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Can someone please direct me to any previous post about hemorrhagic septicemia. I think my whole stock of plecos have been infected with it. Everything died except for one out of 13. Any info would be appreciated.

have you tried a forum Froum Search? It gives quite a few hits....

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Mats

I tried the search feature but got results that only mentioned that the poster might have experienced it but haven't read one yet on possible treatments and if there is no treatment what should be done.

When I looked at this before, I seem to remember that there is very hard to treat once you see symptoms. A quick look around the web seems to indicate that sulfa or certain types of anti-biotics are treatements.

But of course, if it is not EXACTLY that, it is quite possible that this doesn't help. If it's the generic "belly goes bloated and the guts turn to mush" that sometimes happens with plecos, it's speculated that this is caused by a parasite infection. Which is not treated by this type of medication, and again, it's very hard (0% success in my own experience) to treat once you see symptoms.

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Mats

MatsP wrote:WIf it's the generic "belly goes bloated and the guts turn to mush" that sometimes happens with plecos, it's speculated that this is caused by a parasite infection.

There's probably many causes, but it's definitely also caused by feeding the fish rotten/tainted food. In my case I found I could reliably cause bloating & death by feeding my fish frozen bloodworms from the biggest brand here in Sweden.

@Mike, I'm talking specifically about the death described as "bloated tummy and brown mush instead of guts", which was described by Larry Vires (Pleco breeder) just a few posts ago, as well as El Tofi a few years back when his Pseudacanthicus passed away.

It is indeed likely that poor food can cause bloat, but I have also had symptoms of bloat when fish has not received any form of frozen food for a long time.

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Mats

MatsP wrote:@Mike, I'm talking specifically about the death described as "bloated tummy and brown mush instead of guts"

Me too.

I have also had symptoms of bloat when fish has not received any form of frozen food for a long time.

Yes, like I said there's probably many causes.

I have been feeding earthworm sticks supplemented with brine shrimp sticks and also some seafood flakes. The sticks are brand new from Ken's but the seafood flake is fairly old, like over 1 year. Whats the shelf life of flake food?

tigger27 wrote:I have been feeding earthworm sticks supplemented with brine shrimp sticks and also some seafood flakes. The sticks are brand new from Ken's but the seafood flake is fairly old, like over 1 year. Whats the shelf life of flake food?

I wouldn't expect either of those to rot so badly that they might cause food poisoning. I'm fairly sure that can only happen with "wet" food.

tigger27 wrote:I have been feeding earthworm sticks supplemented with brine shrimp sticks and also some seafood flakes. The sticks are brand new from Ken's but the seafood flake is fairly old, like over 1 year. Whats the shelf life of flake food?

I think it's about six months. I have some older food I got with a used setup and I'm planning to give it to brine shrimp. I keep most of my fish food in the freezer now, even prepared dry foods. Actually I had a container of betta food that didn't make it in the freezer. Compared it to the same container of betta food kept in the freezer and the difference is amazing. The food kept in the freezer looks much better.

As long as the food is kept dry, it lasts a long time. I buy bulk buckets (e.g. 10-12 liter/2.5-3gal) of my [or should I say the fishes'] favourite foods, and take out a "portion" as and when needed (every few weeks or so) that I keep in a smaller container - that way, the bucket isn't opened frequently...

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Mats