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Hello,

I bought a four inch L200 Green Phantom Pleco in beautiful shape. Nothing sunken in, clear skin, very spunky, held his fins out. I put him in a ten gallon quarantine tank, temp 80 degrees, with three algae covered rocks from my main tank. First day he didn't appear to eat, just settling in. Second day he started scrubbing the rocks. He cleaned the rocks off in about three or four days. I added homegrown spinach leaf in a clip. He ate that for a couple of days. I added in a piece of yam which I nuked just a little to soften. He didn't touch it, so I removed it after 24 hours. I put in another spinach leaf. Didn't touch it. Now he is not carrying his fins in an upright position anymore unless he is moving around. Before, he would rest with his top fin upright.

I have a UV running on my main tank. Since there were no signs of visible sickness in the pleco (no ick), he'd been in quarantine for a week and his skin looked clear, I decided to acclimate him to my six foot long main tank last night as there is algae galore on the back and side walls for him to eat. He was spunky in his acclimation bag, and when finally released before bedtime, he spent a long time swimming all around checking things out. This morning he still has his top fin down, unless he is moving. Am I being paranoid, or did I mess up the bacteria in his gut with the slightly cooked potato? Not sure whether to leave him be for a few days and just observe him carefully to see if he starts scrubbing any algae, or whether I should be thinking about stocking up on some kind of gut medication in case I have to put him back into the ten gallon to treat. If I should have gut medication on hand, what kind do you suggest? I used to use Clout for digestive issues when I kept tropheus. Would it be the same medication for a pleco?

Thank you!
Kelly

hi, first have you checked your water for amonia, nitrites or high nitrates ? What is your ph ? Did you ask the store where you got him what they fed him? That would certainly help.

I had 2 blue phantoms, pretty much the same as your green one, food-wise . Mine NEVER touched sweet potato or any orange veggies. They loved raw zucchini --the skin for sure. I had to let them know it was food, as they didn't recognize it as food the first few times , so I took a wafer that I knew they were familiar with from calling the store, then broke it in half, stuck it in the zucchini skin and plopped it in , skin side up. When they went to eat the wafer , they got a taste of the zucchin and dug it . You can try that , skin up on one and skin down on the other , just about an inch or 1 1/2 inch pieces . You may have to try it a few times for him to get it. My phantoms also loved red bell peppers, but start with the zucchini --put it on a clip made for aquariums so it will sink and remove uneaten food in the am, and try again at night.

phantoms prefer neutral or lower ph, so 7 or under. And if you test your water as mentioned above and have 0 amonia, 0 nitrItes and nitrates under 20 but 5 or 10 is preferable...if nitrates are high, you need to do a wc. Good luck ,ps I gave mine away because my tap water ph is too high and didn't want them to live in it. Georgie

Food wise, I would agree with the above. My blue phantom loves courgette (aka zucchini) and always eats the green skin first, though he also eats the whole lot within 48 hours. Also red bell peppers get eaten completely leaving only the outer skin. He's also keen on pleco pellets but the other fish (Cories, tetras) love them too, so the plec doesn't get such a share.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok, answered these as best I could. This morning the Green Phantom was out swimming around, still checking things out. This afternoon he found a place to settle between a slab of flat rock and the wood.

1. Water parameters
Quarantine Tank- I measured ammonia every couple of days, and it always read zero. I measured nitrates today, and they were at 10ppm.
Main tank nitrates- 10 ppm

a) Temperature range.
Quarantine Tank- may have been running a little cool. I didn't have a thermometer in there, and was relying on the setting of my Visitherm heater, which was set to 79.
Main Tank- two 150 watt Eheim heaters located at opposite ends of the tank, both on an Otto controller. Temperature is 82 degrees as measured by a mercury thermometer.

b) pH.
Probably about 7.5 to 7.8

c) GH.
I'm not sure where my hardness kit is at the moment- our water has always come out of the tap very hard.

d) KH
(don't know)

e)Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, levels.
Ammonia- zero in both tanks
Nitrite- zero in both tanks
Nitrate- 10 ppm both tanks

f) Water change frequency
Main tank- changed twice in the past week, trying to get nitrates down in preparation for the Green Phantom who was sitting in quarantine. We had recently traded back a group of five 4 inch Featherfins because they produced a crazy amount of waste.


2. Tank set up
a) Size.
Quarantine tank- ten gallons
Main tank- about 84 gallons, six feet long by 15.5 inches wide by 18 inches tall.

b) Substrate.
quarantine tank- none, just a few slabs of rock
main tank- finely crushed coral

c) Filtration.
quarantine tank- AquaClear 50 with about a six inch diameter round piece of filter floss pad taken out of my well established Eheim Classic 2217 Canister on the main tank.
Main tank: Eheim Classic Canister has been running on my main tank for about nine years. Packed with Eheim ceramic noodles, two coarse sponges, Eheim ceramic balls (look like cocoa puffs), Lifegard Filter Pad, a fresh Polyfilter pad, and a fine filter pad. After passing through the canister, the water then passes through a 36 watt Aquatop UV sterilizer. We also have a Hydor water pump mounted on the left side of the tank near the surface, to help circulate water across the length of the tank. The water goes through the Eheim canister, then the UV, and is returned to the tank via a spraybar at the surface of the tank on the right side.

d) Furnishings.
Quarantine Tank- a few slabs of rock from main tank
Main tank- lava rock type cavework on right side, very large piece of driftwood in the middle third of the tank, and flat, upright slate type rocks on the left third of the tank.

e) Other tank mates.
Quarantine tank- nothing
Main tank- three clown loaches from 3.5 to 4 inches long
five petricola cats (about 3 inches each)
one julidochromis regani (about 3 inches)
one neolamprologus brichardi (about 3.5 inches)

f) How long has it been set-up?
Quarantine tank- I just set it up last week- filter material was taken directly out of the Eheim canister from main tank so that it was preloaded with bacteria.

g) When was the last new fish added?
Green Phantom pleco was just added last night to the main tank. All other tankmates we have had for many years.

h) Foods used and frequency?
main tank- NLS (New Life Spectrum) Thera+ Regular Formula

Quarantine tank- I tried giving the Green Phantom 1/2 NLS H2O Stable Wafer, but he ignored it, so I removed it after 24 hours. Green Phantom did eat algae off rocks, then ate a spinach leaf, then offered him a somewhat cooked yam which I think he ignored, then I removed it a day later, then he stopped eating. I tried another spinach leaf, but he ignored it. I did 50% water change the next day, and added another heater, as the 25 watt I had in there seemed to be on all the time, working too hard to keep the temperature up. The evenings can be a little chilly here.

3. Symptoms / Problem description
Problem began after about five days in the Quarantine tank after trying to feed a yam. The Pleco is not holding his dorsal fin upright as much as before. Now he only has his dorsal up when he is moving around. He does not want to eat spinach anymore.

4. Action taken (if any)
50% water change in the quarantine tank, added another heater, a couple days later, moved him into my main tank where there is abundant algae on back and sides of glass, as well as wood.

5. Medications used (if any)
none

This is a panorama pic from my phone, so the tank appears like a bowfront, but it's not. Other than that, you can get a good idea of the layout of things. The green phantom has been hanging out between the backside of the wood and a flat type rock which is laying up against it. I dialed up the temp from 82, to hopefully 84. Will check the temp again tomorrow and see if I have to adjust the controller again.

This is a picture from 10 pm tonight, when he was out on the wood. I didn't see any scrubbing going on though. Sorry for poor picture quality.

One more pic for what it's worth. He's been very active swimming around tonight after the lights were out. Still not sure if he's eating.

Your fish choices are somewhat odd for what essentially looks like it is a rift lake tank. hard alkaline water. The cichlids & synos are perfect for this set up (with the fine crushed coral substrate)

It is however unnatural for the clown loach & L200. it may even be causing irritation/damage to the clown loach noses as the sift through looking for food items which is their natural behaviour.

Ideally clown loaches should also be kept in larger groups than 3. While they're small it is less of an issue but as they grow they can become more inquisitive & bully/harass other bottom dwellers.

I'd look at revising the stocking along a common theme.

Clown loaches have been in there for about seven years with no problems or injuries to themselves or others. They never bother the other fish. The brichardi, julie, and petricola cats are all about nine years old at this point. We originally went with Tangs due to lots of experience with African fish in general, and our tap water is naturally suitable. I don't want to ever go back to mbuna due to the very high pugnacious factor, so we have been with Tanganyikans which though capable of taking care of themselves, generally don't go looking for trouble every minute like mbuna tend to do. We're now drifting away from Tangs, but I learned a long time ago not to try to reduce pH and soften my water. We have also found through the years, that when properly acclimated, many fish can adapt to the harder water.