My common pleco

michelle7 · Post by **michelle7** » 29 Mar 2004, 19:14

Hi all... I am seriously dumbstruck right now. I have a 30 gal tank that is (or rather was) home to a 6 1/2" common pleco and an 8" lima shovelnose catfish. They are the only two inhabitatants and have been together for 2 years with no problems. In the past 5 days, my pleco has gone from acting himself to acting like he's having trouble swimming, and not eating. In the past year, he has gone from an algae-eating pleco to one that turns down all vegetarian things in place of blood worms. He fights off the catfish for the bulk of the bloodworms. I routinely offered him lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, and algae discs, and he would not touch any of them.

My tank, as mentioned above, is 30 gal. It sits at 78 degrees, has a pH of 7.2-7.4, and shows no increases in ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites. I do weekly water changes of 30-40% and add a very good conditioner. The tank has a gravel bottom with marine sand underneath, it has lots of driftwood for hiding places, as well as many live plants (which he loved to dig up - the bigger ones anyway).

So... does anyone have any ideas as to the cause of his death? His poop did not turn colors and was dark brown (I know that white, stringy poop is a sign of an internal parasite). I didn't treat him with anything b/c I didn't know what to treat for, and it happened quite quickly. The tank was hit by ich about 2 months ago and was treated accordingly with no problems. I have seen no signs of ich since.

I am absoluetly clueless. I checked out the info on the common pleco (the L. species is the one I had) and didn't find a life span average. Does anyone know if he was just old? He was about 3 1/2 years old at the time of death.

Thanks in advance for replies!!

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 29 Mar 2004, 19:58

Hi!

Sorry about the death of your fish...
Your tank is far too small to house such big fish, even if they are (were) not full grown

Did you noticed any particular marks which could have been caused by a fight and would have result of death?

Usually swimming trouble are due to bacteria infection...
What were the parameters of the nitrate and etc... even if they seemed normal to you, what were the values?
Cheers
Yann

lisa23 · Post by **lisa23** » 29 Mar 2004, 20:00

Hi

What do you mean by marine sand

What was the GH of the water

Lisa

michelle7 · Post by **michelle7** » 31 Mar 2004, 01:04

When I bought the fish I wasn't aware of how big they get! I mean, I had heard stories, but I was told that the fish would grow to the size of the tank - I have since then become way more informed, but that was the biggest tank I had to offer him.

I inspected the body after taking it out of the aqarium and it had nothing wrong with it - and no signs of fighting. My catfish and pleco got along fine - they never fought (that I saw) and pretty much kept away from each other. I was thinking maybe is was due to a bad diet, but there were no signs of malnutrition/emaciation anywhere on the body! I'm still clueless.

I have never really tested the GH - the fish has been in the water so long he was most likely acclimated by then.

As for the marine sand - I used this as a substrate under the larger gravel for the live plants. It helps to keep them stabilized. It comes pre-sterilized and in bags very similar to aqarium gravel. It isn't noticeable through the gravel.

Thanks for the replies!

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 31 Mar 2004, 01:19

Hi!

Sorry about the dead fish but

I have never really tested the GH - the fish has been in the water so long he was most likely acclimated by then

things like this might be the difference between 20 year old fish and ones that die after 2 years.
As far as i learned malnutrition will result in deformed inner organs, like extremely big liver e.a. But if you dont know what a normal liver would look like (and i myself wouldnt be sure about a "normal" one) theres no use of opening a dead fish.
GL

Suckermouth · Post by **Suckermouth** » 31 Mar 2004, 02:33

Actually, an extremely big liver is what happens when an animal consumes too much fat that it cannot easily digest. Pretty much what happens if you eat McDonald's and ONLY McDonald's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a month. Such reasons for death are found in marine predators such as Lionfish that are fed freshwater fish, as freshwater fish have something like higher saturated fat levels or something that make them unhealthy to feed to saltwater fish. I do not know if bloodworms are an equivalent to this, though; I somewhat doubt that this particular death would have been caused by too much fat.

On top of that, 5 days is not an extremely long time for anything such as nutrition problems to come about. I'm thinking a possible internal disease, though I might be wrong.

michelle7 · Post by **michelle7** » 31 Mar 2004, 03:08

Ok... So I will go and get my water tested for GH

But what happens if it's high? How will I soften the water without interfering with plants and fish?

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 31 Mar 2004, 11:13

Hi!

First youll have to find out if something in your tank hardens the water. But do the testing first. Then you/well see what can be done. KH and pH are also interesting to know. And never use test sticks as they cannot reach drop-tests in accuracy.

michelle7 · Post by **michelle7** » 31 Mar 2004, 18:10

Hi... I have never seen the test strips for testing water. I have only used the drop kits. The pH from my tap is 7.4 and all my tanks will consistently test at 7.4. But I'm interested to know now what the KH and GH (if they aren't the same thing) are! THanks for the help everyone!

Post by **Barbie** » 31 Mar 2004, 18:17

Most marine sand is coral based, basically meaning it keeps the pH buffered. That would definitely be the source of higher pH, and that's exactly what the bag meant by "stability". Not necessarily required for a planted tank, depending on your tap water parameters.

Barbie

pnoy702 · Post by **pnoy702** » 06 Apr 2004, 21:21

Caol_ila wrote:Hi!

First youll have to find out if something in your tank hardens the water. But do the testing first. Then you/well see what can be done. KH and pH are also interesting to know. And never use test sticks as they cannot reach drop-tests in accuracy.

Also, drop tests can't reach the accuracy of tablet and powder tests

hehe