plecostomus stopped eating algae

Henry Di Cristofano · Post by **Henry Di Cristofano** » 10 Oct 2006, 04:10

My plecostomus, which I've had about a year and a half, has stopped eating algae. It eats fish food with the other fish. The algae is really starting to build, even though I clean the tank and do a partial water change each week. I no longer feed it algae pellets to encourage it to eat the algae, but no luck. Is this common as they get older? I was hoping for a clean tank.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 10 Oct 2006, 11:45

Your plecostomus is probably a "Common" - and they do tend to "stop" eating algae somewhat when they grow bigger/older.

You may want to "starve" the fish a little bit, but you should also be aware that these fish will only eat certain types of algae - so if you've got the "wrong" kind of algae, the you'll need a different type of fish to eat it [or shrimp or something].

Also adjusting the time that you've got the lights on may reduce the algae - some people have a "siesta" during the day when the lights are switched off to reduce algae growth.

--
Mats

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 10 Oct 2006, 19:21

Sounds like this is a good excuse to "justfy" getting another pleco. Perhaps not as exotic than some but the common BN does eat a broad range of algaes. More interesting and also very good at controlling algae are the Sturisoma species.

Post by **Barbie** » 13 Oct 2006, 07:05

Is the algae he isn't eating long and stringy? Or those hard green dots on the glass? Usually what happens is that the fish have managed to eradicate any of the algaes it can get cleaned off the glass so effectively that the only things growing are the ones he can't get a grip on. What is your nitrate level?

Barbie

Joyce8025 · Post by **Joyce8025** » 18 Oct 2006, 21:53

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum.

My common outgrew my tank (awesome cleaner) so I found a good home for him with a large tank. Now have an L239 Blue Panaque and L81 Gold Nugget, who will occasionally clean glass and rocks, not plants and gravel. Am looking for an herbivore that will cohabit in my 20 gal long tank with my 2 beauties! PH 7.4, Temp. 79. Water quality monitored constantly, 0-0-0. I want a pleco for this job. What do any of you suggest? Thought that an L183 would work but likes brackish water. That killed that idea. Want another small 4" - 5" max. Will be well fed besides algae! I feed zucchini, cucumber, yellow squash, sweet red bell pepper, carrot, broccali, sweet potato, shrimp, shrimp pellets in veggies, bloodworms. Am going to try lima beans, peas and stringbeans.

Any ideas, please?

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 18 Oct 2006, 23:52

I think you are confusing brackishwater with blackwater. The are opposites. Normal water is usually acceptable for all the bushy nose plecos. Where the heck did you find some L183 Ancistrus dolichopterus? Are you sure that you don't have common bushy noses? They are misidentified in many reference books.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 19 Oct 2006, 10:38

Larry has it right on - Blackwater is very different from Brackish water. The former is acidic and very soft (low conductivity). Brackish water is what you find in estuaries where the sea meets a river, and salt seawater is mixed with freshwater, creating a lower salinity than seawater, but enough to get it "slightly salty".

are available from good fish-suppliers, but they aren't exactly common. Unfortunately, the common bristlenose is often sold under any number of names, including that of A. dolichopterus, although it's currently not known what the correct species is for .

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Mats

Joyce8025 · Post by **Joyce8025** » 19 Oct 2006, 20:24

Thank you. The term "black water" threw me. My tank has soft water (use potassium in my water softener system). Mix R/O with tap water and am now around PH 7.2. I realize that this is close to neutral. This would be on the high side of the L183's range. Since I do water changes every week I could continue to slowly bring down the PH since the others would be fine. What do you think? Re. the common pleco - I had one that grew from small to 5" in 3 months. He kept my tank spotless and loved zucchini, etc. Since he was rapidly growing (told that they were slow growers)I had to find him a new home with a large tank. Now my beauties are not great algae eaters and I am looking to replace "Spike", my common. From your experience, would I be able to add an L183 to my tank? And, if so, will the White Seam be a good cleaner and get along with my Blue Panaque and Gold Nugget? Blue at ExoticFinds.net is going to let me know when he has stock. Bought the Blue from him and am extremely satisfied! Thanks! Joyce

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 20 Oct 2006, 09:57

Joyce8025 wrote:Thank you. The term "black water" threw me. My tank has soft water (use potassium in my water softener system). Mix R/O with tap water and am now around PH 7.2. I realize that this is close to basic. This would be on the high side of the L183's range. Since I do water changes every week I could continue to slowly bring down the PH since the others would be fine. What do you think? Re. the common pl*co - I had one that grew from small to 5" in 3 months. He kept my tank spotless and loved zucchini, etc. Since he was rapidly growing (told that they were slow growers)I had to find him a new home with a large tank. Now my beauties are not great algae eaters and I am looking to replace "Spike", my common. From your experience, would I be able to add an L183 to my tank? And, if so, will the White Seam be a good cleaner and get along with my Blue Panaque and Gold Nugget? Blue at ExoticFinds.net is going to let me know when he has stock. Bought the Blue from him and am extremely satisfied! Thanks! Joyce

I hope you're not using tap-water that has passed through the water softener to fill your tank - RO water that is softened first is fine, since the RO removes the Potassium just as well as it would anything else, but using "softened" water from an Ion-exchange system (as the ones that you put salt (sodium or potassium chloride into) is the same as having ever so slightly brackish water in your tank...

I have no experience with , but from what I read, they are quite sensitive and hard to acclimatise to tank conditions, but once they are acclimatised should be fine as algae eaters.

I don't see anything wrong with mixing it with Blue Panaque (L239) and Gold Nuggets - at least ordinary go well with other fishes like that, and I don't think the A. dolichopterus are much different in that respect.

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Mats

Joyce8025 · Post by **Joyce8025** » 22 Oct 2006, 16:17

Thank you! I have learned the error of my ways and from now on shall use straight R/O water unless you tell me that I need to add tap water due to lack of minerals. If this is the case then I can use a friend's tap water to mix with the R/O. MatsP, I would appreciate your advice.

Off of the subject - How often should I feed bloodworms? I do not want to feed too much protein. I currently feed 2 choices nightly - cucumber, zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, yellow squash, sweet red bell pepper, lima bean, shrimp, shrimp pellets, bloodworms. I feed shimp or bloodworms about once weekly with the majority of meals being veggies. Sometimes I stick in a few shrimp pellets. In fact, I have found that if I try a new veggie and stick in a few pellets it tempts them to try the new food. Also, is it a good idea to occasionally soak veggies in Kent Zoe to increase their vitamin intake? Just want to do whatever it takes to keep my Blue and GN healthy and happy.

Thanks in advance for all of your good advice. Joyce

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 23 Oct 2006, 11:23

You do need tap-water to mix with RO-water - or you need to add minerals, such as Kent RO-right[1]. Pure RO water contains no minerals at all, and that's not good for the fish either... They need some minerals to be OK.

Is there nowhere in your house that you have access to "unsoftened" water?

As to feeding: Bloodworms or shrimp once a week is fine - in fact you could probably feed a bit more often as long as your fish gets plenty of veggie (and still eats a lot of them). I feed my fish with some Tetra Prima (aka Tetra (colour) Bits or Tetra (prima) Discus) and Hikari Algae wafers. I don't add any supplements on top of this - not sure if it's meaningfull or not, I suspect if you soak vegetables (rather than dried food), the vitamins would dissipate into the water quite quickly and be pretty hard for the fish to absorbe from there...

[1] There are probably several different products from different manufacturers, this is the only one I know the name of without searching the internet. It is not a recommendation of that product as superior to other products - I have no experience with any of them...

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Mats

Joyce8025 · Post by **Joyce8025** » 23 Oct 2006, 21:38

I really appreciate your information. I do have a bypass on my water softening unit, however, I would have to run the water for quite a while in order to first clean out the system. My outside water is not softened but I live in Ohio and we are experiencing very cold weather. I can get gallons of water from my friend and store to use with the R/O that I purchase. Also, I shall buy the Kent R/O to use.

It is my understanding that if you soak fresh veggies in the Kent Zoe overnight before feeding that the veggies absorb the vitamins. Veggies turn green, regardless of their color.

Again, thanks for enlightening me!

Joyce

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MatsP

Mats