sick pleco/10 gallon troubles

[SeymourFRESH]

alright, in my 10 gallon right now i have a baby bristlenose pleco (about 1.5" at the most). he has tail rot right now, so i've been treating with melafix and pimafix. his tail looks like it's getting better, but the fish looks like it's really stressed. it's been doing practically nothing but hanging out by the airstone for the past 2 days, and my water paremeters are fine.

ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5

but i'm thinking something's wrong with this tank. it seems impossible to keep the tank clean, though regular water changes have been done. before i had a cory cat fry and 3 ghost shrimp. the ghost shrimp died off, one by one, and the cory cat started to grow and get big, but recently just died out of nowhere. i have no idea what's wrong here, but it's not good!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Are you running adequate filtration on the tank? What is the pH? Temperature? Does it flucuate at all? Try doing a large water change and see if he perks up. If the tail is on the road to recovery, just clean water may work for now.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

Are you running adequate filtration on the tank? What is the pH? Temperature? Does it flucuate at all? Try doing a large water change and see if he perks up. If the tail is on the road to recovery, just clean water may work for now.

well, i'm sure my filter is alright, it's just a HOB filter. i could add another one i suppose. i've done another water change and i checked the pH today and it was 7.0. i checked it later it was the same. temperature is kept at a steady 79 degrees. no fluctuation as far as i know

maybe i should get an additional or a more powerful filter keep it more clean perhaps. i have the carbon out now since i'm trreating with melafix and pimafix...other than that, today i just noticed the pleco's dorsal fin was rotting too...i'm not sure what i should do

i guess i'll keep doing what i have been for now and see what happens

 

[SeymourFRESH]

well this is just great. i re-checked my pH of the same water today before i did a water change and it was 7.2

i guess it could be fluctuating...what would cause this though?

 

[SeymourFRESH]

well, his tail and dorsal fin started looking a little better and he perked up, but now his tail looks pretty bad again, and i'm already done with the melafix treatment

now i've discovered tiny little worms in the tank, but they do not look like those white flatworms caused from overfeeding...i'm not sure what they were

i've been thinking about just moving him to another tank, because he poops everywhere and so much that i can not keep that tank clean at all, so do you guys think he'd be better if i got him in a bigger tank?