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Large L025 scarlet pleco,10 inches,just purchased from retailer about 2 weeks ago.I have been noticing for several days now a white moldy or fungus looking growth developing.Mostly around the nose at first and is now spreading further back in body.I have noticed tonight that it is far back as the tail in very small patches.At first it appeared very lightly and was not concerned but in just a short time it is obviously something more serious.Needing treatment advise and how it may affect others in tank. Tank is about one month old,350 gals,established system.Temps 79F.Tank mates include a small tigrinus cat,4 flagtail P and frquent rosy feeder fish which come to think of it have also been sick but removed when this was noted earlier in week.They also had a fungus that seemed to be eating away at their tails. Thanks

Wow, I am sorry to hear this bad news. I am not an expert on fungus... but in one of my tanks I had a large angel fish that was prone to fungus and we just used a combination of Primafix and Melafix and it always did a great job. I know there are a lot of medications for fungus as well but some of the fish in my tank I was affraid would be too sensitive to medications but like I said the combination of Primafix and Melafix worked really well for me. Good luck with everything. Please let us know how it goes.

do you know if the fish in question was wild caught?

Do not know if wild caught but I assumed so.Retailer not an edcucated person but I,ll ask.They had 2 large and 3 small of these.This made me think wild caught.Typically a trade in or something of this nature you would only have one fish.

It could possibly be ich but is more likely a fungal or bacterial infection. Usually fungal or bacterial infections are in large bunches and not spread out, so there is a good chance it is ich or some parasite. Your water temperature seems a bit high. My aquarium is at 75 degrees F. Maybe your fish is stressed out from the high temperature which made him susceptible to ich or fungus. Add some stress coat to the water to help repair any damage to the slime coat. Mela fix, Pima fix, and Ich attack are all natural medications that won't harm snails, plants, or delicate fish. I hope he recovers.

79 degrees suits psuedacanthicus species just fine, and is arguably slightly low. As with pure, I'm no parasitologist, but am quite sure that's not ich and is most likely fungal in nature. I've only ever had one serious fungal outbreak involving an L-255, on which I used pimafix, and it cleared up within a week.

Well finaly after about a week and half I am seeing improvement.I tried 2 different meds as recommended previously plus some combinations.Pimafix,Maracyn,then added salt and increased temp to 82F. No improvement were noticed.I then came off Maracyn and added Gordans rid ich plus which is a combination of formaline and malachite green. Next day improvements were seen.I then stoped with the Pimafix and have just been using the rid ich and salt for 3 days.The fungus should be gone by tommorrow at present pace.I,ll then keep treating at diminishing amounts for a few more days before putting back into main tank.

Today when I was reading a book on aquariums, I saw a picture of a fish with velvet. It had the same white spots on it. I wonder if your fish could've had velvet?

treatment suggerster:
1.pull the temperature up to 30 degree cel.
2.put some salt in water till 10% of your tank.

trust me

billchang0:

I think adding salt to the water in a longer term (i.e. not just a "dip") would not be suitable for the fish mentioned. They are certainly not USED to salt, like some other species that can be treated with this method.

Raising the temperature is probably OK as long as the dissolved oxygen is kept up with plenty of water movement.

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Mats

I read and heard speculation that these symptoms (quite often seen on large Pseudacanthicus soon after importation or other moves) are viral in origin, similar to a lymphocystis-type virus, and is stress related, going into remission once conditions improve or the fish becomes settled again.

The above mentioned pleco is doing fine and back in the 350 gal tank. He eats well and defends his territory very well. very beautiful fish he is. Treatment that was succesful as mentioned above. I have since tried out some other rarer plecs L018,L260 and L083. The sail fin is the only one that made it so far.The other two died for unknown reasons other than not eating. I have always considered plecs a tuff fish but am learning the exotics are not.