"HELP sick Pleco" My tank, My wifes post

[FishyMatty]

this is my tank, my wife was posting while I was changing water. First off, My favorite fish, my 8" royal pleco is dead. I don't know what is up. this 75g tank has only had a few amazon swords up till this point and its in front of the window so I never added co2 or any ferts.
The plants did not come in any water.
I did rinse them first
today I added flourish excel.
One thing you have to understand about this tank.
It started off with 2 common plecos, 1 royal pleco, 1 hoplo cat, 1 oscar, and 2 turtles.
I gave the turtles and the oscar away so I could move my cichlids over. They are still small but the have big attitudes.
The tank has been running for 18months or so. the plecosl has lived with water quality probably worse than you could ever imagine. This was my first tank and my first fish. It wasn't until 6months ago that I began to understand water chemistry. and they lived with turtles!
Anyway my other 2 tanks are fine. But I lost a beautiful flawless fish.
Any more Ideas will be great.

[Rbishop]

It may be that previous poor care just caused a shortened life.

[liv2padl]

the plecosl has lived with water quality probably worse than you could ever imagine i suspect therein lies the problem. as attractive as the Royal Pleco is, it is not a fish for beginners. they are not a hardy fish, and in fact are very sensitive to poor water quality. they are difficult to adjust to aquarium conditions.

[wataugachicken]

sorry man, that really sucks. i hope the other cat pulls through.

next stop. . . . taxidermist. i'm not kidding.

[Kyohti]

Yeah... your royal was in terrible water conditions, which probably did the same amount of damage to his gills as you'd have working in a coal mine with black lung for a span of years. Especially with turtles!! Their waste is so toxic to fish...

Anywho, couple that with you making water adjustments on him and it probably was simply too much for him to handle. However, don't let that deter you from getting another one now that you have a better grasp of water conditioning. I think if you cater to the natural needs of that species, you should be able to get a new one and help it thrive for years to come.

Good luck with that. ^_^;