Sores / cuts on my 2 Plecos

[hostilegiraffe]

I have 2 1foot plecos in a 55 gal with rocks and after I put in some frozen Squid I got from a pet store one of them (Chuck, the smaller one) started freaking out. He would flinch when ever he would lay on the sand and flip around the tank more than he would usually. Yesterday he flipped so hard that he actually came out of the tank. Now my larger Pleco (Norris) is starting to do the same thing and also flipped out of the tank about an hour ago. I have noticed red sores on both of the plecos. On the bottom of their tail fin and towards the back of their rectum. They also both have identical sores on the base of their dorsal fin. I put aquarium salt in today as I didn't have anymore and had to get some and also have been putting Meal-flex in the past two days. I tested the ammonia and it is reading "0". Please help me it would kill me to lose these fish. :barf::barf::barf::barf:

If i get any replys I will post pictures.

[Dangerdoll]

not really sure but take caution with using salt with pleco's. They are a scaleless fish and are sensitive to prolonged periods of salt.

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[spacefish34]

I second what Dangerdoll said about salt.Also,a 55g is too small for two plecos of that size.How long has the tank been set up?What is your water change schedule,how often and how much?

[Dangerdoll]

That is another good point... I dont mean to make it like everything is wrong and not to address the problem at hand... but a 55 gallon tank footprint is 48" long and 12" front to back.

The sores might be attributed to the salt though, I am not sure if the salt from the squid meal caused the issue but it could be but not sure. If you're using "Melafix", that's safe to use for scaleless fish, so you may be on the right path. Just cut out the salt, do a few water changes... one a day for a few days.... you'll be in the right direction.

Posted on mobile.aquariacentral.com

[hage0245]

Totally agree with the above posts. Adding additional salt will only make things worse. Throw them some Hikari Algae Wafers, plecos love those things.

BTW, rad names for your plecos. Good luck!

[Rbishop]

Were the red sores there before feeding squid?

Pics would help get some more responses.


Liquid test kit? How about a nitrite and nitrate reading?

Anything else in the tank?

[dbosman]

As I'm sure you know as you grew them to a foot long, plecos are black water (Amazonian), not brackish. A lot of new tank owners get very confused by that. Adding salt is not good for plecos.
From what you have described I'd do a big water change and remove all the rock work for a while.

[Rbishop]

Aquarium salt will not make the tank brackish, but do be very careful about adding it.


The symptoms sound more like bad water quality to me, until some pics can be provided.

[hostilegiraffe]

Thanks for the reply's, I'm new to aquariacentral and I thought that I would get an email if I got any replys to my post and was unaware of any of you replying to me. It turns out that both of the Pleco's had some sort of parasite that gave them seizures that in turn gave them the sores I was originally talking about. The plecos would freak out and swim full speed into the rock/coral thus giving the scrapes and sores. I got a parasite medication and Melafix. The effects were immediate, the seizing stopped in about 2 days. Then my larger pleco, Noris, started seizing again and died some time this morning.

[pinkertd]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Sure hope the remaining one bounces right back for you!

[hostilegiraffe]

Thanks, Chuck seems alright at the moment. He hasn't freaked out for the past few days. I guess I can go ahead and replace the sand with gravel and put in my driftwood like I've been planing to do but couldn't because I didn't want to worsen Noris by moving around the tank.

[Cerianthus]

Curious if any squids were eaten by pleco or was it just its presence in the water which may have caused this mishaps?

If it was my tank, i would still wait bit more before changing substrates/adding sand but adding driftwood now should benefit pleco with its digestion.

[hostilegiraffe]

Im not adding sand Im replacing it with gravel. I'm defiantly not going to feed any more squid and plan on returning it. But knowing me it will probably be a while before I get around to changing around out the gravel, and plus I'll have to wait on putting in the driftwood because its not yet waterlogged. I checked on it today and one of the smaller pieces is still very buoyant but the larger piece is almost completely submerged.

[spacefish34]

Just curious why you feel the need to remove the sand and replace it?

[hostilegiraffe]

I want to replace the sand with gravel for 2 reasons: 1) I want to reinstall my UGF to get circulation of the tank and 2) I think the gravel will look more natural with my current decor. Ill try to post some pics tonight.

[BrainLady]

I am so sorry for your loss! I just love Pleco's... gentle little souls. I know they love driftwood, so perhaps your surviving guy could get some driftwood. Don't use salt, it is not good for them. I think it may have been the toxin in the squid.... don't these fish release a nasty neuro-toxin when scared. Please get the squid out of the tank if you haven't already done so. Good luck with your remaining baby. poor guy.

[hostilegiraffe]

Thanks, and Chuck has a nice piece of drift wood that he happily sucks on profusely. And NOOOOO I havent fed them any squid since the one time that I used it. I plan on returning it to the FS where I got it from. I still have no Idea as to what caused the parasite but will never use frozen squid ever again, and yes It could quite possibly have been some toxins that were still in the squid (even though one would think that you shouldnt have to worry about that),

[BrainLady]

I am so sorry about your Pleco.

[hostilegiraffe]

Thanks, it was a big loss especially to my little sister. :( and all my friends were wow dude what the BLEEP happened to Norris?

[hostilegiraffe]

Here are some pics of my tank:


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-These are my two young angelfish that I am keeping in the breeder to keep from being eaten by the Gobys.

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-The pics are a bit blury because I'm tired and I increased the exposure to get good lighting but the movement of the fish make them look blury, and yes I could have increased the Fstop or the ISO but my camera is only a digital compact flash without a lot of adjustable settings. But that long gray/tan blur is a Dinosaur Bichr.

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