Tough Pleco

[nibor]

My rubber liped pelco survived a six hour bout in a dry bag a few weeks ago. I had moved him and others from mt 29 gal to my 55 gal and I was a bit rushed and missed him somehow.


oh and? when you have a nine year old, all the fish get names and they are all named after cartoon characters.

 

[alLexX]

nibors comment just gave me a name idea,jerry(or scratchy),both are constantly almost dying

 

[Oldspice]

I've got a plec named Wally.

 

[awilson133]

I've got a plec named Wally.

I like that name

 

[Biosfear]

So my pleco is looking really ragged today. Some major discoloration, tips of his fins are turning white and rotting off.

I picked up some meds but I'm using them sparingly so as not to upset the rest of the inhabitants.

Using some melafix I think. Supposedly it'll treat fin rot and open sores.

Any suggestions?

 

[Oldspice]

I hear Esha 2000 is very good.

 

[silentfilms]

Reminds me of when I was doing a water change on my old betta's tank. Ludwig van jumped out of his cup and managed to fall into our stove of all places! He was in there for about 5-10 minutes before I could figure out how to slide the top off and get to him. He also damaged his fins and scraped off some of his scales.

I treated him with a combination of Pimafix, Melafix, aquarium salt and a lot of water changes. I don't have experience with plecos but I assume it's all the same.

I hope he makes it!

 

[Starka]

Reminds me of when I was doing a water change on my old betta's tank. Ludwig van jumped out of his cup and managed to fall into our stove of all places! He was in there for about 5-10 minutes before I could figure out how to slide the top off and get to him. He also damaged his fins and scraped off some of his scales.

I treated him with a combination of Pimafix, Melafix, aquarium salt and a lot of water changes. I don't have experience with plecos but I assume it's all the same.

I hope he makes it!

I agree with the water changes, it may take a while for him to bounce back. I wouldn't suggest using salt since plecos have a very low tolerance for it. I've never used meds in the tank, though I've never had a fish jump out and survive either. Good luck!

 

[Readingexcalibur]

I read recently that nitraband has electrolights. I think there are derived from the salt in the product. But it's an extremely low dosage. I use it and my plecos are healthy and growing. The electrolights will more than likely help with recovery IMO.

 

[phoenixkiller]

I got up this morning to find my 6 inch black plecostomus lying motionless on the floor about 6 or 7 feet away from my aquarium. I heard a little noise last night and i assume it was him flopping around my floor. The little guy was all dry, shriveled, dark black and presumably dead.

I picked him up thinking i would be digging a little grave and etching a miniature tombstone (we've been friends for about 6 years now)... and i saw his mouth move a little.

I figured what the heck... and threw his shriveled husk back into the aquarium to see.....

He kinda spun and sank to the bottom while releasing a ton or air bubbles. A few minutes later he was breathing again!!

Now he's swimming around and acting as if nothing happened! His eyeballs appear to be a little sunken in though

I heard his flop at about 2:00am and found him at about 10:00am. Thats like 8 hours on a cold floor, all alone, scared, cold and dry!

Suggestions for a new name?? This guys deserves an epic title if he can survive the next few days!

This is the third story I have heard of the sort. They seem to be able to breathe out of water. Lazerus immediately comes to mind IMO.

 

[phoenixkiller]

I agree with the water changes, it may take a while for him to bounce back. I wouldn't suggest using salt since plecos have a very low tolerance for it. I've never used meds in the tank, though I've never had a fish jump out and survive either. Good luck!

I respectfully disagree. 3 people I know personally all have kept plecos for endless years without them suffering any ill affects. I would hardly think they all got lucky and found 3 plecos with a high salt tolerance.

 

[FreshObsessed]

110L Brackish tank - dry food - YouTube

Leopard Pleco in a Brackish tank. @1:00.

 

[awilson133]

110L Brackish tank - dry food - YouTube

Leopard Pleco in a Brackish tank. @1:00.

thats awesome. and sweet music btw

 

[FreshObsessed]

thats awesome. and sweet music btw

Not my tank. I wish it was. But just wanted I help out Phoenix.

 

[awilson133]

oh >.<

 

[Biosfear]

Wow.. Lazerus looks BAD today! His tail has all but rotted off and his back is one big open sore. Poor guy

 

[Biosfear]

..... I went with "lazerus" by the way

 

[Oldspice]

I am glad you went with Lazurus! I am sorry to hear he is so unwell. i really hope he makes it. good luck Lazurus, get well soon.

 

[Starka]

I respectfully disagree. 3 people I know personally all have kept plecos for endless years without them suffering any ill affects. I would hardly think they all got lucky and found 3 plecos with a high salt tolerance.

I can respect that, the only people I know that have fish are on here anyways might as well learn from the best. I have read and been told to treat plecos like cories when it comes to salt, since both have armored plating instead of scales making them less tolerant of salt. I have heard both species surviving salt though people don't recommend it to these species.

Sorry to hear that Lazurus isn't doing well. Love the name! Just remember that it will get worse before it gets better. Amazon catfish are known to be resilient and can live out of water for days if kept wet.
Keep up with the great work and updates! Hope he gets better soon!

 

[Amicus]

This is just a suggestion as I'm speaking from experience. The pleco lived but through a huge amount of stress. I have a male BN and though he's never jumped he has gotten stressed and showed symptoms. There are two things I've done to help and he always bounces back and is doing really we now. First I go and buy a squash zucchini and cut pieces to about 1/2 inch thick and anchor it with a paper clip pierced through the edge. I do not blanch it and he always goes right to it with no problems. I'm not sure you'd want to blanch it as it removes vitamins and minerals he needs now and they are a tougher fish than you might think. I also use HBH algae wafers as their first ingredient is Spirulina algae. It sound to me like you don't want him wasting energy scavenging for food, provide it for him and hopefully he'll get better.
I hope this helped.