Royal Pleco - Help

F

Freewilly

AC Members
Feb 8, 2005
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Canada
My Royal Pleco died last night, and I dont know why.

I'm hoping someone can give me some good advice, since I intend on getting another one.

I've had it for about 10 days. It was doing really well at first. Very active and seems to be feeding on scraps from sinking pellets (doesn't eat algae however).

In the last couple of days I've notice that his colour changed from brown black to more of a grey black, but still acitive.

Yesterday however I noticed that his eyes are sinking in and not very active at all, it enventually died last night.

After examination it looked like it starved to death.
Sunken eyes, the belly was also caved in.

My water has zero amonia and nitrite, temp at 80.

I also have rubbernose pleco that's doing great.

Any advice is appreciated.

thanks,

Will.
 
Sounds like it starved to death. This may have been an internal parasite, especially if it came from the wild. Do you know how long it was at the LFS? If you get another, make sure you have a large aquarium and plenty of driftwood, as they actually eat wood.
 
Royal pleco's belong to a group of pleco's known to be wood eaters, so you need to keep them with some driftwood. You can also train them to eat various veggies such as sliced zucchini or canned peas. Having said that I doubt your fish would have died in ten days from starvation unless it was pretty far along when you bought him.

Pleco's can be very chameleon like with their color changes and it usually indicates something is wrong with the water he is being kept in. You need to give more information on your set up. How big is the tank? Royals can exceed a foot in length so you are going to need at least a 75g tank. How long has the tank been set up and what kind of filtration do you have? Do you know what your Ph and nitrate readings are? What are the other fish in the tank?

One account I read says that this fish does not do well in a tank where it has to compete with others over food and that very active tankmates can actually intimidate the fish and keep it from feeding even when there is enough food.
 
Pleco's all come from the wild and are very prone to internal parasites. The classic signs are a sunken belly and sunken eyes. when you look at these guys they should have a convex belly. my Royal eats anything and everything he can get to. he also rules my tank (see signature) and there are some pretty tough fish in the tank.

If your LFS will hold a fish for you and let you watch it for 30 days that is the best route to go, otherwise I would quarantine it well and observe it constantly. As long as the fish is eating it can be treated for internal parasites.

IMO it is usually wise to treat for internal parasites during quarantine. Metrodozinal(sp) is my drug of choice for this. Buy the powder and soak it into his food. meds that go into the water column are seldom effective for internal parasites even if they claim to be so.

Driftwood is an absolute must, fresh veggies, and algea are amust. mine also likes his share of protien and goes after brine shrimp, bloodworms, white worms, and bottom feeder pellets.

As mentioned these fish get about 12" long, and will get close to 6 inches wide across the body when full grown. They are extremely territorial with fish of their own kind, and mildly territorial with all other fish.
Dave
 
I have a 75 gal plant setup, with lots of wood and some algea growth.

3 clown loaches
3 SAE
4 Blue Rams
6 Fancy Guppies
1 Rubbernose Pleco (3")
2 Rainbow sharks
1 Kribensis

From the reponses, I think more than likely it had a parasite problem.
I can't think of any reason why it would starve in 10 days.

My water composition is prestine.
Zero Amonia and Nitrite.
:sad
 
I beg to differ. Not all Pleco's come from the wild. Quite a few of them are being captive bred, including the Royal. This is not to say that your Royal wasn't wild caught, it probably was. But blanket statements like that always make me nervous.
 
It seems to me like the cause of death was probably parasites, or perhaps the Royal wasn't in very good condition in the first place. Plecos are very hardy, and can survive in much harsher water conditions that many other fish, so you can probably rule out that. Also, none of your other fish died, so you can probably rule out disease as well.
 
I beg to differ. Not all Pleco's come from the wild.
Click to expand...

Correction taken, I was under the belief that efforts to breed them in captivity were not yet successful, I hesitated to make the blanket statement despite the fact that I thought it was accurate, and probably shouldn't have.
Dave
 
Karnaaj said:
Quite a few of them are being captive bred, including the Royal.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of Royals being bred in captivity. If you have a link, I would love to read about it. If it has happened, it would have to be a huge aquarium or pond with tons of driftwood.
 
WHEN YOU BUY PLECOS LOOK AT THERE STOMACH!

If it looks hollow then dont get it, the chances of him being weak and dieing of the tank move and stress is much higher.
 
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