Sick Pleco

[Gurecchen]

Help, one of our plecos is sick. This morning we found him floating up-side-down with his belly protruding. He has a few white spots near, and one on his gill cover. It doesn't look like ick or any other disease that we've seen. We did about a 50% water change. There was some rotting water sprite we took out, so the ammonia levels were really high. The Ph was low. We were wondering if it was swim bladder disease.

He seems to be breathing better now. We corrected the Ph and ammonia levels, and put in some binox and aquarium salt. I read in some where that SBD might be from bacteria. He's about 11 .5" long. His tank mate is about 13 .5" long, who is doing just fine, acting perfectly normal. They're in a 55 gal. tank.

Until a few weeks ago there were some guppies in the tank with them. They disappeared after we put water sprite in, which had been in our 20gal guppy tank tank. I was thinning it out of the 20 gal. guppy tank, because I noticed they had stopped having babies, which resumed once the plant was thinned out. Is there something I should know about water sprite? Well, besides not to "flush" it. I'm quoting the clerk at Petsmart.

He will do the occasional swim up-side-down thing, but this isn't that. He can't make himself go down, even though he tries really hard.

I feel so bad, we haven't been paying close enough attention to them since I had surgery a few weeks ago.

Any help someone could give us would be greatly appreciated. We've had them for so many years. Here are some pics.
:help:
Thanks!

 

[Rbishop]

Daily 50% water changes. Maybe a few peas that are skinned if you can get him to eat.

 

[mostlycichlids]

Wow that thing is huge! You should vary his diet with some greens it looks over fed and bloated! The spots look like a bacterial infection. Some good clean water and a better balanced diet should clear things up!

 

[Malefic23]

Yeah, that does look like sores. Daily, and we do mean daily 50 percent water changes to help him heal. Might try a little melafix in the water to sooth his hurts and make him a little more comfortable. Don't fret if he's not taking food right now. He's a big boy, and he's capable of fasting for over a week.

 

[KnaveTO]

It could also be a parasite. Plecos are subceptable to gill and internal parasites due to their size. Is he just bloated or can you see anything moving beneath his skin? As for his gills that does look more bacterial

 

[Gurecchen]

Well, he seems to be doing better. Although, he started trying to force himself down, which has resulted in some skin abrasions. We tried the peas last night, but he spit them out, and won't eat anything. I thought he was dead this morning, but he was still breathing.

I have hope though, or atleast, I think it's a good sign. This afternoon, he was floating part way down to the bottom, but laying on his back on some fake coral in the tank. My husband just took it out, in hopes of no more abrasions. His head was down at the bottom of the tank, still not sucking or swimming much, but it gives me hope. Luckily, his tank mate hasn't bullied him yet. That I've observed anyway. His belly is also less bloated. He has just now swam to the other side of the tank, but is back at the top again.

I hate him being sick is what lead me to finding out they need a special diet, because I never knew they needed anything more than flakes and algae tablets. We quit having algae blooms in their tank, when the goldfish died. I guess that's why they always seemed so healthy. They seem to prefer flakes to other food, cause he would eat them out of our hand. I wish I had known it was bad for him. If he doesn't make it, then atleast the other one should benefit.

I also never knew there were different varieties of plecos. So pretty. The biggest pleco we ever saw, was a friend's of ours and we think it was 20" and fat. He died a couple of years ago.

Well, thanks for your help. I now know what to feed them. I'll also give an update, whatever the outcome.

 

[Gurecchen]

Forgot something

I forgot to mention that he is just bloated, nothing moving under skin, and as far as we can tell, no parasites. My instinct tells me it's bacterial, but thought someone who had more fish knowledge than me might have dealt with this before, and would known for sure. We appreciate everyone's advice.

Thanks again

 

[Gurecchen]

R.I.P. Black on White

I'm sorry to say my pleco died later that night (19th). We found him dead, just before bed. I was so surprised after all the improvements. I've been meaning to let you guys know, but I started having pain again, and ended up going to the doctor on saturday.

I really appreciate all of your help.

I hope that my other pleco, White (spots) on Black (background) will fare better than his tank mate. Atleast, I now know how to feed him properly.

Thank you so much!

 

[Dangerdoll]

sorry to hear that. My suggestion for the other pleco is to make sure all traces of salt are out of the water and the ammonia level is down. Plecos are sensitive to salt for prolonged periods.

 

[Gurecchen]

Thanks for telling me about the salt, Dangerdoll.
I had no idea that they were more sensitive to it than other fish.
How much of a water changed will get rid of it? Is 50% enough, or will it require more?

Appreciate the help!