I'm afraid my pleco is very sick, please help!

[ricktavious]

My BN pleco has been acting odd the last few days. Very inactive, but he was eating a bit of an apple the other day so I figured he was just being relaxed. A couple days ago, I put in a cucumber (his favorite) but he did not eat it at all. Found this very odd. Did a water change today, he was laying in the tank upside down. I thought for sure he was dead, but when I was scooping him out, he started moving around quite a bit. Did a large water change, vitamins, etc in the tank. No clue what to do. Poor guy is just a year old and I feel horrible....what can I do to help him

[ricktavious]

He's dead I wish I knew why, I feel horrible.

[grokefish]

Aw that sucks.
How long did you have him?
How long have you been keeping fish?

Matt

[ricktavious]

Aw that sucks.
How long did you have him?
How long have you been keeping fish?

Matt

Had him 9 months, keeping fish for 2+ years.

[DJ-don]

that happened to my small bn catfish's too 3 times! did have a sunk belly? what was the body shape like? did it have some weird things apperaing on its skin and such? what other catfish's did u keep with it?

[ricktavious]

Hey, first I was off on my dates...had him almost two years (time flies....). As for the shape he was in when I took him out, he appeared to have no signs of injury, did not notice a sunken belly or anything. Only thing I noticed was his face was a bit slimy unlike the rest of his body. Could he have been sick and I did not know it?

[DJ-don]

maybe his immune system was infected because a fish' slime coat is literally its immune system. if the whole body wasn't coated, maybe it died of a small infection
im not an expert though you should get advice like MatsP to be more sure

[L number Banana]

Yup that does suck, sorry to hear about your little guy.

How's the others doing? I'd check the water readings just to be sure nothing weird is happening. Also, I have no idea what may have happened and I'm certainly no expert but I'm okay at tracking down other issues so check these things as well:
Anyone using aerosol sprays or cleaners in the area?
Anyone using paint?
Did the city do anything different that week - if you're using city water.
Any new decor?
Any new fish?
New food?
Any power outages that may have caused a drop in temp or some other bit of weirdness?

If your other fish are okay, readings okay and there's none of the above, I'll be stumped too. Maybe someone else has ideas?

[MatsP]

First of all, sorry for your loss.

It is very hard to figure out why fish dies except with the most obvious illnesses, and even more so if you can't actually see the fish itself.

Bristlenoses are in general pretty hardy fish - but they aren't immortal. The most common cause of death is internal bacterial infection, which makes them have a bloated stomach, which is generally caused by too much protein in the diet and not enough protein. That's not to say that is the reason your died, it's just my experience that this is the most common (including the ones I've accidentally killed).

Aside from what L-number banana already asked: What have you been feeding it, aside from cucumber and apple?

--
Mats

[ricktavious]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses:

Banana:
No other tank mates for him, so N/A on that.

I did move around a month ago, but he had been fine until right before he passed, so he had been exposed to new water conditions relatively recently. Cucumbers were always his favorites so he would get those the most. Also, recently, the apple and some canteloupe. Algae wafers too. His stomach and body really, to my (very) untrained eye, looked like he always had. The nitrate level was at 5-10. Amonia and nitrites at 0.

He was a really fun guy, so another BN pleco would be in my future plans, but I want to try to make sure if I did something wrong I can fix it before getting another

[DJ-don]

but do you have any idea how old it was though? it could have just been old age................

[ricktavious]

but do you have any idea how old it was though? it could have just been old age................

I got him less than 2 years ago. I am guessing he was pretty young then because he hadn't even grown his bristles in much at all.