doing emergency ICU on blue panaque

[2songbirds]

I've had the bugger for about a month.I always watch my new plecos real closely to make sure they're eating, as they can be picky.However, this one fooled me. At feeding time, he'd come down to the bottom for the bloodworms, shrimp, krill, and goodies. I'd leave several cukes in the tank (125g) as so many fish love to nibble. He loved to hang out on the driftwood and such...

but he fooled me

I came downstairs to shut off the lights only to find him laying there on his side. I scooped him up only to find a very sunken belly. I feel terrible...How could I have overlooked this?!!

I've been caring for him for the last 2hrs in a one gallon maybe plastic goldfish bowl I had used last year for harboring snails.

I made him at first eat frozen bloodworms off my finger. I just now put in for the second time a thin piece of cuke, and stuck him on top. I've been "cycling" him thru the bowl, placing him on top of the bloodworms, watching him suck them in. but then I noticed he'd throw them out thru his gills. Not all of them, but some

what else can I do???

 

[Linus_Cello]

Just speculating, but maybe it has some internal parasites too? So a treatment with something like API General Cure all may help? (Though as you may have seen in my post, looks like my first treatment of API GC was not successful).

The only other thing I can suggest is driftwood/caves so it feels secure (and lights out), and perhaps an airstone to ensure good oxygenation.

Good luck

 

[matubula]

Personally I wouldnt have done this, you are more likely to exacerbate problems.

The bloodworms being taken through the mouth and out of the gills is just the fish breathing and the bloodworms being carried by the water movement. Plecs will often take a mouth full of food and 'spit' out what they dont want.

If the other fish in the tank were eating blue eyes food making you think it was the blue eyes that was eating, for the time being I would recommend that you remove the rest of fish or put the blue eyes in a tank on its own for a while.

If you decide to do either I would then turn up the heat to about 30 degrees celsius and increase surface agitation so to boost oxygen levels (but trying to prevent too much current at the base of the tank). Make sure the tank is dark (lights off etc) and provide extra hiding places to make the fish feel more secure.

As for getting it to feed. Meaty foods like prawns have always been taken readily so try a couple. Cut large but thin slices of a mix of vegetables (this way its easy to see if any has been eaten) and weigh them down in the tank. I would then add a fair amount of sinking foods like wafers/tablets. This way, hopefully the fish can smell all the food and if it decides to move it will inevitably find some.

But with all the extra food, water quality will suffer so every few hours I would clean up the flake/tablet, leaving the veg and prawn to soften. Trying to disturb the fish as little as possible. Be on the look out for poo, this is a sign its eating

Then keep on top of water changes, changing a little everyday, to maintain good water quality.

I recently bought a L177 which wouldnt eat but after doing this for about 5 days I started to see magical poo although I have never actually seen it eat.

 

[2songbirds]

thanks, despite all my efforts and being up late last night caring for him, he just died. After posting this originally last night, I moved him to a calmer, smaller, warmer tank last night and placed him in a cave with a piece of cuke.

I feel terrible that I hadn't noticed the belly beforehand, as I check them periodically. But, I did have trouble seeing his from where he would hang out. I learned a valuable lesson...next time I have a pleco in question, I'm catching him with my bare hands and flipping him over.

I really liked him too. Was swimming about as of this time yesterday