Mysterious Deaths....

[671_bichir]

i have a 100 gallon tank

Filtration
Marineland penguin 350
Whisper Power filter 20 with a carbon bag
FLUVAL 3plus With a carbon bag
Elite802 air pump (wich by the way makes alot of noise so dont believe the "silent" BS ) w/ Air Curtain & Air Stone Attached

Fish
1 Pakistani Loach AKA YoYo Loach
1 Moon Light Gourami
3 Plain Ol Gouramis ( i have a few question about these later )
4 Tiger Barbs
i have 5 fish that i cant remember their names 2 are silver and just convulse all day and 3 are a red version of the afore mentioned fish but they are active
1 i'll call it a elephant nose eel cause thats what it looks like
1 bala shark i had two thats why i'm writing
2 angels
2 plecos one i've had for seven months one a recent purchase
and my favorite my BICHIR !


i recently purchased a very LARGE (i'll post pictures of him later if that helpswith my problem) pleco who my wife calls biggie
and since the purchase of biggie i've noticed a bunch of things

i had to wake up in the middle of the night because he was thrashing around in the tank and it sounded like the glass was going to shatter

my bichir has changed color from a beautiful golden color to a kinda brownish looking wich looks like crap !

the pleco i have had for a few months fins are getting ripped and torn

one of my bala sharks was just dead and it was fine all day with no signs of anything wrong

my fish dont have ich

i changed my water three days ago taking out 65 gallons of water

adding genesis de chlorinator one drop per gallon

and changing the carbon floss out from all my filters

why are my fish dying ?

is that **** pleco killing my fish and stressing out my bichir ?


i feed them a few times a day

a very small pinch of flakes every 7 hours or so

so over feeding is not a factor

and i dont know the ph levels in my tank


Can anyone help ?

 

[peaceablegarden]

Sorry for your losses. The first thing folks are gonna want to know are your water parameters. If you don't have one, purchase a good water test kit (API Master Kits are best). The strips are inaccurate. Having that information will make helping you easier.

 

[robott]

if the pleco is really big, you might think about feeding it algae Wafers, or veggies, like cucumbers. maybe it's hungry.

 

[Dano01]

peaceablegarden has given you the best means to finding what is going on....Get the good quality liquid type test kits and post all of the results.....It appears that you have a water quality issue.

 

[671_bichir]

if the pleco is really big, you might think about feeding it algae Wafers, or veggies, like cucumbers. maybe it's hungry.

if i do remeber correctly if you feed your pleco cucumbers
someting about them being poisonous ?

 

[671_bichir]

peaceablegarden has given you the best means to finding what is going on....Get the good quality liquid type test kits and post all of the results.....It appears that you have a water quality issue.

im looking into that
and i will post the ph levels when i do purchase as test kit

thanks everyone !

 

[robott]

if i do remeber correctly if you feed your pleco cucumbers
someting about them being poisonous ?

i've never read that, or killed any fish. at least not With veggies

 

[671_bichir]

i found this online

"Pleco's have poison dorsals and pectorals, something like a bullhead. They can spine you and cause some difficulty so be careful handling them.
I don;t think that the goldfish waste will kill the pleco however as goldfish are pretty good at dirtin' things up some extra tank maintance would be a good habit to get into.
regular water changes will do the trick.
If you need more help, just ask. "

Freshwater Aquarium: Plecostomus, goldfish tank, good habit

i just read it wrong

 

[missileman]

Cucumber will not hurt plecos but mine really don't like them.
They love zuchini/corgette, de-shelled peas, asparagus and even button head mushrooms (in fact I think I will feed them some shrooms tonight)
The funny thing is, most of the other fish in the tank will nibble at the veggies as well.
My bala sharks seem to be fond of the peas.

 

[robott]

i just fed guys some cucumber last night. yaaaay.

 

[Nyquil Junkie]

I have a large (@ 11") pleco. He mostly sleeps all day BUT....

They get hungry. when he gets hungry he will make it his mission for the night to trash the tank, rooting in the sand, tearing out plants he doesnt like. if that doesnt get him some algae wafers on demand, he will start to take splashing runs at the water surface.

He get pretty p!ssed.

If I feed him 3 or 4 discs a night or keep a carrot in there for him to suck on, he's calm.

I wonder how poached pleco tastes with butter and lemon juice..