My Bristlenose Pleco is losing his bristles =( [NOW w/PICS]

[grimlock3000]

My Bushy Nose Pleco has lost over half of his bristles since last night. I have no idea what happened, my water checks out OK, all other fish in the tank look good. The Pleco first went into my tank four days ago. The Plecos color looks like it lightened up a bit, and the fish only has the bristles in the center left over like a mohawk. What can I do for the fish? Can this happen naturally?

[ferret]

I don't know about the bristles, but a lot of plecos seem to adjust their color to their surroundings. I have two common plecos. The one in the darker tank is black. The one in the lighter tank is brown.

[Allivymar]

Okey dokey...I've heard of corys losing barbels, but never bristlenose/bushynose cats.

Is it possible that ill behaved Tetra went to town on the barbels? I figure its either that or bacterial infection, although thats a pretty quick loss if it is. I dunno..I'd isolate him and treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic; if its a bacterial infection if should help, and if its not, it should keep one from forming where the barbels are missing. Are there are any other marks on the fish? Are the areas where the barbels were red or swollen or ulcerated? How do the remaining barbels look? What sort of substrate is in the tank?

[lmw80]

I am going to add onto Alivymar's question about substrate. I know that with cory's barbels, you have to be careful about the substrate. Anything too sharp or pointy can cause them to lose their barbells. I don't know if this is something that happens over couple of days, or if it takes a while to happen.

[grimlock3000]

Well, this is pretty ****ed up. My fish looks better now color wise, and I really have no explanation for it, but it looks like his bristles that are left are braching out more. Maybe I just look at the fish too much and imagine things...

[img]ftp://207.5.155.117:1500/pleco.jpg[/img]

This pic shows the flat area better, he used to have smaller bristles in between the center, and the outer edge...

[img]ftp://207.5.155.117:1500/pleco2.jpg[/img]

[grimlock3000]

Better pic of the flat spot...

[img]ftp://207.5.155.117:1500/pleco3.jpg[/img]

You can see that the rocks should not be causing an issue since they are all smooth and large. I do not think the Tetra caused the damage. The Tetra has become the most calm fish in the tank and almost never goes into the bottom half of the tank where the Pleco spends its time.

My QT tank would be a totally uncycled 2.5g Mini Bow. I think the Pleco would produce enough waste in one day to cause water issues even if I changed the water all the time. If the Pleco gets worse, he will end up in the QT tank, but I am trying to avoid it if possible since I think he would be doomed and stressed in a tank that small. I need a cycled 10g tank with some snails or something in the future...

In other news... There are baby Cherry Barbs in my tank I do not suspect they will last long, but I am thinking they are a good sign that the water is OK.