Is he dieing?

[kntrygrl4lyfe]

ok, so my friend bought me 2 small plecos today for my tank, and I noticed when they were emptied that the bigger one was weird looking. His head is like albino.. or ghostly looking I tried to take a picture, but my camera sucks and the other camera I lost the cord.. but in the pic you can see the color Im tlaking about. Is he gonna die? or is he just discolored?

 

[hope]

I'm by no means an expert, but I know we had a pleco that did that as well and he did in fact pass Not saying that yours will, just preparing you in case based on my experience.

 

[sumthin fishy]

I have no clue for sure. Do you know what type of plec? Without a better pic, it could be hard to say if theres something wrong. Do you have any other signs of problems? is it eating etc. ?

 

[kntrygrl4lyfe]

he was just one of the common plecos that you can get for a few dollars. his belly looks a little sunken in, but he ate part of an algea waffer earlier, and he moves around alrightits just his head is albino looking

 

[sumthin fishy]

while it is really cool looking, do you have another tank to move it into before it gets 20"?

 

[Marinemom]

If his belly is sunken in,he may already too far gone in the starvation department. I would take him back to the lfs and look for one that is not only actively looking for food but has a very full belly. I have been told from several sources that if the belly is sunken in, it is a really bad sign.

Marinemom

 

[kntrygrl4lyfe]

I was thinking of doing that tomorrow, just bringing him back for another one, ive never tried to bring a live fish back.. is it usually a problem?

 

[tmtpowers]

Get a rubber lip pleco or some other small pleco. The common pleco gets way too big for your tank and if you get a common and leave it in that tank, you can bet it will die a early death. There are plecos out there that would be ok in your tank though.

 

[blkwdw13]

You should really consider bringing the plecos back since they both need a much bigger tank, maybe consider oto's or any pleco that stay under 5".

 

[Woofy]

if it is a common then ya take it back get a rubber lip or a bristlenose. My rubber lip had a sunked stomach to but never lost color, he died unfortunatly. I do know of a pleco that changes color like that , i was told it was called a chubby pleco. hope that helps.