Are my Plecos Sick ?

[owl]

Hi ,
I have 3 small Plecos ( i think they are Trinidad Plecos ) in my 55g tank ,
and there are some yellow spots on them , first that i bought them they had them but they were so little , and the pet store said it s cuz of food and they will be fine in a few days ! , but now after 2 month the spots become so much bigger and gave a very bad look to them !
what r these spots and is it dangerous ?
i attached a pic but it was taken bout a week ago they r so much worse now !

 

[stezatois]

Plecos can change colour. All of mine do this. The one in my fry tank has done this a lot more since i switched out nasty substrate for sand. He camoflages himself, and parts become almost sand coloured. The one in my community tank goes darker and blends in with his bog wood.

Your pic just looks to me like the plec is doing the same thing. I dont know if anyone elses eyes are better than mine and can see if theres a problem.

 

[wataugachicken]

have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? what are the exact numbers? what other fish are in there? how often do you do water changes and how much? what do you feed the plecos?

it may be something, it may be nothing, but it's very hard to say without more information about their environment and care.

 

[owl]

Hi , i donn have the test kit ( it s really expensive here for me ) so unfortunately i donno the parameters ,
in there i have 4 neon , 3 baby angels , 4 dwarf gouramies , 2 goupies , and 4 corys . ( the plecos are out now )
i change bout 10-15% of water every week , and i fed them mostly frozen bloodworms , and some kinda fish food here we call " Lufak " i donno what exactly it is , but the local petstore told me to buy it !
and here s the pic i took right now ...

i really feel bad for them they really seems depressed ...

 

[lovemybarbs]

My common used to do that. If my clowns came out during the day, I would tell you if they did that or not.

Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't peel or turn white. If could be just his stripes.

 

[flossyfloofloo]

u need a test kit it is really usefull and try to find algea wafers/pellets

i keep 2 bristle nose plecos and they do this quite often to cammofauge themselfs with yours is semetrical i wouldnt say it is fungal but could be due to ammonia/nitrite/stress problem

if all three are simmilar all through the day it may just be colour changes but without a test kit there is no way to be sure

u dont say if u use a water conditoner if not then that could be ur problem too

i hope this helps

 

[stezatois]

One of our plecos is doing the same thing at the moment. Personally i cat help but think its down to them growing. I would expect the dulling in colour. Much as i saw in my snakes, As plecos come complete with armoured skin on top.

 

[wataugachicken]

definitely looks like stress coloration, but from illness or having his picture taken you can't tell. without having test kits available to you, you should be doing 30-50% water changes weekly. anything less than 25% doesn't really affect anything at all if you have bad stuff in your water. where are the plecos now? do you have another tank for them?

 

[owl]

sorry , the plecos where in a small plastic bowl , so i could change their waters 2 times a day , i couldn t resist seperatin them , i put them back in the tank they r the same as before , some times brighter some times darker ... i ll go to buy a test kit today ...

 

[pinkertd]

What I see in post #4 is their mottled stress coloring. The first plecos I bought did this and I was petrified that my new purchases were ill and to save them I had to get up the nerve to let the breeder know they were ill and seek advice on how to treat this weird illness that I couldn't identify..... I was very relieved to learn this was their stress colors and not illness.:grinyes: