Please help!!
I've had this pleco for 3 weeks now, it was fine the first few weeks I got it.
I came back from a weekend vacation last night and found it like this, with these white patches.. The white patches seem to be increasing slightly everytime I see it(my pleco doesn't appear at the front of the tank very often) and I'm really panicking.
I'm not sure but I've heard their bodies might turn lighter colored depending on their environment? I have a white sand substrate could this be the cause??
Or is it a spreading fungal infection that need immediate attention?? But the white patches aren't raised/bumpy...
Maybe my pH level/temperature is too high for the pleco??
I also realized that a tear in the dorsal fun occurred overnight. I've seen my catfish swimming into the pleco's resting spot afew times, making the pleco raise its dorsal fin. Could it have caused a fin rot from the stress?? But from what I remembered, fin rot starts at the very end of the fins/tail and this doesn't seem like it...
I'm not sure whether it may also be caused by other fishes picking on it but my pleco is the largest fish in the tank and pretty quick moving as well. Most of the time it's just peacefully at the wall of the tank if not hiding in the bunch of java ferns.
I can't seem to find any more details online, please help! I have attached pictures below.
Water parameters:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
pH 7.6
Temperature : 27 Celsius
Below : You can see the tear in the dorsal fin when it is fully opened.
I've had this pleco for 3 weeks now, it was fine the first few weeks I got it.
I came back from a weekend vacation last night and found it like this, with these white patches.. The white patches seem to be increasing slightly everytime I see it(my pleco doesn't appear at the front of the tank very often) and I'm really panicking.
I'm not sure but I've heard their bodies might turn lighter colored depending on their environment? I have a white sand substrate could this be the cause??
Or is it a spreading fungal infection that need immediate attention?? But the white patches aren't raised/bumpy...
Maybe my pH level/temperature is too high for the pleco??
I also realized that a tear in the dorsal fun occurred overnight. I've seen my catfish swimming into the pleco's resting spot afew times, making the pleco raise its dorsal fin. Could it have caused a fin rot from the stress?? But from what I remembered, fin rot starts at the very end of the fins/tail and this doesn't seem like it...
I'm not sure whether it may also be caused by other fishes picking on it but my pleco is the largest fish in the tank and pretty quick moving as well. Most of the time it's just peacefully at the wall of the tank if not hiding in the bunch of java ferns.
I can't seem to find any more details online, please help! I have attached pictures below.
Water parameters:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
pH 7.6
Temperature : 27 Celsius
Below : You can see the tear in the dorsal fin when it is fully opened.