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I've inherited a large pleco from my local vets, not in a very good state, it was dumped on them, they had it a few weeks, I suspect it wasn't feeding there either. It's very emaciated, hollow stomach, very lethargic, I did have it in my display tank with other Ls (L001s, Gibbiceps), but I've now removed it to a special large quarantine tank, where I can spend some time trying to feed it. I've tried cucumber, courgette, bogwood, prawns, mussels, crayfish, cockles and Hikari Algae wafers, it's not eating any, I can tell because food is un-touched, and no feaces are present in the tank, unusual for such a large fish!

anyone know of any secret indgredients I could try. I could try lettuce, but has anyone used anything else to get them feeding again....

picture of "common pleco"

Tried Garlic?

I would also medicate against internal worms and such. In the UK I'd use Kusuri Wormer Plus - not sure where you are from, so you may need to try something else.

I'd also leave it with food in the tank for a while (more than 24 hours) - something that lasts in water, like Sweet Potato may work quite well - and keep trying the same food for a few days in a row, as fish often don't know that stuff in the tank is actually edible.

Best of luck...

--
Mats

oh poor fish! keep us updated and here in australia there's a product called seachem stress reliever. its also a great antiseptic i always use it on very sick fish and usually an over dose and such isnt harmful i really reccomend it. but im not sure if you have it in england, so best of luck!!

I don't like using chemicals in the fish house, un-neccessarily, I don't think it's internal worms. I just think it's an in-experienced fishkeeper that's been feeding flake to the rest of the tank, and the fish has just starved.....

But thanks for the tip on sweet potatoe and garlic, (I use Garlic to worm my Angelfish) never tried that, in all my 35+ years of breeding endangered tropical fish.

I'm based in the UK.

BUT the good news is, after 72 hours of leaving algae wafers (and cucumber, courgette, and prawns), the algae wafers were gone this morning, and I was so excited to see pleco plop plops!!! (I'd posted this morning before checking him).

So he's feeding at last, it's going to be a long time to get him back to health, I hope it's not too late.

(don't worry, the tank is very heavily over filtered in anything).

That's great to here! i do hope this fish gets better what do you plan to do after it has been fully rehabilitated?

I find that earth worm and Spiulina stick foods are invaluable in my Pleco keeping/breeding.
I just don't remember the name of the of the distributor in the U.K. and don't know anything about the situation in Australia.
In the USA there are two main distributors. Mainly it will be an aquaculture supply firm which will have them. Newly imported plecos which have been starved for weeks always take them unless they are sure to die regardless of what you do. Something about them seems to trigger feeding responses.

1. www.kensfish.com
2. www.aquaticeco.com

DJ-don wrote:That's great to here! i do hope this fish gets better what do you plan to do after it has been fully rehabilitated?

He'll go back in my 6ftx2ftx2ft display tank with all the other large oddballs, that I've recently turned into a "Andys' large for life oddballs tank", and join the other Gibbiceps, L001s, Giant Red Tail Gourami, Tilapia Buttikoferi, as well as the large Clown Loaches, Ghost Knife fish, and Synodontis ocellifer (20 years old this year, so a real friend!).

A few pictures




I only wish people would learn that some catfishes get large!

apistomaster wrote:I find that earth worm and Spiulina stick foods are invaluable in my pl*co keeping/breeding.
I just don't remember the name of the of the distributor in the U.K. and don't know anything about the situation in Australia.
In the USA there are two main distributors. Mainly it will be an aquaculture supply firm which will have them. Newly imported plecos which have been starved for weeks always take them unless they are sure to die regardless of what you do. Something about them seems to trigger feeding responses.

1. http://www.kensfish.com
2. http://www.aquaticeco.com

thanks, if he/she hadn't started eating, I was going to start feeding my home made jelly (seaweed) spirulina "ice" cubes!