There is truth to the bacteria in the gut of wood-eating loricariids. Conventional thought about new imports is that they are often lacking the necessary bacteria to break down cellulose and need to be re-innoculated with it. To do this, just introduce some royal plec poo (!) and allow the bacteria to get into your new fish. Or something to that effect.
In practical terms, royals with severely hollowed-out bellies can be difficult to bring around. It probably isn't just a lack of wood that kills them, or over-medicating them, or poor aquaria conditions, but a combination of factors that does them in. I've not found royals to be anymore sensitive to most standard aquarium medications than other plecs. However! using both Melafix and Pimafix together is an indication of other problems. The indiscriminate use of medicines (including these) is a serious problem for most fishkeepers. Both are certainly less harmful than say, formalin or victoria green, but are hardly as innocuous as their labels suggest. Melafix certainly has NO practical anti-bacterial powers, and Pimafix is recommended for fungal infections (which are actually quite rare and quite serious in aquaria) - the combined use of both is a "shotgun" approach that probably accomplishes nothing. Ever seen Melafix in a tank? It foams and fractionates bubbles quite badly. When used in overstocked tanks, on tanks with high organic loads, or with BADLY DAMAGED fish it can lessen (in my studied opinion) the gill function of fish. In other words, it decreases the amount of oxygen a fish is able to breathe (probably by causing those same pesky, tiny bubbles to adhere to the gill filaments that remove oxygen from the water and make it available to the fish's bloodstream). Sorry for this length - I'm not certain if it will help determine the why of your fish's passing.
In a nutshell, newly acquired plecs should be quarantined alone, with cover and supplemental oxygen (via airstones or surface agitation), and allowed to feed near-continuously. The point I am making (if any, or maybe just poorly, or maybe just trying to make poorly) is that these fish are extremely stressed, and often simply allowing them time to recuperate alone and/or medicating judiciously and with cause is the best approach one can take. I'm sorry to hear of your loss - the fish was indisputably beautiful. Time to get another
J
In practical terms, royals with severely hollowed-out bellies can be difficult to bring around. It probably isn't just a lack of wood that kills them, or over-medicating them, or poor aquaria conditions, but a combination of factors that does them in. I've not found royals to be anymore sensitive to most standard aquarium medications than other plecs. However! using both Melafix and Pimafix together is an indication of other problems. The indiscriminate use of medicines (including these) is a serious problem for most fishkeepers. Both are certainly less harmful than say, formalin or victoria green, but are hardly as innocuous as their labels suggest. Melafix certainly has NO practical anti-bacterial powers, and Pimafix is recommended for fungal infections (which are actually quite rare and quite serious in aquaria) - the combined use of both is a "shotgun" approach that probably accomplishes nothing. Ever seen Melafix in a tank? It foams and fractionates bubbles quite badly. When used in overstocked tanks, on tanks with high organic loads, or with BADLY DAMAGED fish it can lessen (in my studied opinion) the gill function of fish. In other words, it decreases the amount of oxygen a fish is able to breathe (probably by causing those same pesky, tiny bubbles to adhere to the gill filaments that remove oxygen from the water and make it available to the fish's bloodstream). Sorry for this length - I'm not certain if it will help determine the why of your fish's passing.
In a nutshell, newly acquired plecs should be quarantined alone, with cover and supplemental oxygen (via airstones or surface agitation), and allowed to feed near-continuously. The point I am making (if any, or maybe just poorly, or maybe just trying to make poorly) is that these fish are extremely stressed, and often simply allowing them time to recuperate alone and/or medicating judiciously and with cause is the best approach one can take. I'm sorry to hear of your loss - the fish was indisputably beautiful. Time to get another
J
, this is my other one. When I say they had two XL's on the list I orderd them both expecting one loss. Unfortunatly I lost the bigger one....
