I need some help with a pleco that doesn't appear to be eating.
I had the pleco shipped overnight monday evening, I received the fish tuesday morning by 10am. I immediately left work and took it home and had it in the bucket being drip acclimated by about 1030. I came home at lunch (12) emptied half the water in the bucket and drip acclimated for another hour. I then netted the fish and placed it in my 55gal. It immediately went behind a rock structure and didnt see it until Wednesday. I did not immediately feed because I assumed it wouldn't eat from the stress. When i saw it wed i noticed the eyes were sunken (AHOH!). I gently forced it from the rocks onto the glass so i could get a look at the belly. To me, it appeared flat, not sunken or full. I took some pictures at that point of the eyes and belly.
here are high res pics:
http://imageshack.us/a/img194/4143/img1339ml.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img94/2162/img1336jy.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img201/5557/img1337b.jpg
I tested my water next. temp:78 ph7.6-7.8 ammo-0 nitirte-0 nitrate10-20ppm.
At that point i contacted the seller, he advised me to turn the temp up to 84 and told me the fish were eating Xtreme and Cobalt wafers at his facility. I ran around town but couldnt find either of those. I did buy what my LFS suggested, and ordered the extreme wafers off amazon and will be here today. The wafers from the LFS were ignored. I have also tried frozen bloodworms and shrimp pellets but nothing seems to be eaten. Ive even crushed up garlic and soaked the food.
Yesterday I went to the extreme and removed all other fish from the tank turned the lights off and covered the tank for minimal light. It does get more active at night when its really dark but the food still doesnt look like its being eaten. I also have not seen any poop, but it does stir the sand up quite a bit
I have been doing small PWC's everyday because my tap has ~1ppm ammo right now so I cant really do a large change. I do also have driftwood available in the tank
is there anything else i can do to entice appetite or reduce the stress even more? Im afraid his digestive system has shut down though and its too late
I had the pleco shipped overnight monday evening, I received the fish tuesday morning by 10am. I immediately left work and took it home and had it in the bucket being drip acclimated by about 1030. I came home at lunch (12) emptied half the water in the bucket and drip acclimated for another hour. I then netted the fish and placed it in my 55gal. It immediately went behind a rock structure and didnt see it until Wednesday. I did not immediately feed because I assumed it wouldn't eat from the stress. When i saw it wed i noticed the eyes were sunken (AHOH!). I gently forced it from the rocks onto the glass so i could get a look at the belly. To me, it appeared flat, not sunken or full. I took some pictures at that point of the eyes and belly.
here are high res pics:
http://imageshack.us/a/img194/4143/img1339ml.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img94/2162/img1336jy.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img201/5557/img1337b.jpg
I tested my water next. temp:78 ph7.6-7.8 ammo-0 nitirte-0 nitrate10-20ppm.
At that point i contacted the seller, he advised me to turn the temp up to 84 and told me the fish were eating Xtreme and Cobalt wafers at his facility. I ran around town but couldnt find either of those. I did buy what my LFS suggested, and ordered the extreme wafers off amazon and will be here today. The wafers from the LFS were ignored. I have also tried frozen bloodworms and shrimp pellets but nothing seems to be eaten. Ive even crushed up garlic and soaked the food.
Yesterday I went to the extreme and removed all other fish from the tank turned the lights off and covered the tank for minimal light. It does get more active at night when its really dark but the food still doesnt look like its being eaten. I also have not seen any poop, but it does stir the sand up quite a bit
I have been doing small PWC's everyday because my tap has ~1ppm ammo right now so I cant really do a large change. I do also have driftwood available in the tank
is there anything else i can do to entice appetite or reduce the stress even more? Im afraid his digestive system has shut down though and its too late