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Hi guys, need a little help here.

Three weeks ago I brought a 3" Sunshine Pleco (L014) and this morning I found him on the front of the tank (where he NEVER sits), right up at the water line, breathing very fast and looking extremely pale, all fins extended including his dorsal fin. He's currently living in a 55g with a breeding pair of Severums. Ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrate is less than 10ppm as I did a 30% water change yesterday, and I do keep salt in the tank at 1TBS per 10 gallons. I also totally rearranged the tank before the water change. I haven't really seen very much of him in the three weeks I've had him, as he is a little fish and there are heaps of little nooks and crannies for him to hide in that I can't see into. I don't know if he is eating properly, although his stomach is currently rounded, not hollowed out at all, and I haven't seen him poop. But given that I can go without seeing him for 3 or 4 days at a time, he has plently of time to do his business without me noticing. He shows no signs of any external injuries, although his tailfin is a little ragged, but not showing any signs of finrot or fungus.

Could this just be stress from the rearranging of the tank or am I looking at something a little more serious? Any advise/assistance would be greatly appreciated

It sounds like and oxygen problem - gasping at the surface is not a good sign - other fish may be unaffected - BUT plecs come from well oxygenated water - try adding an air stone or point the filter outlet at the surface more

Couple of things to thinks about.
Plecs dont like salt.
If your test kits are old they may well be wrong...

Thanks Smith, I did think of oxygen and have added the airstone back into the tank.

I was a little concerned about adding him to a tank with salt in it, but I've talked to many ppl who have kept pleco's, even slightly more exotic ones, in tanks with a similar salt level with no problems whatsoever. If the powers that be here really do think that it is a problem, then I can gradually remove it with water changes, but I'd rather not if I don't have to.

My test kits are a little under a month old, so unless I've got a dud one, I'm pretty sure the readings are correct. Its not a new tank, its been running for about 3 1/2 years now, so its well matured and the cycle is well established. I know that rearranging things can release trapped debris into a tank, but I wouldn't have thought it would cause a huge problem in a tank as mature as this one

Tracey wrote:Thanks Smith, I did think of oxygen and have added the airstone back into the tank.

I was a little concerned about adding him to a tank with salt in it, but I've talked to many ppl who have kept pl*co's, even slightly more exotic ones, in tanks with a similar salt level with no problems whatsoever. If the powers that be here really do think that it is a problem, then I can gradually remove it with water changes, but I'd rather not if I don't have to.

My test kits are a little under a month old, so unless I've got a dud one, I'm pretty sure the readings are correct. Its not a new tank, its been running for about 3 1/2 years now, so its well matured and the cycle is well established. I know that rearranging things can release trapped debris into a tank, but I wouldn't have thought it would cause a huge problem in a tank as mature as this one

In that case I'll go with low o2

How is he now? The recovery sould be quite quick

I've just checked in with my bf whos at home today. He's back hiding in his old spot, his colour is fine again, breathing is normal and he was more than a little annoyed to have a torch shone at him to ascertain these facts Silly little thing gave me a hell of a scare. "Exotic" pleco's are a bit of a rarity over here, so I'd probably never be able to replace him.

Thanks for the help Smith and for being patient with a panicky fish momma, I'm glad it was something as simple as low O2

no problem at all

Our 014 made it through a co2 overdose that 'took' our L264 - Josie

we moved him to another tank and he was fine as soon as he settled in there.

Our 014 (we call him scabby) is a great fish - he's about 4" at the moment - cant wait for him to grow up

Just to point out the Salt issue. Plecos in general do not like salt. They may well live "Ok" in lightly salted water, but you really shouldn't add salt to a tank holding pleco's, unless it's a short term measure for treating some illness where salt is a known medication.

The severums (as far as I can determine) are not a specie that require salt in the water either. Do you have any other specie in the tank that you think should have salt added to the water, or is this just another case of old rubbish of adding salt to aquariums. Unless you have a specie of fish that normally live in slightly brackish water, you should not add salt to the water.

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Mats

The male Sev in that tank has ongoing health problems, and has had from the day I got him. It started as what looked like HITH when I brought him, all 4 Severums that I brought that day had the same thing, but from then I've had protazoan infestations (Ich and Costia), bacterical infections and and an internal parasitical infestation in this fish, where the other three healed up nicely from the HITH and haven't been sick since. In the two months that I've had a low level of salt in the tank his health has been the best that its been in the year that I've had him, which is why I'd like to keep the salt dosage at its current level.

I do understand that salt is generally a big no-no when it comes to Pleco's, but am I really going to be damaging the Sunshine's health by keeping him in a tank with this level of salt? I don't want to be causing him any problems, but I also don't want to lose the gains I've made in my Severums health.

I'm not expert enough to say at what level of salt damage starts and whether that is below or above your current level.

Pleco's in general are fairly hardy, as long as they are acclimatised to any new condition with reasonable care.

I can see how you wouldn't want to remove the salt, but maybe it's worth a try to do a water change without salt and see what happens. It may be that he's better now... If you use salt as a medicine, you shouldn't go on using it forever... You can always add salt back in again, as long as you keep track of how much water you're replacing.

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Mats

i'd like to concur. 1 Tablespoon of salt per 10 gallons seems like far to much to me.

as mats says, salt should only be used as a temporary treatment. it's my understanding that if you use it over a long period of time, the pathogens you're trying to kill just get used to it.

they are hardy, but for their long term happiness i would remove the salt. the rivers a lot of plecs come from has little or no hardness, let alone salt!

The fact that the severum is better may be due to the initial salt treatment. try without the salt.

Long term health problems indicate other problems with water parameters, or maybe just bad stock.

Have you tested your pH, hardness and temperature? gasping at the surface is commonly a symptom of a variety of problems, but often the tank is too hot with not enough aeration and water movement.

hope it goes well.