Pleco needs help!

[DeirdreHoyle]

My pleco started having issues last night after I did a water change. I noticed he was a little pale, but I didn't think much of it. I did a water change and the PH was normal around 6.8. Last night though I noticed he was swimming very quickly up and down the walls of the tank and looking uncomfortable. This morning I came out and checked on him and his fins are all ripped up, and I highly doubt it is because of his fish partners. Is this because of bad water? How do I help him? He is in a 5.5 gal right now (I know, too small) with a beta fish and before he was in a 40 gal with an angel fish. He has lived with both with no problems all of a sudden he is freaking out please help me! What do I do?

 

[bob mccoy]

how often are u doing water changes . it should be weekly. i doubt that is what it is or the angels would be sick. only thing that comes to mind is melafix to see if it helps him heal up

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

how often are u doing water changes . it should be weekly. i doubt that is what it is or the angels would be sick. only thing that comes to mind is melafix to see if it helps him heal up

Yeah that's the thing, none of the other fish are sick. He is really sick, doesn't look like he's eating really. I don't know what to do to help him. I Will go get some melafix. Thanks

 

[Canary bird]

Maybe he just had a bit of a panic, have you fed him cooked veggies ? Mine goes crazy for steamed broccoli stem , or cucumber sliced in half so he can get at the soft bit maybe he's just hungry , I know when mine goes on the glass he's hungry, I also feed him 3 wafers a day, his favourite are shrimp, and I bought some high protein sinking pellets he likes them too... Big fish = big appetite = big poop

Hope he's ok

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Yeah I think he is very hungry, I dropped an algae wafer in the tank before I left for work so hopefully he is eating it. I will try some soft vegetables, thanks

 

[Canary bird]

Yeah I think he is very hungry, I dropped an algae wafer in the tank before I left for work so hopefully he is eating it. I will try some soft vegetables, thanks

Try some shrimp wafers too if you can get them, mine prefers them to the algae wafers, he prefers veggies than any wafer

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Try some shrimp wafers too if you can get them, mine prefers them to the algae wafers, he prefers veggies than any wafer

Ok I will look for those. Thank you, he looked really bad when I left for work this morning and I am really worried about him. Hopefully it's just hunger and I can feed him some veggies and he'll be fine.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Just an update, he seems to be feeling a little better. Stayed on the wall behind the filter tube pretty much all day but has stopped spastically swimming all over. He even got up and started moving around the tank like normal, and he ate some of the cucumber I put in the tank! Yay! Just wondering, I boiled two slices of cucumber for about a minute, is that how long you do it for? Should I do it for longer? Also, do you cook the broccoli before you give it to your pleco?

 

[Canary bird]

I don't cook the cucumber he's ok with it as it is, just half it so he can get to the middle bit ,and the broccoli stem yes cook it until it's soft enough for us to eat don't put the florets in it makes a right mess , trust me been there done it lol...

Hope he's ok, it probably was a sign to say "feed me more" ..

Please keep me updated , I love my Pleco he's so cool

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

I don't cook the cucumber he's ok with it as it is, just half it so he can get to the middle bit ,and the broccoli stem yes cook it until it's soft enough for us to eat don't put the florets in it makes a right mess , trust me been there done it lol...

Hope he's ok, it probably was a sign to say "feed me more" ..

Please keep me updated , I love my Pleco he's so cool

Thanks for all the info! I boil the cucumber slices because I feel like he can eat them more easily when they're soft. And I was wondering about putting the florets in! Glad you tested it out so I don't have to Turns out I have really high ammonia levels in my water so I think that is what originally freaked him out. He is doing much better now though and I love watching him eat cucumbers lol. Any tips on keeping down ammonia and nitrite levels?

 

[Canary bird]

Regular water changes, I do 2 X 50% water changes every week! last week the nitrates were a little high so I did 50% every other day , worked a treat , so now my levels are back down I do Wednesday and Saturday 50% ,which is hard work as I use reverse osmosis water and it takes ages to store enough , plecos have a huge bio load and need big spaces and regular water changes, I have to say my ammonia is always bang on 0 .

Mine had a big chunk of cucumber last night and all that was left was the skin , I slice it length ways in half and thread onto his screwcumber ( bought off eBay) .. Much better than broccoli as it doesn't stink but his favourite is broccoli ..

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Regular water changes, I do 2 X 50% water changes every week! last week the nitrates were a little high so I did 50% every other day , worked a treat , so now my levels are back down I do Wednesday and Saturday 50% ,which is hard work as I use reverse osmosis water and it takes ages to store enough , plecos have a huge bio load and need big spaces and regular water changes, I have to say my ammonia is always bang on 0 .

Mine had a big chunk of cucumber last night and all that was left was the skin , I slice it length ways in half and thread onto his screwcumber ( bought off eBay) .. Much better than broccoli as it doesn't stink but his favourite is broccoli ..

Ok thanks, I've been doing 20% every day for the last 3 days and using a water conditioner. And so far my pleco hasn't touched the broccoli stem but he looves cucumber slices! I cut them width-wise into little circles and drop them in.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Also what is reverse osmosis? I just scoop water out and dump tap water back in and use a tap water conditioner.

 

[Canary bird]

I live in Tenerife the tap water here is un usable , even with conditioner, reverse osmosis filters micro particles and chemicals out of the water so it's suitable for drinking, it's much better than bottled water, it's all I have used with my tanks for years and everyone is very happy

 

[rmiller]

For folks like Canary bird, it's a must. I believe it's a must for salt water tanks as well. For someone who has decent to good quality tap water it's not necessary.