Algae Eater and Plecos Died

D

DBray6

AC Members
Dec 2, 2006
110
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16
Tampa Bay, FL USA
I woke up this morning and noticed my pleco was acting crazy. Swimming very fast and trying to attach himself to the surface, nonstop movement. I didn't see my other pleco. I started looking and found him dead in one of his tunnels. My wife asked if I had seen my algae eater and I went on a search for him and he is totally missing. Everyone else in my tank is totally normal including the very tiny fry and shrimp.

My water parameters are Nitrates 20, Nitrites 0, Alkalinity between 120 and 180, ph 7.2.
This is normal for my tank.

I did clean the filter yesterday and didn't change the media. Just rinsed in declorinated water.

The only thing I can think of is 2 days ago I added cypress to my tank. And I am strongly suspecting this to be the problem. The plecos, algae eater and the snails are the only ones that actually eat off the cypress. It was all aged and free of bark. I soaked it for a week with 2 hot water changes a day. Tannins were gone.

I read conflicting opinions on cypress in the tank here on the forums and thought I would give it a try. My opinion is now on the side of NOT to use cypress in your aquarium. I have removed it from my tank and am back to the rocks. I really like the wood look alot better than the stone but I am going to wait a while and see what other cool pieces I can find.

I also have a few small branches of Live Oak in my tank and that has been there for a while with no ill effects. I may try to find more of that.

Has anyone else had problems with something in your tank killing just one or two types of fish? Why were my snails and shrimp not effected.
 
Plecos are definately more sensative to chemicals than some other fish (so are loaches). Where did the cypress come from? I use it in my discus / fancy pleco aquarium and have never had problems. Perhaps yours was sprayed with a pesticide or something. I actually have a few pieces of cypress up for sale in the classifieds (from the same batch that I have been using for 6 months now), but they are probably too big for your aquarium.

Sorry for your loss,
Clay
 
I got mine from a Cypress place on 301 in Waldo, FL. I asked where they got all their cypress from and they go behind logging crews and stuff and collect it. I asked if other people get stuff for aquariums there and she said that they did.

With Cypress

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Back to Rocks



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That could be it. I looked at your auctions and yours definitely looked much more seasoned than mine. I am heading out of town tomorrow, if you have anymore up when I get back at the end of the week I may buy one.
 
Urk, I think you got it. Tree resins and saps can be pretty hard on fish, particularly plecos, who scrub at the wood. Normally driftwood is kiln dried to remove these agents. Natural driftwood, particularly hardwoods often soak for up to a year before all resins are leeched out. I'm sorry you lost a plec. You might try setting that wood in a small stream for a year and use it later, it's very nicely shaped.
 
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