What on earth just happened? - Dead pleco

[squidsquiggle]

I mentioned on here a few days ago that I was putting a little rubberlip pleco in a 3 gallon quarantine. I have a small problem with high ammonia in my tap water, but the 10gal filter was from a well established tank and seemed to be handling things well.

She worried me a little at first by not taking any food I was offering (sunk in the evening and left over night), but I was super excited to find her munching on a piece of blanched cucumber yesterday (and she was pooping a ton even before that - so eating the wood, maybe).

I last checked the parameters day before yesterday, and everything was great. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5-10 nitrates, I didn't check the pH. I suck out any poop or food debris I see pretty much every time I pass the tank, and did 30% water changes every day. Today I had to change the filter pad, it was so full the water started flowing around it, but was falling apart too much to rinse. I replaced it with a pad that had been in my other tank for several days, and stuck the old pad in a filter sock in the corner by the air pump.

I left a piece of blanched spinach and a couple of frozen bloodworms in the tank earlier this evening, and she was chewing enthusiastically on the leaf when I last looked, around 4 hours ago.

But now I walked in to find her upside down in the middle of the tank. She lost most of her color, had dark stains on her back fin, and a big dark spot on the top of her head.

What the heck happened? I immediately ran tests, but of course now they're horrible. 6 or lower pH, .50 ammonia, .50 nitrites, still only 10 nitrates. But I can't tell if the readings are the cause of death, or the death is the cause of the readings.

Did I leave the spinach in there too long? Was the water too warm (75 - though the store had them at 78)? I had seen no signs of illness, no odd behavior (she got a little frantic the first time I turned lights on in the tank, but calmed down as soon as I turned them off). Were my filter changing precautions not enough and I caused a deadly mini-cycle? Was the tank just too darn small?

The only other thing I can think of is that the fish guy did drop her straight on her head when trying to bag her - but I'm afraid that might be wishful thinking and I just screwed up somehow.

I just feel so sick about the whole thing. I hardly ever try to get new fish, I have such bad luck with them, but this seemed to be going so well.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

when u say the fish guy dropped her do u mean onto the floor or table? if yes, the trauma may have induced death form the stress that built up over time.
the tank would have been too small for a long period of time, since the parameters would be very unstable. those alone could have caused the stress or poisoning to kill, but your cleaning routine sounded like it kept on top of that.
the filter pad however, i dont think it was cycled enough if it was only in the other tank for a few days. the bacteria has to fully build up and i dont know if the old pad in the corner was enough to keep the tank stable.

when my 1st few plecos died (years ago before i knew anything about them) they died because i had no DW or basic pleco food in there, i assumed they were full algae eaters. how skinny was the pleco? x

im sorry about your loss

 

[squidsquiggle]

He dropped her on the floor, from above shoulder height, and he was fairly tall.

Yeah, I knew the tank was too small, but thought for sure that vacuuming out any debris and daily water changes would keep it safe for the week or so I needed it as quarantine. It had only been 5 days.

And yeah, I was afraid the filter didn't have enough time to grow any bacteria, but the old one was completely ruined and no water was going through it at all, just around it, all out the sides and back, and over the pad. Should I have just left it in there? Was it still doing any good?

I had a piece of driftwood in there, and there was algae on the filter and the little cave I put in there, from the other tank. I was trying to feed a piece of algae wafer or a bottom feeder pellet alternating every night, but like I said, the cucumber and spinach I had tried the last two nights were the only thing I had seen her eat. She didn't look skinny to me, trying to compare to pictures online, and she was eating the spinach last I saw (fresh, rinsed, and blanched - and fed to my other fish without any signs of trouble).

So it might be down to the filter pad or being dropped. Would the bruise-like mark on her head (that I hadn't seen before death - and she did land upside down) be related to the dropping, or just another something that happens after death?

Thanks so much for trying to help me figure this out.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

there is almost always either a dark bruise like mark or a white crack IME when they have had a bash. bites not so much, but the drop most likely would have been the cause of death, either internal injury or pure stress.

plus the filter pads - they would have been a big factor and would not have done much good as they were. sorry

u clean filter pads by getting a bowl, filling to halfway with the tank water before a pwc and floating it near the filter. turn off filter. quickly put the pads in there before much stuff escapes, then rinse repeatedly in the bowl until it runs mostly clear and is much less slimy. replace pads into filter, but if u have a 'stick to the glass' filter then keep it in a separate bowl of clean tank water and throw away the pad-rinsed bowl of water. then pwc as normal and put the filter back in when u r done.

its a tip and will help save the pads for longer xx

 

[squidsquiggle]

Thanks for the info. It makes me feel a little better that the cause is possibly not entirely my fault.

I actually do clean the filter pads out in a similar manner, but this last batch of pads I bought a few months ago are incredibly cheap and literally dissolve as soon as I touch them (imagine trying to rinse, even gently, a pad of toilet paper - it's that bad, possibly defective), making them completely useless after a few weeks. I should have changed the pad while it was in the old tank, and let it sit for a week or more, unfortunately I didn't notice it was getting full until after I put it in the qt tank.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

thats bad padding lol soz

i hav an l-83 and wouldnt trade it for the world, even though it poops like a darnded machine!! will u get another one? xx

 

[squidsquiggle]

Yeah, I've replaced most the padding with some nice foam recently, it was unfortunately one of the last filters with the bad padding.

The sailfins look great! I've really like plecos, but I've always had horrible luck with them. If I can find one at the nice LFS nearby, I might try again with the rubberlip. I actually ordered a longfin L144 a few weeks ago, from a very good breeder, which should be here in another week or so. That little guy should be of much better quality, so hopefully my luck will change.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

i hope so too! l144s are pretty by that time, will the pads be ready? x

 

[squidsquiggle]

The L144 will be going in a different tank, well established (and with better filters). I'm trusting the word of a hundred or so people who have bought fish off this lady that her babies don't need any quarantine, they're very sturdy and healthy. (But I'm still crossing my fingers that it goes well)

 

[nextgeneration40]

Do they have a 14 day replacement policy at the LFS?

 

[squidsquiggle]

Yeah, they do, but I only paid $1.60 for it (he actually gave me a discount after he dropped it), so I wasn't sure I really wanted to mess with taking it back. I stuck the fish in the freezer, in case I change my mind. I've got a few days left.