Cannot keep a pleco alive...

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werdcrime

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Feb 23, 2004
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Fort Collins, CO, USA
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I was hoping some of you might have some suggestions for me. Please bear with me for some background information. My girlfriend and I set up a new tank about 5-months ago. Since neither of us had taken care of an aquarium in quite some time we decided to start with a 10-gallon. We started with 3 mollys and let the tank get through its cycle. Two swordtails and a rubbernose pleco were added to the tank and (unbeknown to us) we also inherited ich and some sort of bacterial infection. Now either the diseases or the medication killed off the rubbernose, it was pretty hard to tell. Once that was under controll we waited about a month then bought a dwarf bristlenose for our tank. This little guy went belly up after about 4 days, the water parameters (pH, Nitrite, Ammonia) were good. So some time goes by again and I buy another dwarf bristlenose yesterday. There was not a whole lot of algae in the tank at this point so I added an algae wafer and some cucumber slices to the tank so the new guy wouldn't starve. This morning I found him next to my tank on the floor. I believe he must have flopped out near the power filter on the back of the tank as that is the only place large enough for him to get out. Now my question is...are there any less common water parameters I should be testing for or any other things I should be looking for? Maybe it's just bad luck...as it seems every fish that I like doesn't last long. My girlfriend now believes that me liking a fish is a curse. I really like plecos and would love to have one but I'm starting to feel bad that I keep killing them (or forcing them to kill themselves as it were).

Thanks in advance!
 
What else is in the tank, in the way of hiding places? While the first deaths are unrelated, the third could be the result of the fish trying to get into the filter box, possibly to hide. Another consideration--how much water movement is there? Plecos, living near the bottom or the tank, are sensitive to low oxygen levels.

Third--how are you acclimating the fish to your tank?
 
At the moment there is a fake rock "cave" in the tank. I currently have a smaller piece of driftwood on order that should also provide a hiding place.

For water movement all we have is that provided by the power filter and a vibrating pump with an airstone. I'm not sure what else I could add to increase the flow.

I acclimated the fish by placing his bag in the tank for about 15 minutes, then adding about 1/4 cup of our aquarium water to the bag every 15 minutes about 3 times. Then he was placed in the aquarium.

Thanks for your help!
 
Well. shouldn't be an acclimation problem then. And I think the cave should be enough, as long as the fish will fit in it an dno one harrasses him.

Any additives you use in the tank?
 
Well, very few dechlorination products would have this kind of effect on a fish. I was specifically wondering if you used aquarium salt of any kind--many plecos don't do well with high levels of salt, although low range (theraputic or medicinal levels) are seldom a problem.

Hmmm. Have you checked with the LFS to see if they had problems with that batch? I've purchased fish, only to have them die within a few days--and found out that the store lost the entire batch. Might be worth checking into. Bristlenose are usually some of the hardiest fish.
 
Doh! I completely forgot about that. We have added a little over a tablespoon of aquarium salt into the tank.

I'll see if I can find any information from the LFS although they aren't always the most helpful.

Also...one more thing. What is the pH range I should be at for these guys? From what I've read it's between 6.5 & 7.4 but that information varies from source to source.
 
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A tablespoon of aquarium salt isn't enough to cause a problem--although you certainly do not need to add it to your tank. While salt (NaCl) is a beneficial medication for some diseases, it is not needed in a freshwater setup. I advocate against Aquarium Salt--without a list of ingredients, you have no way of knowing what you're adding, nor what the effects will be on your water chemistry. For medicinal needs, I prefer table salt or marine mix (I have marine mix for the SW tanks, so it's convenient for me).

pH should be stable within that range. Doesn't have to be a specific value--for example, 7.2, is fine for most fish, as long as it stays there. Even high and low values are okay, as long as they are stable. Sudden changes (which often result from using products like Proper pH and pHUp/Down) can cause serious problems for any fish--and all fish. The mollies and swordtails would be showing some signs if this was the problem for you. For both mollies and swordtails, they prefer slightly harder water, with a higher pH. They should be fine in lower conditions, though, the key being stable conditions.

At this point I'd guess that the first 2 may have been ill when you acquired them, and the third was just bad luck.
 
Where in Fort Collins are you getting the fish from? I get lots of my fish from Denizens of the Deep--they usually have good stock.
 
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