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Hello everyone , I am new to these forums although I have looked around some before.
2 days ago I bought 5- L18 gold nugget's, they are wild and imported 3 weeks ago , after putting them in the tank I noticed 2 maybe 3 of them showing a dis coleration or maybe a scrape spots , or hopefully not a infection of some sort , it looks like a scrape on 1 and a dicoleration on a nother , unsure if it is fluffy looking yet. I took some pictures today wile they were out , I will try to get some better ones tomarrow. would you Please take a look and see what you think. I have been keeping cichlids and common plecos for about 10 years and have been lucky enough to never have any diseas in my tanks. so I do not know much about them.
.......tank with L18 is ph7.5 KH7 GH7 temp,82 gravel, 2' piece of malasian hard wood,rock caves,1-marineland 360 canister,2- sponge filters,tank has been running fishless for 2 months.it is a 65 gal. will be puting into a 180gal once they are ok.......

Pictures are clickable

Hi and Welcome to PC,
Your nuggets are beautiful! For a minor injury like that I'd recommend Melafix and Pimafix used together, or something similar to help speed the healing process. I believe they will probably be fine.
Just an FYI they look like they may be L081 IMO. Just take a look at the Cat-eLog. The three L# nuggets look very similar and are found in the same river. They may even be the same species, so it might be a pointless venture, so thats up to you. (Sorry for scaring you on your first post )
Godd luck,
Josh
PS: my avatar pic is of my L18 nugget... If you want to see a picture of my L18 and L81 together, just ask I can post one for ya

Can't tell you exactly what that is, but lots of water changes and a good diet should clear up problems like that pretty soon.

Your water conditions seem pretty good. Perhaps you could turn it up to 86F and add an airstone. That may help them.

I will try the Melafix and Pimafix , I will check and see if my lfs has it ,I was planing on doing water changes in my tanks today , I'm glad to here you dont think is much to worry about.
Yes I would like to see a picture of your L 18 and l 81 , I was told they were l 18 , I know when I was looking at them I thought the yellow spots should be more yellow , but I figured it may be because of their size 4"
any I have seen before in lfs have only been 1-2" , which ever they are I am happy with them.
I will try to get some better pictures today once I start water change and remove some rock .
Thanks for your fast replys , look foward to learning about the diffrent cats from this site.

I haven't found the various Gold Nuggets to get along without some fighting and inevitable scrapes.
I would definitely keep them at at 84*F to 86*F. Adding an air stone is always a good idea with the warm water pleco species.

Hello again,
My L18 is just over 4" and its spots are way bigger, so it's probably L81. That said, here is a pic. You can decide which is a closer match .
Josh

Hello, Just wanted to say I have treated them for 7 days now and they are looking Great. after seeing the L18 and L81 side by side I have to say I belive mine are L18 as the importer had said. the coloring of the L81 is so much paler , greyer then mine.
Here are some pictures after they have been treated.
I have them in a 65 gal right now which I will be putting some discuc in in a few weeks , then I will move them to a 120 which I have colony of kapamba in , the kapampa I will be putting in a 500 I am going to be getting.
I will post some picture when I finish moveing them .
Thanks for your advice on the scrapes they had.

rottweiler wrote:after seeing the L18 and L81 side by side I have to say I belive mine are L18 as the importer had said. the coloring of the L81 is so much paler , greyer then mine.

The pale, grayish color is due to the fact that that L81 pictured was just placed into the tank the day the photo was taken. When fully settled, L81 are every bit as black colored as L18. The spot sizing is more an indication than the base color of the fish.

Either way, glad its getting better.

Happy to hear that they are doing better. Please do keep us updated.
Josh