I cant find my pleco.

[pettygil]

I took everything out of the tank and looked under the sand, no pleco. i looked on and in the filter. I looked on the floor, still no pleco. He went missing after I cleaned the tank. Should I wait and see if pleco comes back? I read they hide well. I agree. lol

 

[Andy Sager]

They can get into all kinds of weird places so just make sure you put everything back into the tank so it can come out when it feels like it. In the future, unless you see the pleco in the tank, place the items you remove for cleaning in a bucket of water so that the pleco does not get over exposed to lack of oxygen. Also, unless you know the fish is not hiding in a decoration, do not rinse them in hot water.

 

[pettygil]

I clean the sand in the tank and did a water change, after my pleco hid somewhere. I did put all the plants back in the tank. I did not rinse anything off. my water is very cloddy, cause I use sand as substrate.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Dont you have a cat?

 

[Andy Sager]

I clean the sand in the tank and did a water change, after my pleco hid somewhere. I did put all the plants back in the tank. I did not rinse anything off. my water is very cloddy, cause I use sand as substrate.

It will settle. Just make sure you rinse off your filter material AFTER the water clears so help get the gunk out of the system.

 

[pettygil]

Dont you have a cat?

I have a cat, that is why i have a lid for all my tanks. I still have not found my pleco and he is aways out.

 

[Andy Sager]

I have a cat, that is why i have a lid for all my tanks. I still have not found my pleco and he is aways out.

While you can't rule out a cat snack as a possibility, Plecos are good hiders and do so when stressed so I wouldn't panic just yet. Best is to stay away for the tank and let it settle to see if he will come back out again. Periodically check the tank throughout the day and after lights out looking for him.
Another trick is to take a slice of zucchini skin and put it in the tank. You can use a clip or just use a rock or some weight to keep it in one place. If he's still in there, you should see scrape marks on it in the next few days. If no marks after a few days, you are going to have to ask Felix ( remember Felix the cat cartoons? ) what he did with the fish.

 

[pettygil]

I still have not found my pleco, even at night .I do not see him, i turn the tank lights off at 10:30 pm
And not in the night either. What should I do? I have a lid on-top of my tank, so cat cant eat it.

 

[Andy Sager]

I still have not found my pleco, even at night .I do not see him, i turn the tank lights off at 10:30 pm
And not in the night either. What should I do? I have a lid on-top of my tank, so cat cant eat it.

Try the slice of zucchini skin to see if you are just missing him when he's out. If you don't see any scrapes in 2 or 3 days, I'd say he's not in the tank. Maybe he got out? Maybe he died and disintegrated into the filter. Maybe he's stuck in the filter ( have you checked that? ) . Plecos don't usually go more than a day or two without eating when they are healthy.

 

[oPleco]

I had a pleco a long time ago, and he jumped out of the small filter hole in my fish tank. I was so upset.

 

[pettygil]

Try the slice of zucchini skin to see if you are just missing him when he's out. If you don't see any scrapes in 2 or 3 days, I'd say he's not in the tank. Maybe he got out? Maybe he died and disintegrated into the filter. Maybe he's stuck in the filter ( have you checked that? ) . Plecos don't usually go more than a day or two without eating when they are healthy.

I looked in the filter and not there. I looked on the floor, not there. I took all my fake plants out and not there. It happened when I did a water change using the hose, which I looked into. I looked in the fish bucket and not there.

 

[Andy Sager]

I looked in the filter and not there. I looked on the floor, not there. I took all my fake plants out and not there. It happened when I did a water change using the hose, which I looked into. I looked in the fish bucket and not there.

Unfortunately, having another animal like a cat or dog means that they could have taken the fish off the floor and placed it elsewhere ( including possibly their stomachs. ) The only way I know to be sure if the fish is in the tank is to set out a food trap and if there is no sign of the food being eaten, the fish is either dead in the tank or not in the tank. With plecos, their scrapes are very obvious so even if there were snails or other veggie eaters in the tank, a pleco mouth makes an obvious mark.

 

[pettygil]

Pleco found dead under a big ornament. I felt so bad. Something just was not right, so I figure look under big ornament, sure enough was under it. my whole fish tank stinks and all the sand is black. I feel so bad about this. How do I get rid of black stuff all over my sand. I took a hose but it did not get rid of all the black stuff.

 

[Andy Sager]

Pleco found dead under a big ornament. I felt so bad. Something just was not right, so I figure look under big ornament, sure enough was under it. my whole fish tank stinks and all the sand is black. I feel so bad about this. How do I get rid of black stuff all over my sand. I took a hose but it did not get rid of all the black stuff.

That's going to take a few go overs with a hose. I suggest doing that when you do water changes. What you can do is use a smaller diameter hose so that the water flows more slowly and when the hose is in an area, use a stick to stir up that area and the black stuff should get sucked up in the hose.
Another option is to suck up small areas of the blackened sand with a hose and rinse it off in the sink or outside so that you remove the black stuff. If the darkened sand does not clean up, I'd just remove it and replace with new sand. If you do this, do not replace all the sand at one time. Just skim off the top darkened layer and do no more than 1/4 of the tank every few days so that you do not destroy too much of your biological filter.

As for the smell in the aquarium, you can either add a bag of carbon/ chemi-pure or purigen to the filter if doing water changes does not remove the odor.

Out of curiosity, was this ornament something that you took out of the tank when you cleaned the tank?