Poorly pleco.

[Lexy Lyes]

Hello everyone I'm new to AA and fairly new to fish keeping. And so I have a couple of questions first of which is, what type of pleco is it? And secondly what's wrong with it?

Here's a few stats;
The tank is a 12 gallon.
Nitrate is 0
Nitrite is 0
GH is 16 ish
PH is 7.2
And it's 26 degrees Celsius

Thanks in advance for reading and here's a picture.

 

[daveho]

whats your amonia reading? not to sure what type its hard to tell from the pic. what makes u think theres something wrong? also he will out groe a 12g...

 

[GNarnian]

It looks like a poorly colored common pleco. Those guys can get very large. Somewhere in the 18inch range. He will grow out of your tank very fast, and will probably need a 55 gallon tank before summer of next year.

I agree with the above statement. What is your ammonia reading? Also, what other fish do you have with this guy?

Did you buy him from a local fish store?

 

[Lexy Lyes]

It looks like a poorly colored common pleco. Those guys can get very large. Somewhere in the 18inch range. He will grow out of your tank very fast, and will probably need a 55 gallon tank before summer of next year.

I agree with the above statement. What is your ammonia reading? Also, what other fish do you have with this guy?

Did you buy him from a local fish store?

Heya sorry late reply, the ammonia is 0. As for the pleco he was from a LFS and his tank mates are as follows.

6 x ray tetra
6 rosey barbs
2 swordtails (male and female)
2 clown loaches
2 bronze corys
1 guppie (waiting for new home- long story)
And of course the pleco himself.

The plan is my wife and I are buying each other a sixty gallon as a Christmas present. So the loaches and pleco will be moving house to there. Also about the pleco's colour, is it a problem. Thank you very much for the advice.

 

[Wiggles24]

If both hour nitrite and nitrate are zero are you sure your tank is cycled?

 

[Lexy Lyes]

If both hour nitrite and nitrate are zero are you sure your tank is cycled?

Haha my bad. The tank has been running for several months now. The nitrate is about 15 and the nitrite is about 1. None of my readings are the most accurate in the world as I use tetra 6 in 1 strips for the most part and a liquid test for the ammonia.

 

[Wiggles24]

You should really get the liquid to test for all. The 1 sounds high

 

[daveho]

Also plecos change colour quite alot

 

[Oceangirl]

Nitrite sound be 0 in a cycled tank with an even stock (not overstocked), Nitrite is harmful and will lead to health problems. Please do a large water change until your level reaches 0.

 

[Ljk09]

Nitrite sound be 0 in a cycled tank with an even stock (not overstocked), Nitrite is harmful and will lead to health problems. Please do a large water change until your level reaches 0.

Doesn't sound cycled to me either. Your ammonia and nitrite should be 0 with a low amount of nitrate.

 

[Lexy Lyes]

Did a water change and the nitrite levels are now 0. Thank you all for advice, also I shall be buying some liquid test kits soon.

Also here is a couple more pictures of my pleco. Again cheers muchly for the help all