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I've recently been sold this fish, and upon getting him home have noticed that he is quite skinny, and is very "inactive", to the point where I have to check for signs of respiration.

I'm assuming that he might be too far gone, but what steps could I take to give him best chance of survival? I've dropped in cucumber and he's not eaten any, same with algae wafers and algae pellets.

Any advice gratefully received.

i have had this prob meny times. some times thay just will not feed. all of my plecs are common plecs tho i do have 1 albino common, well i think he is albino. have u got true bog wood in the tank for your plec i found this got a number of my plecs feed tho thay didnt eat cucumber thay would eat corjet. it has less water in it. he may also be destres. hope this helps
chris

Hi.

Please read the STICKY at the top of this forum. Providing all this information will help us to help you.

Your fish is . This fish comes from the warm waters of the Orinoco. What temp is your tank?

Raising the tank temp to about 29C should be best. Keep O2 levels as high as possible.

Also I would avoid the cucumber. It's not very tempting. I would use Hikari algae wafers, frozen blood worms and tetra prima to get the fish feeding. Once it's settled down and feeding I would start to feed more vegetables. Tinned broad beans are much more nutritious than cucumber.

1. Water parameters
a) 80
b) 7.5.
c) Unknown
d) Unknown
e)Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, levels - 0,0,20
f) 25% once a week
(Most LFS's will check your water and give a list of readings).

2. Tank set up
a) 25g
b) Sand
c) Fluval 3+
d) Bogwood, "tufa" rocks, plants
e) Irrubesco puffers, pair of young bristlenose
f) 6months +
g) When was the last new fish added? Plec added tuesday
h) Frozen bloodworm every other day, cucumber at irregular intervals

3. Symptoms / Problem description - Very skinny, not moving from same spot, weak, not eating

4. Action taken - None so far

5. Medications used - None

I hope that's of use, apologies for not seeing the sticky earlier.

Everything seems to be in order with your tank.

The tufa rock may be making your water a bit too hard, but I doubt that's causing the problem.

It seems as if your fish was in a bad way before you aquired it.

It's early days yet, and it often take weeks before they settle down and are seen eating. Instead of disturbing the fish every five minutes by shining lights etc at it, it's best to provide food at the right times, and let them be.

What I would do now is....

1) Gently raise the temp 1 degree per day to about 84F/85F. This will speed up the metabolism and appetite.

2) Remove the bristlenoses temporarily (if you have another tank) to remove food competition.

3) Feed half a Hikari algae wafer and some bloodworm every night when you leave the room and lights are off. Be careful to remove all uneaten food the next day. Stick to these two foods for about 3 weeks.

Good luck.


P.S. I don't work for Hikari, it's just that i've used other algae wafers, and they are not accepted anywhere near as quickly by new fish. It must be the MSG!

I agree, Hikari are very good. Only problem is that they are blocked from exporting to the UK due to using GM ingredients without listing them as such... I think it's GM Soya Beans, but I'm not sure. Does anyone know of a good supplier?

I've got some Ocean Nutrition ones that seem to be a good replacement, but still not the same as Hikari...

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Mats