King Tiger Pleco Not Eating (L-066)

A King Tiger pleco is a part of the Hypancistrus family. They are mostly omnivorous, that means they eat mostly meat and few vegies. Feed him worms, choped up mussles and shrimps. Shrimp pellets are OK too. Frozen blood worms are a favourite as well. Like most pleco, they are very shy. They are active mostly at dusk and dawn. So if it shares a tank with other very active and hungry fish, you need to drop your food just before lights out. This will give them a chance to forage in the night.
Your water parameter seems OK. But what about your temperature? These guys are from the amazon river, they need 26C - 30C (degree Cesius, I am a Canadian) temperature to be comfortable.
I hope he will get better, but from the sound of it, it doesn't sound very good. Also, if he's from the wilds, you might want to deworm him to get rid of any internal parasites. Good luck.
 
My king tiger also went through a period of not eating when I put him in the tank. I got him going again by figureing out which cave he was living in, and tucking a frozen bloodworm cube in there every few days for him, as well as a few shrimp pellets. I've yet to see him eat (months and months later) but he's got a little belly on him. I have to assume he's eating what I put in his cave. I wish you the best of luck, they are sweet fish, but shy.
 
I tried a fresh piece of shrimp soaked in garlic and it looks like he didnt touch it. I boiled it to make sure it is softer and get rid of any unwanted items. I also boiled it seperately from my veges for other plecos and ottos just to be safe.

He is still breathing. He does move about the tank but he seems to stay out in the open for the most part. There are at least 3 empty "caves" (ornaments / rocks areas of various types) that are always open. Even if all of my fish choose one hidding area to thems selves, there would be two open areas. But that is not the case since many of my cichlids pair up together.

His redness "could" be an inefection? There was a VERY small red spot near his dorsal fin (size of a pin head). He is starting to loose color and his face area was red (like he was blushing) and now has faded and looks kind of brown.

I have tried bloodworms - did not work. I have tried shrimp - did not work. I can try mussell and blackworms though. He does not stay in a cave and definately is NOT shy, so I can not leave it in there. But what I can do is create a cave out of a clay pot for him and place it over him temporarily. Then place the food in there.

ZebraPl3co said:
Also, if he's from the wilds, you might want to deworm him to get rid of any internal parasites.
Click to expand...
I belive he is from the wild. What do you recommend??

My temp is 79-81F (26-27C) btw.


Just an update

Thanks

Aries
 
I would try pepso fish food as a start. I think you're on the right track though. One of the main ingredient is garlic, which is what you've been doing.
There is another drug call Levamisole hydrochloride, I am not a fan of drugs, so I've never used this before, but I have heard that it's used for farm animals and works for fish too.
See : http://www.loaches.com/faq_parasites.html
Do a search for levamisole.
 
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