are there any physical signs of a helthy/ not healthy pleco?

[Dimitri146]

my tanks amonia and nitrate was through the roof a week or so ago and i was worried that my fish and my new gold nugget pleco would not do to well (especially the pleco). well after siphoning the take about a gallon a day for the last 4 or 5 day things seem to be looking up. the pleco seems to finally be moving more (he was just sitting in the corner the last 4 days) and he even sems to be grazing every now and then on the piece of driftwood i put in there. hopefully he makes his way to the rest of the tank sometime soon, it needs it anyhow is there any way to tell if he is actually healthy? like should his fins look a certain way or anything? his color has gone a little bit. and should i wait to put some cucumber in there until he cleans the tank? thanks.

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

check to see if his belly is thick enough not to see his insides, the first and most common thing to happen to a pleco is die of starvation.

 

[William]

How big is your tank?

 

[Devilishturtles]

When you say can you see his insides, do you mean his bones...? My pleco seems really "skinny" sorta and when you look at him you can see his ribs.. I feed like 5-6 algae wafers every 2-3 days for my corys and for him, but he still looks skinny. Is there something else that he can eat beside wafers? What is this I hear about cucumbers? Sorry to post my own question in the thread , but I also am curious. Thanks!

 

[Dino]

Generally the first sign of plecs having problems is a sunken in belly.
No matter how bad I want it, I will never buy a plec with a sunken belly.

Many veggies can be fed to plecos once they are blanched.
That is, placed in boiling water for about a minute to break down some of the tissue so that they sink.
I use carrots, cucumbers, various greens, like mustard greens and kale, brocholi, and some fruits, mostly apple.

Fruits are used sparingly as they increase the amount of sugar in the water, which can lead to a higher bacteria count.

best,
dino

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

Zuccini is a excellent treat for them at least once a month that gets them really plumpy and they go crazy for it. Also make sure that when you are feeding them, that at least one of those feedings are when the lights are off to minimize the agression with the non-nocturnal fish.

 

[Allivymar]

Best place to check if a plec is underfed is to check behind the eyes. If the area on the head behind the eyes is sunken, the fish has been seriously malnourished; apparently they store fat back there, and of course if its sunken they have been using those reserves.

If you add the cuke (which would prob be a good thing; no way to know how well a lfs plec has been eating, or how long they were in shipping and not fed); do be sure to remove it within 12 hours or so to keep from spiking nitrogenous waste again.

 

[jratuszn]

When I add veggies, my fish won't touch them for at least a day. And that's after I take them out of the freezer, nuke em in the microwave, and let them cool.

-J