Sick L-114s

[Linus_Cello]

Hi-
I woke up this morning and saw that 2 of my new L-114s I got on 1/14 (overnight shipped) seem to have some kind of fungal growth on them (see base of tail). One of the ones that doesn't seem to be doing well seems to be breathing quite heavy (lesser fungal growth, though seems paler in color than the one in the picture). I have upped the temp from 78 to 82 if it is some protazoan, as was suggested in another post (something seems to be in the water with all the sick plecos). I'm guessing they're stressed from being shipped. The other two new L-114s seem to be doing ok. All of them are in my 15 gallon quarrantine tank.

Water parameters: ph 7, hardness about 100 ppm, sorry no ammonia levels to report. I have been doing 20% water changes twice per week. I have some methylene blue that I can use to treat them. Another post (on monsterfishkeepers) suggested metronidazole for another sick pleco. Or should I use perhaps salt? I'm going to do a water change now.

I have been feeding them blackwarms, NLS sinking 3 mm pellets, earthworm sticks, and hikari tablets.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Note: I tried to upload a picture, but it's too big (almost 700 kb). How do I compress the file so I can upload it? In the meantime, here's a link to the picture on monsterfishkeepers: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... ost3819144

[MatsP]

There is absolutely no harm in treating with a antiparasitic mix of Metrondiazole, Praziquantel and Flubendazole. I believe "Jungle" brand does sell a antiparasitic treatment that contains all three in one. These medications are very much harmless if there is no parasites in the fish, and certainly helps if there are parasites.

It is not unusual for plecos to have small numbers of parasites, and when they get stressed (e.g. shipped), these overpower the immune system. Get rid of the parasites, and the fish should get better (if it's not too late).

--
Mats

[MatsP]

For a number of reasons [1], I'm replying to the PM here.

I can't see much in the photo you posted the link to, but if you are convinced it a fungal infection, sure go treat with meth blue or similar.

[1] The two main reasons are:
1. If I'm wrong, someone else will put me right - and I'm wrong every now and again.
2. Others wanting to learn can see this post and learn something.
In case of private message, that's both of these things fall apart - and I've previously come up with about 8 different reasons for why the public forum is better than a PM (one is that you may actually get a quicker answer, because someone ELSE sees the post).

--
Mats

[Linus_Cello]

I just got back from my local Petco. I bought both Melafix and Pimafix. The latter is for fungus (someone on another forum suggested Melafix, so I bought both); unfortunately they did not have metranizadole or API general cure. The Petco person said that it should be ok to use both of them at the same time. I'm thinking of just using Pimafix first. Anyone have other thoughts?

Someone else who has gotten plecos from this vendor told me that it's some kind of velvet/ich, and this occasionally happens as they are wild caught from south america. I do also have some organic ich attack by Kordon, which is supposedly also good for bacteria and fungus; should I use this instead?

[zerojquan85]

I guess ur as much of a fan as i am huh Cello? nice to see you on here.. lol