Pleco with shredded sail

[JDSmith]

My 9" pleco suddenly developed a shredded sail. His sail was fine in the morning, and in the afternoon it was completely shredded. It's not from the other fish, as they all run from him. My cichlid has had some fungus growing on his fins, so I have begun treating that. Is there any chance that the shredded sail is as a result of the same fungus, something like fin rot? Any help would be appreciated.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Do you have any fake plants in the tank? Maybe he cut his fins on them.

[JDSmith]

Originally posted by NJ Devils Fan
Do you have any fake plants in the tank? Maybe he cut his fins on them.

No, only two live plants. The weird thing is that the only one that's shredded is the sail. The rest of his fins are completely fine.

[ChilDawg]

JDSmith, what sort of Cichlid are we talking here? Sounds like there may have been a Cichlid-Pleco battle and the fungus is a secondary result of some infection on the wounds...can we have more info like water parameters for the tank and the species of Cichlid?

[JDSmith]

The cichlid is a green terror, there was no fight between them, the GT is scared of the pleco. The pleco was in with a carpinte in addition to the green terror up until a week or two ago and he ruled the tank even with two cichlids. The GT and Carpinte are around 5" and the Pleco is around 9" and he just chases them whenever they irritate him. The only water parameters I can check are PH and temp. The PH is around 6.4, it always stays there. The temp is around 83 now. There is no AC so the temp gets pretty high during the day (I'm in NJ). The temp and PH haven't changed all summer.

[ChilDawg]

I'd say that you should use a moonlight fluorescent tube and observe what goes on in that tank after dark...I wouldn't doubt that the Pleco beats up on the cichlids, but I wouldn't put it past a GT to fight with the Pleco when your back is turned!!!

[GEV83]

Im Back. I would say its the GT. The pleco might have just made him a tad bit mad and they just go into a little rumble. I wouldn't dawn on it to much unless it get really bad but Ide keep treating for fungi. As long *** the rays dint get taken off it should grow back but it might not. Just keep a close eye on them.

[Michael Roth]

It will be the terror, mine killed several plecos way larger than it before I figured out what was going on....the terror would wait for the pleco to sit still for a bit, then start harassing it by tugging its sail...basically dragging it around the tank.

[JDSmith]

Thanks for the replies guys. The weird thing about this is that it happened during the day while I was sitting less than 3 feet away. I'm sure it's not the green terror pulling on the sail. Pieces just sort of fell off. The sail was fine in the morning when I fed them, then by afternoon (with me sitting here the whole time) it was all split up. It's almost grown out now, it only has a couple of splits left. The GT won't harrass the pleco, trust me. I watch them all the time and I've even set up my camera on infra red. The pleco rules the tank in my case, he chases everyone and anyone who gets too close and irritates him. I think it must have something to do with the fungus as both the fungus on the GT and the split sail have just about cleared up now.