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Hi all,
One of my three Leporacanthicus which i keep in a 100-43-56cm tank along with 3 clown loach died on Friday
I found him dead at 11:00pm.I tested water parametres and they were ok(pH 7,6, NH3 0, NO2 0, NO3 20)I recall 12 hours earlier he was breathing quite fast and he had a very rounded belly(he/she had a very rounded belly almost 6 months now but he was acting and eating normaly and he always was the first to reach the food)Also he and one of the other Leporacanthicus were hiding behind the external filter inlets at the mid to upper water layer but they hide there about 3 months now.He was eating and acting normaly even the day before he died.
I would like to know what killed him because i dont want to loose the others from the same illness.

On Saturday his friend with which he was hiding behind the filter inlets started breathing a little bit faster than normal and he moved and hided some cm below the surface,so i increased the aeration of the tank and after a while he moved back where he was hiding.Today he did that again and i further increased the aeration.He does not has a rounded belly and he hasnt eaten 3 days now.
Is he ill or not?If yes how can i treat him?

Thank you in advance

if they're near the filter outlets i think they're deprived of oxygen and water flow.

whats' the temperature of the tank?

it must be quite hot in athens at this time of year. the warmer the water is the less oxygen it is able to carry. get some big powerheads. this should give them some extra flow.

I hope they get better, low oxygen levels can kill fish pretty quickly.

As per your description, all water parameters were OK. I think your plecos might be dead of

1) digestion problem. What food did you feed it and how frequent???
2) suffocation caused by fungus disease. Fungus might develop on the gill of your lovely fish making it dead. This commonly happens when the water protein content is high due to much uneaten food is left.
3) no enough air content in water.

Hi all,
Thank you for your replys
I have treated the tank with the normal dose of Octozin and my Leporacanthicus finaly ate yesterday.But he is still breathing very fast.This morning he started breathing like my Leporacanthicus who died,12 hours before his death.Please help!!I dont want to loose him.

Hi racoll,
He is behind the external filters inlets,far away from the filters outlets.The flow rate of the filters is 1050L\h the one and 500L\h the other.If necessary i can increase the flow of the second filter to 1050L\h.
The tank is aerated by an OPTIMA airpump connected to 4 airstones
The temprature of the tank right now is 29 C because the temprature in Athens the last days was about 35 C.

Hi plecolover,
I feed them a variety of foods.One time a week they take tetra prima,one time a week tetra tablets,two times a week Hikari sinking wafers,one time a week Hikari algae wafers and frozen bloodworms twice.There is no uneaten food left(the clown loaches never leave any uneaten food).

Thank you in advance

Hi Kostas, I faced the similar cases three years ago as that of yours. The plecos died with big belly. Finally, I found that these were caused by the food (redworms, shrimps) I fed them. As per the information provided by some books and documents, digestion systems of plecos only adapt high fiber composed food, cannot tolerate meat well. Now I only feed my lovely plecos with Hikari Algae Wafer, Sera Tab, and TetraMin. All food are composed of high % of fiber and easily digested. I recommed you to feed you plecos only with the food which is tailor made for plecos. Say, Hikari Algae Wafer, Sera Tab, or TetraMin etc.

hi. 29C is on the warm side, (i don't know if this is within their natural range) but if you turn up the other power filter to max then it should be ok for them.

try to agitate the surface with the filter outlets. this is how the majority of o2 diffuses into the water.

best of luck.

Hi all,
Thanks a lot for your replys
Today my Leporacanthicus seems to be better,breathing almost normaly and eating greedily
I think Octozin helped him alot.Today is the last day of treatment with Octozin.I hope tomorow will be completely ok.

Hi plecolover,
Leporacanthicus L240 and L241 are primarily carnivorus and are adapted to eat foods with high protein content so i dont think that this is the problem.Also i checked the fiber content of the foods i am feeding them and found that Tetra tablets have 1,5% fiber content and is the same with the fiber content of Tetra plecomin.Also i found that Tetra Prima has a higher content of 2,0% and that the Hikari foods,both the sinking wafers and the algae wafers have a maximum of 5% but the typical analysis say 3,2%.This shows that foods which are tailor made for plecos dont necessary have a high fiber content and that other foods may have a high fiber content as well.

Hi racoll,
Thank you for your wish
Yeah, 29C is a little bit warm for them.Yesterday night it fell to 28,5C and now is 28C.I will try dropping it to 27C.I have turn up the other filter to 750L/h.

Again, thank you all for your help I will keep you updated about how he is going.

Plecolover. I have seen your replies in a couple of forum answers. I feel it is time to let you know I strongly disagree with the advise you are giving. What manmade foods just made for plecos do they eat in the wild??? Worms are one of the most natural food for most any fish. I have been feeding bloodworms for 10 years to my zebra plecos. Mosquito larvae are the best for my rainbows to spawn. It is the bacteria introduced with the food not the food.If you have a reputable source go with it. It is a sad day when all there is is man made food!!!!! Good luck.

Now my Leporacanthicus are completely healthy.They are breathing normaly and eating and the fact that the temprature is 28C doesnt seem to bother them at all

Btw Wood, i completely agree with you

Kostas,
I had a similar problem - fast breathing and swollen bellies occur a couple of times on different tanks containing plecos.

The tanks were treated differently for the problem:
first one developed a problem with 3 L-059s due to a broken heater and temperatures dropping. Swollen bellies and heavier breathing ensued. I think this was due to a big change to the bacterial colony in the tank which converts ammonia and nitrites and also to the plecos internal bacteria colony in its stomach. After much research I ended up dosing metronidazole for the intestinal problem and doing large (50%) waterchanges daily for a week. They recovered fully. I think temperature changes up or down can cause this sort of problem and lots of large waterchanges help cure the problem.

the second time it was 3 albino ancistrus that developed very heavy breathing, lack of appetite and mildly swollen bellies. I lost one and after a few days of observation I noticed they had gotten Oodium/Velvet. The symptoms showed up well before any external signs. Once the problem was identified I treated with formalin, malachite green , darkness, raised temperature, extra oxygen and frequent waterchanges. For velvet I kept treating for almost a month but the fish are now well and healthy.

Hi INXS,
Thanks a lot for your reply

I think this was due to a big change to the bacterial colony in the tank which converts ammonia and nitrites and also to the pl*cos internal bacteria colony in its stomach.

I dont think that this was caused by a big change to the bacterial colony in your tank.I think the problem was caused by the stress.Temprature dropping or rising means stress to the fish because they have to adapt to the new temprature and stress weakens the fishes's immune system.So they can become sick easier.This was my case also.Fortunately, raising the aeration of the tank to the maximum possible and treating with Octozin did the trick and now the remaining 2 Leporacanthicus are healthy again