PLECO issue

by Sandman1969 Fri Nov 07, 2014 5:58 am

Last night, my female pleco was fine, nice & black.
Get home this morning & she looks like this;

Any ideas??? Tank was just filled this past weekend.
Will be doing a water change later today as I am also re-setting up the other large tank today.

by Sandman1969 Fri Nov 07, 2014 4:38 pm

Ok nevermind. It seems she is starving herself to death. At this point, I do not know if she is alive or not as she only moves randomly.
I thought I would have gotten a reply by now by someone in the know.

She lived about 20yrs only to be starved to death.....even with food in her face.....

by caoder Fri Nov 07, 2014 7:50 pm

check your ammonia levels. Looks like possible ammonia burns. Or bacterial infection.

by GaryE Fri Nov 07, 2014 8:07 pm

Bacterial infection, from the looks of it. Loracarids have those armour plates that tend to hide internal problems until too late. At this stage, she probably is too sick to eat anymore.

by **CAAIndie** Fri Nov 07, 2014 9:35 pm

Leaning the same as Caoder and GaryE. She could have already been fighting the infection, and the stress of the move may have put her over the edge. Was it completely and full cycled? It's a big fish, and it would need a huge tank with a well established biological filter to handle it, otherwise you'll end up with ammonia spikes. The ammonia itself is so toxic, so even if doesn't burn the fish, it's going to stress it. Stress and immune systems, not good.

Sorry to see this Sandman.

My only advice is massive water changes, not one but many.

by Sandman1969 Sat Nov 08, 2014 5:37 am

Tank with that large filter had been running for a good year solid. Every other fish in the tank was and still is fine. They all eat like pigs as always.
I had also been treating some other wounds with melafix.The tank water is only a week old.
Thursday night she was fine. Saw it Friday morning when I got home.

Now, on a side note, I did find a brown cigarette filter laying on the gravel. I do not smoke & my fiance's smokes have the white filter.

My other tank was filled last night with the filters running and will be home to the koi & goldfish.

by GaryE Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:11 am

Nicotine is a central nervous system poison for fish - if a cigarette had been the source, the entire tank would have died quickly.

by Sandman1969 Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:16 am

As I mentioned, all the other fish look fine & are eating fine. It was only the female pleco.
She was a really finicky eater as well. Would not touch food right in front of her.

by Dan_R Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:29 am

20 years old? How long do they live?
I'm surprised I don't see a white beard. I hope it perks up for you, it's as old as my youngest.

by Sandman1969 Sat Nov 08, 2014 7:49 am

She died last night, basically in my hands. I took an emotional hit last night.

by Starfish Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:03 am

So sorry you lost her. After 20 years I am sure she will be missed. Sad

by Sandman1969 Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:06 am

We had her less than a year. She was dumped at Big Al's earlier this year & I took her in. She was abused by other fish wherever she was as her dorsal was mis-shaped etc.

by Starfish Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:19 am

That's sad she had a tough life. At least she ended in your good care in the end, and it may not have been anything you did wrong. Maybe it was just age? I looked up how long they live and got quite a range of answers, from 10 - 30. Maybe the stress of her life before you got her shortened the expectancy of her life.

by Sandman1969 Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:20 am

It came up fast. She seemed fine until yesterday morning.

by Starfish Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:26 am

Because of the stresses in life and her age, any little thing could have been the cause that affected her quickly and not the other fish (possibly the move?). Similar to elderly patients in a hospital where a small virus or stress can cause serious illness, perhaps death, while having no effect on a healthy, adult in their prime. This may or not be the case, just a possibility.

by Dan_R Sat Nov 08, 2014 1:10 pm

I'm very sorry for your loss.

by Sandman1969 Sun Nov 09, 2014 6:27 am

Thanks guys.

New ponder.

My male pleco that we have had for a few years is now doing something he has never done before.
I use a white plastic type of Y pipe for his cave. It usually sits in the middle of the tanks against the back glass.
Since the female pleco died, he has moved the cave down the length of the tank about 2 feet. Sometimes he tries to get under it.
Any ideas on why?

by Starfish Sun Nov 09, 2014 6:52 pm

Maybe he is trying to redecorate. Or maybe he misses her. It is interesting behaviour.

by GaryE Mon Nov 10, 2014 4:15 am

There was probably a division of the tank going on, and now that he's alone, he is free to aquascape as he pleases, and to expand his territory.

by l_l_l Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:15 am

Sorry for your loss! Sad

I think your pleco didn't like the layout and is currently redocrating.

by Sandman1969 Mon Nov 10, 2014 4:49 pm

Gary, he was "alone" prior over the last few years and never did it before now.
I moved the cave back & just noticed that he did move it again.

by GaryE Tue Nov 11, 2014 4:02 am

So he is just moving stuff. Cichlids do it a lot, if they are large enough. Who knows what his agenda is, but he has one.
He's a territorial fish that likes to stay in one place. It could be that there is more flow or more oxygen where he is moving it to, or a better view.
As well, even if he lived alone, he shared the space while the other one was living, right? So there's a good chance that in his world view, he wants to get the set-up to what he likes, with no other fish pushing back. The female would have had her own territory, and now it is all his.

by Suprd71 Tue Nov 11, 2014 6:09 am

Sorry for the loss Sandman. At 20 or so yrs, she did very well. I also have a couple of large plecs and they try to move things, make gravel piles etc. Quite normal for them.

by Sandman1969 Tue Nov 11, 2014 7:42 am

I have seen him burrow before, but that was back a few years ago now.
Big Al's has an even bigger pleco there now. Will post a pic once I can get it off my iphone.

by GaryE Tue Nov 11, 2014 2:27 pm

I saw a bunch in Florida that some idiots had released in the wild. They can destroy a native fish habitat. This was a good sized one - It was a solid 18 inches minimum. There were some that must have weighed a couple of pounds, and seemed larger. It's always hard to judge through the water surface, but these were big fish. They had completely transformed a river, let alone moved a pipe/cave!