My common brown pleco has stopped eating. Water quality is fine. She used to go through a half a zucchini a day, and now she eats nothing. Not algae either. She doesn't like algae wafers, even the sinking kind.
What is this all about?
Karla
Pleco hunger strike
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Barbie
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You say water quality is fine, but could you define that a bit for us? Like actual test results and your maintenance schedule, size of the tank and what not. There is a post at the beginning of this forum that outlines all of the information we need to make an educated guess at what the problem could be.
Could you also list your location in your profile please? It is in our rules section as a mandatory item so that we can better help you with your problems with more "localized" recommendations for treatments and what not. If you're uncomfortable with someone knowing where you come from, the country will suffice. Thanks!
Barbie
Could you also list your location in your profile please? It is in our rules section as a mandatory item so that we can better help you with your problems with more "localized" recommendations for treatments and what not. If you're uncomfortable with someone knowing where you come from, the country will suffice. Thanks!
Barbie
More info
Oh, OK here's more info. sorry.
I live in California, USA. I have a 72 gallon tank with 6 goldfish and one pleco. I do 10-20% water changes every 2-3 weeks. I did a big cleaning (40% water change, decorative rocks taken out and scrubbed) about 6 weeks ago, and that is when she seemed to have stopped eating. I have a Fluval cannister filter - the biggest one they make, plus I have a bubble stone. No real plants, only plastic. I have some driftwood for the Pleco, (name: Meile), but she doesn't seem to use it. The light is the one the tank came with, so I don't know if it is full spectrum or not.
Currently the tank is about 76 degrees F. I also added some aquarium salt (35 tbs) for the benefit of the goldfish last week. Meile is about 7 inches long, the goldfish, 4-5.
I don't know the actual water chemistry numbers, but I took a sample to the local pet store and they tested it and declared it "perfect".
If there is any more info you need, please ask.
Karla
I live in California, USA. I have a 72 gallon tank with 6 goldfish and one pleco. I do 10-20% water changes every 2-3 weeks. I did a big cleaning (40% water change, decorative rocks taken out and scrubbed) about 6 weeks ago, and that is when she seemed to have stopped eating. I have a Fluval cannister filter - the biggest one they make, plus I have a bubble stone. No real plants, only plastic. I have some driftwood for the Pleco, (name: Meile), but she doesn't seem to use it. The light is the one the tank came with, so I don't know if it is full spectrum or not.
Currently the tank is about 76 degrees F. I also added some aquarium salt (35 tbs) for the benefit of the goldfish last week. Meile is about 7 inches long, the goldfish, 4-5.
I don't know the actual water chemistry numbers, but I took a sample to the local pet store and they tested it and declared it "perfect".
If there is any more info you need, please ask.
Karla
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Barbie
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- Location 1: Spokane, WA
- Location 2: USA
I regularly do 75% or more water changes on my ancistrus grow out tanks. The idea that a water change of 40% would harm the pleco is simply untrue unless the water parameters in the tank had greatly shifted from infrequent changes prior to that. Do you mean you added 35 tablespoons of salt to the tank? That would be a pretty large dose to add all at once for a pleco to deal with. I would definitely recommend a 30% water change every few days until the fish starts to act normally.
You really should buy a test kit for your water. They run $15 on average for a master kit and you'll have a much better idea of what the problem is. Your LFS employee might not have a clue about the cycling process themselves, so it's always a good idea to know exactly what the levels are, not just that it's "fine".
Goldfish are not ideal companions for plecos, as they put off a very large amount of waste for their size, and plecos can't tolerate ammonia levels like the goldfish can. One overfeeding of the fish could cause levels high enough to stress him, and the lack of appetite could be a sign of an internal infection or other problem, due to the waste load in the tank.
I realize it sounds like a simple fix, but water changes will correct 90% of the problems in your tank, just by giving the fish healthy living conditions to heal themselves in.
If you click on "profile" at the top of the page, you'll find you can edit your information to add your location there. That way it will always show under your name, beside your messages
Barbie
You really should buy a test kit for your water. They run $15 on average for a master kit and you'll have a much better idea of what the problem is. Your LFS employee might not have a clue about the cycling process themselves, so it's always a good idea to know exactly what the levels are, not just that it's "fine".
Goldfish are not ideal companions for plecos, as they put off a very large amount of waste for their size, and plecos can't tolerate ammonia levels like the goldfish can. One overfeeding of the fish could cause levels high enough to stress him, and the lack of appetite could be a sign of an internal infection or other problem, due to the waste load in the tank.
I realize it sounds like a simple fix, but water changes will correct 90% of the problems in your tank, just by giving the fish healthy living conditions to heal themselves in.
If you click on "profile" at the top of the page, you'll find you can edit your information to add your location there. That way it will always show under your name, beside your messages
Barbie
of course,but the way she said it was that she had a "cleanout".Barbie wrote:I regularly do 75% or more water changes on my ancistrus grow out tanks. The idea that a water change of 40% would harm the pl*co is simply untrue unless the water parameters in the tank had greatly shifted from infrequent changes prior to that.
So if you do a 40%,wash your filters out (maybe under the tap ) and gravel cleaned,thats a lot of bacteria being removed,and could result in the plec becoming unsettled.
of course its fine on growout tanks,after all a lot of young fish should be fed alot and therefore the water can go off quickly,its hardly a comparable situation is it?
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Barbie
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- Location 1: Spokane, WA
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IMO it is. A 40% water change isn't going to interrupt the bacterial colonies, and cleaning the filter was not mentioned. Scrubbing some decorations is also not going to interrupt anything, and if it HAD, the people at the LFS should have seen an ammonia or nitrite spike, no? My regular maintenance schedule on all 17 of the tanks in my house includes a weekly 30-40% water change, with no problems. I only feed my fish once a day unless they are very small fry, and water changes of that volume allow me to keep my nitrate levels below 50ppm usually. 20% water changes on a tank stocked the way hers is will cause a constant accumulation of nitrates, IMO.
Barbie
Barbie