature of the tank? Infection usually increases / breeds more quickly when in warmer temperatures.
Food which does not cloud water and although a basic food, is Hikari Omnivoire wafers, has orange trim on the package. You ca order it online.
That size fish poops logs, lol, and will foul a tank pretty quickly. He will need water changes daily for awhile.
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