Sores / cuts on my 2 Plecos

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hostilegiraffe

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Jul 6, 2010
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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

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Aug 27, 2002
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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

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Sep 2, 2009
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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

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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.

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hage0245

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Dec 8, 2010
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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

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Dec 30, 2005
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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

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Dec 5, 2010
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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

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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

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Jul 6, 2010
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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

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