Pleco Stomach Rotten :(

Yes. It does look very much like ring worm. I noticed the spotsometime last week. Maybe Thursday. The substrate is basic river rock mixed with pea gravel and I have a lot of large rocks that I gathered from a creek bed.

As far as other residents I have a variety of cichlids including a yellow lab, an acei a giraffe, 2 jewels, 3 Malawi assorted, 3 fronts, and one other pleco.

Whe I get home I will get a flashlight and see if I can coax him to the glass again.
 
Could be aero/pseudomonas. Google aeromonas infection and see if that doesn't match what you're seeing.
 
It looks like a billet hole... not that I've seen many but I saw a dog that was shot with a bb gun and the hole looked similar. Can you see fresh flesh in the wound or healed flesh?
 
I don't think ringworm would result in a hole through the skin. Ringworm's telltale sign is a ring on the skin surface. I'm wondering if the pleco somehow started with a cut from something and bacterial infection set in. Bacterial infection will eat away at flesh and keep going. If there's any way possible to get a closer shot of that wound it would be very helpful. If it's the result of a bacterial infection, antibiotics would be necessary and very very soon.
 
Question to All:
Isn't the large opening, the VENT opening?

How about start feeding him food that eliminates parasites?
"Jungle-Internal Parasite Guard" +
"Jungle-PEPSO Food?"
 
Last edited:
Question to All:
Isn't the large opening, the VENT opening?

How about start feeding him food that eliminates parasites?
"Jungle-Internal Parasite Guard" +
"Jungle-PEPSO Food?"

No, it's not.
You can see the vent, it's the tiny white dot at the bottom of the two fins.
In the red circle I made.

Also, it looks to be a deep hole in the belly. If you save the picture to your PC and open it, there's a shadow that seems to suggest it's 3mm deep or so.

Hope your doing extra water changes to be on the safe side.
pleco.jpg
 
With ulcers like that, they tend to get a thicker rim around the outside of the ulcer, thus giving this pleco the appearance of that extra mouth.
 
It looks like a billet hole... not that I've seen many but I saw a dog that was shot with a bb gun and the hole looked similar. Can you see fresh flesh in the wound or healed flesh?

Yes it does look like a bullet hole wound and I have seen several. Does tend to get rowdy out here in LA from time to time.

You Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps looks healthy other then that hole. I also noticed in the pic that you can see a shadow indicating its kinda deep. Ide guess more like a quarter inch from the angle of the shot. Can be deeper though. More pics of the wound itself would help.
 
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