3 plecos dead for no real reason

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fire frenzy

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May 11, 2009
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vancouver island
hi we have had 2 birstle nose plecos die in our 55 gallon tank. we baught a gold nugget pleco for the same tank and same thing happend. decided to get water tested nitrates and ammonia are fine. ph is a lil low at 6.6. we are naturally raising ph with coral. it is up to 7.0 on my last check. temperature is at 75 f. the other fish in the tank are doing fine. fire eel. peackock eel, barred spiny eel ( they are all babys and i know we will need to upgrade our tank once they get bigger) we also have a yoyo loach and 2 catfish. the other fish arent showing anysigns of stress or disease. our other tank is fine and has 2 plecos in there which are flourishing the only diffrence between the 2 tanks is the ph due to the diffrent substrates. does anyone know why the plecos in the 55 gallon would be dying?
 

pinkertd

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May 29, 2007
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Debbi
What have you been feeding them and how often? What size bristlenose?
 

BettaFishMommy

finkids make me happy :-)
Mar 17, 2008
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Sherry N.
it might be the other tankmates pestering the plecos to death?

as for elaborationg on snoop's question on wood: bristlenose plecos need wood in their diet. a piece of driftwood in the tank would serve this purpose.
 

fire frenzy

AC Members
May 11, 2009
43
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vancouver island
i keep lots of wood in both our tanks for the plecos. they also get fed blood worms and sinking algea pelletts.we didnt have either long enough for them to starve. one day they were doing fine acting normal next just dead. bristlenose was still a baby only 2" and the gold nugget was about 3.5". All the fish we have in the tank with them are very peafcfull only have a fire ee, barred spiny eel, peackock eel, 2 catfish and a yoyo loach. all of which are still babys themselfs and leave eachother be even at lights out . the other plecos in the angel tank one bristle only 2" and a trinidad are doing just fine.
 

VivaLaVics

*blub bubble*
Oct 3, 2008
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Seattle, WA
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OH no! Poor plecos! Hope you get to the bottom of whats going on here! You should feed more veggies, they LOVE those! :D
 

fire frenzy

AC Members
May 11, 2009
43
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vancouver island
yea i here they really like cucumber i think ill try it in my 30 gallon for my trinidad and bristlenose see if they likee it or not. im going to try transfering he trinidad in a couple days to my 55 and see what happens now that the ph is a lil higher. hopefully he does well and if so i think well get another gold nugget.
 

fire frenzy

AC Members
May 11, 2009
43
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0
vancouver island
thanks for the input is there anything else that could have killed them? i talked to our lfs and they couldnt figure it out either they both looked super healthy and had been at the store for a few weeks before we decided to get them. could ph levels really effect them that much? we acclimatize all fish slowly before adding them to the tank im very confused as to what happend.
 

VivaLaVics

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Oct 3, 2008
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Seattle, WA
www.myspace.com
I dont know what could have done it but the bristlenose plecos (I have 2 albino BRP) LOVE zucchini! :) You can blanch (boil for 30 seconds) the veggies to make it softer and smellier for them! You dont want it mushy- just blanched! :D They also like broccoli stem skinned and spinnach! ;)
 
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