Worried about Pl*co

[chesterthehero]

i have the same kind of pleco as you. mine did the same thing. scared the crap out of us. the only thing i can think of was maybe the water is high in something. every time ours did it, the nitrates tended to be over 20ppm. we would do some water change and hed be fine. i dont know that this kind of pleco is terribly sensitive to nitrates in particular, but that seemed to do it. now were a little more stringent on water parameters and he doesnt do it at all anymore

 

[briggadane]

That is stress that gives him the colors. You have a Pterygoplichthys scrophus, or Rhino Pleco. He is a sailfin, and gets huge. But they are very active, and mine is a great algae eater. They REQUIRE wood for food.

For more info, follow this link.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=80