pleco shedding skin/slime?!

[pickles4601]

I have a 8 inch common plece that appears to be shedding his skin/slime. He usually is out and about but today he was hiding in a pipe. When he camo out at feeding time i saw what appears to be whiteish skin/slime peeling off of him. He swam around and seemed unphased by this. Ill try to take a picture and upload it. Its a bit rough to get a good one with the glass.

[pickles4601]

just finished a 1/3 water change. 100 Gallon tank.... thats a lot of trips with my bucket. i also noticed my hoplo has a tiny spot on his "snout". Couldnt get a good pic of Plec. Hes too fast and has too many places to hide. The skin under the peeling slime looks fine. Just white slime coming off.

[andywoolloo]

what are your water parameters? A NI NA PH Temp , is the tank done cycling or newly set up?

a 100 gal tank and buckets? You need a python! life savers if you ask me!

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=3910

[MatsP]

I'd hazard a guess at Oodinium - but I could well be wrong. It's best to figure out what the illness is first, then medicate, so try to get some photos or such.

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Mats

[pickles4601]

Went to the basement to check on them today and plec. seems fine. No evidence if slime/skin peeling off. Here are 2 pictures from last night.Sorry for the low quality pix. The white spots are from the glass/water. the one in the pipe you can see on the tail area and the dorsal shot a large white patch is visible. Any tips on taking pictures of fish in a tank?
also just for fun what type of plec. does he appear to be? A friend gave him to me a few months ago.

[MatsP]

Looks like a scuff/burn - should heal, but bear in mind that it was caused by someone/something - heater burn, scuffing against some sharp edge or such, or heater burn.

As to the ID, I'd say it's a

Pterygoplichthys

- possibly

Pterygoplichthys joselimaianus

.

--
Mats

[pickles4601]

i does kinda look like heater burn but i have a shield around my heater. Could it be from fighting with the 8 inch suncat? He sometimes grabs at the plec. when the food is around.

[MatsP]

I wouldn't have thought it was from a non-pleco type fight - more likely a scuff from rubbing against something - and this fish looks big enough (I'm guessing around 6-8") that I'd expect it to withstand a 8" suncat with little damage. It's of course possible that it's tried to get into a "too small hole" or some other "trying to escape" type of damage.

--
Mats

[pickles4601]

quite possible, that pipe he is in has a rough edge.
what kind of plec is he btw?

[MatsP]

In an earlier post:

As to the ID, I'd say it's a

Pterygoplichthys

- possibly

Pterygoplichthys joselimaianus

.

--
Mats