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So I've rescued a royal pleco from my friend's parents house. He looks a bit underfed, his stomach is slightly sunken but not too bad. He has tears on his tail (will these grow back?) And he has this wierd white fuzzy fungus stuff growing on him, so I have not put him in any of my larger tanks. I need suggestions on getting him to eat as well as what this fungus could be and how I could treat it.. he's a beautiful fish and I would love to have him in my larger tanks right now. He's currently in a 10 gallon with 5 corys. So far all i've done to treat it is put 2 tablespoons of salt dissolved in a cup of water into the 10 gal tank. Also what can I do for his torn fins?

Nasty white stuff

P.S. I;ve had him for about 3 days.. the first day all he was was one white fuzzy ball on his fin.. it seems to have progressed in these 3 days. Now he has the ones near his eye that you can see in the picture, you can't see the fin ones from that angle. Any help is appreciated. If it helps, i'll try to get a clearer shot of him later, when he changes his positions, I don't want to disturb him.

The fish has a severe fungal infection. You will need to treat with an appropriate anti-fungal medication such as http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=4829 or http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... 6820&rel=1

-Shane

Thank you shane, I will be going to the LFS today to pick up some new plants for my 90 gallon tank. While i'm there i'll pick up those products, or any product with the same chemicals. Will his appetite come back once the fungus is gone? What about his tail?

A tear in any fin can grow back without too many problems, after infections have cleared up.

Fish with fungus often won't feed until it's cleared up. That said some fish do eat. I may be wrong but i have a sneaking suspicion it is somewhat dependant upon the size of the fish, and the nature of the fishes food - for example, a large TSN or RTC with bad fungus will still eat a feeder fish but a small pim pictus often won't eat.

thank you.. He's about 6 and a half inches. But I don't think he's eaten much, if anything. I suspect he might be munching on wood as his stomach doesnt look as sunken as it did as the day I picked him up..I hope all goes well I would really love to see him in my 90 or 100 gallon (yet to be set up)

In the meantime, if you aren't already doing so, I recommend that you make sure the pH doesn't get too acidic in that tank. I've always found that if the pH goes below 6.5, my royal plecos start to show signs of stress. If it goes below 6.0, they start to develop sunken eyes and abdomens. If I add sodium bicarbonate, they come around within 24 hours. Need to stay on top of that with fish that eat wood and constantly release tannins.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... 6820&rel=1 << I bought this medication, removed carbon, followed directions. How long should I expect to see results, even if minimal?

With some luck, in 48 hours.
-Shane

Good luck, hope he makes it!

Me too, I really hope he makes it. Is it likely that he will? The white fuzz seems a bit better today.. the white areas are stil just as large but it doesnt have fuzzy stuff hanging from it like it was before, so im taking that as a good sign? I've never had the opportunity to own a royal pleco so this is a great opportunity if I can get him to recover. Otherwise he is a lovely specimen. Side note : I went to pet supermarket yesterday so pick up some food and saw theyre also selling royal plecos, in the EXACT same condition mine is in for 20 dollars. =\ I'm guessing that is where my friends family got it from and gave up when he wouldn't get better or eat. Why don't they treat them before selling them?

they had like 4 or 5 of them.. one was seriously ill, sunken eyes and everything.

UPDATE : His fungus is still there but seems to be ALOT better.. it is no longer a big white tuft.. its greying out and looking more like his skin, still a little fuzz but no where near as bad. What should I introduce into the tank to try to get his appetite going?? Also it has been 4 days since I medicated him (two 48 hour periods) The package says to do a 25 percent water change and/or replace the carbon filtration. I plan to do this but my question is.. since it's not completely gone, should I dose once more? or leave it be cause the meds still might be working?

p.s. Ill post pics of his progress later today when I empty out my camera's memory.

personally I would do the water change and continue medicating...IMO 48 hrs is not ample time, to start seeing results yes, but not to completely irradicate. As far as inducing him/her to eat...as it progressively heals you will notice it grazing more,and if you have wood in the tank its quite possible it is consuming the wood and microbacteria that resides on it..it is possible for them to survive in nature on a total wood diet and being captive most likely would not change that....Good luck....hope it pulls through...Enjoy

Thank you so much for this. I really needed this info as I was afraid to overmedicate, but felt it was neccesary to re-dose. Should one more dose do it? or dose every 48 hours until said fungus is irradicated?

if it was me,I would dose 1 more time after fungus is no longer visible...btw Royals are my favs....have many of them and not 2 are the same...looks like yours is now on his way to a healthy living...thnxs to you...Enjoy

Thank you! this is my first royal pleco. I've uploaded a picture of his progress. Once hes all better he'll be going in my 90 gallon planted with some other BN pleco's. I love him so far and I can't wait to see him well and acclimated in his new tank. As far as you saying no 2 are the same.. you mean appearance wise? or as far as personality ?? I also heard somewhere that they get greenish stripes instead of grey as they reach full size, is this true? or was i misinformed, i always thought the green royal was a diff species.. ALSO if anyone can identify what particular type of royal (L#) he is, it would be greatly appreciated.

I hope you don't mind losing some/all of your plants. Once you add the royal panaque to your planted tank, there's a good chance it will chow down on most/all of them.

damn, really? Even if I keep him well fed? I was always told the same things about bristle noses but the BN's never munch any of my plants, except for when I had swords.. they LOVED the swords, got real fat on them, so I let them have at it and planted with these plants that they don't really mess with. Are royal's more inclined to munch plants than BN's? All I really have are some tall grasses, one beng giant hair, I have an onion plant, one crypto I JUST planted and two micro sword plants that I'm hoping will carpet. As well as some java moss tied to some driftwood and some moss balls. The BN's dont care for any of these.. is it safe to assume what the BN's dont eat the royal wont eat? probably not. ;/ I also have another plant im not sure what it is.. which i think he may be inclined to munch on but i dont care about that plant as much.. even though it is nice.

As mentioned most/any plant will be eaten.

What foods are you feeding it?

this is a fish that not only likes to graze, it must graze

a Bristlenose can be compared to a horse, but one that's immune to colic.
in order to stay healthy, it will graze on algae all day and most of the gut is filled with undigestible stuff.
however, especially the common bristlenose can handle a lot of animal matter and will rarely bloat up.


a Panaque can best be compared with a horse that has been created by crossing a beaver with a mustang and a belt-sander......
this is a wood-eater and a grazer both.
so even if you feed it a lot, it'll graze; just out of instinct!
this beastie REALLY needs to have its' gut filled with all kinds of plant fiber.
even when it's very well fed, it will graze, it has to!

that's why panaque's in a tank without wood get into trouble.
once the gut is empty of undigestible "wood" it'll bloat up and developes a flagellate infection and dies.

to keep your Panaque happy is to add wood, preferably real bogwood that's a bit on the soft side, although a panaque is quite powerful enough to feed on the much harder mangrove wood, except for Mopani.

any plant that's wide-leafed enough to 'sit on' or put the suckermouth on, will be destroyed sooner or later

they REALLY love Echinodorus.......it's a part of their natural diet.
once the forests flood and the Panaque's can get everywhere this is stuff they encounter and eat next to wood.

1 trick of combining plants and Panaque is to use slimleafed plants like regular Vallisneria (V gigantea gets quickly eaten), Crinum calamistratum etcv
also fine leafed ones like for example Heteranthera zosterifolia are safe.
they cannot 'get a grip' on plants like that.

but they are also huge and clumsy and they can uproot a lot

in general; Panaque's truly love planted tanks, but not the way the hobbyists has intended

it's an "all you can eat buffet" with exotic foodstuff

Great! This is all very reassuring as most my plants are slim leafed as well as I have loads and loads of driftwood in the 90. I'll post some pics up tomorrow .. I posted a video of my tank in tank talk but that was before I added even more driftwood than what you'll see in the video. P.S. does anyone actually read the posts or look at the pics? There's DW in there with him
In the QT tank visible in the first pic I put up.. Also to the person asking what I'm feeding him if you had read my posts you'll see I'm having trouble feeding him due to his illness. But he has wood .. I have tried veggies, algae wafers, and some meaty foods. I expect him to regain his appetite in a few days when he's no longer fungus riddled. I posted a progress pic.. He looks much better than in that first pic I posted which was about a couple days after bringing him home. Again thanks everyone for the information.

Also im growing baby tears.. Hope that won't be a problem

You can try always keeping some zucchini (courgette) in the tank in an effort to keep the panaque disinterested in your plants--stick a stainless steel fork in it to hold it down--replace every other day. However, there are no guarantees that it will work. Heck, your plants might be okay anyway. It's hard to say how an individual will behave. Just know that royal panaques are notorious for going to town on most plants.

BTW, sidguppy's post is spot on. Lots of good info in it.

I'll try that... ill leave out the fork as i usually blanch my zucchini in a pot and once i do that it sinks right away pretty much.. maybe im boiling it too much though and thats why it sinks? blanch less?

I have never had Panaque eat Anubias or Java fern, L27c, L191, L104 and L204 all left them alone

No need to blanch the zucchini for the panaque. You're just denaturing the vitamins, antioxidants, & nutrients in the skin & flesh. This is a fish that regularly eats wood, so it won't have any problems eating raw zucchini, skin and all.

on the contrary in my case...my planted 180 gallon has 7 royals ( 2 L190, 2 L191, 1 L90papa, 1 L27 golden line and 1 L27 xingu) though the largest is only 7" and smallest 4" they do not bother my plants (various crypts,apons, red tiger lotus, and some bunch plants) although there is alot of wood in the tank and they are fed often and a varied diet. Mine love the zuccini, yellow squash, cucumber, romaine lettuce, even throw in cantelope rinds every now and then...but be cautious not to let the uneaten parts(w/exception of the lettuce) go to long in the water as it may spoil and taint the water. As they get bigger they are a little more boisterous and will up root your plants....Enjoy

Hey everyone, sorry I havnt been active in the past few days. He is a lot better and since has been re-homed into the 90 gallon. He's munching away at wood and even leaving teeth marks! So that's good. I will post some pics later, I know i've been saying that but it was abusy weekend. ;)

Good to hear it's doing better. Enjoy it--they are great plecos--real characters.