Handling my pleco?

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Oh no real reason as to why, its just a what if i need to move it by hand or i suspect something is wrong with it and cant view it properly without using my hands :]

And my male has now taken to sucking on the side of my betta :/. There is sufficient food in the tank as far as im aware, - I had over fed and ended up with planaria all over the glass - so i dont understand why it would be looking to suck my other fish
 
I know you have been concerned about getting some meat into their diet, but have you been giving them sufficient vegetable bulk? A few BN's will decimate 1/2 a decent sized zucchini (courgette) overnight. They also like a little wood in their diet. If you weren't giving them vegetable matter or you took it away completely in order to get them to consume some protein this may be the cause of the slime coat feeding.

I'd remove the betta, do a 50% water change (if you've overfed to the point of planaria infestation then the water quality is going to be poor), and put a weighted (or blanched) piece of vegetable in there. If they haven't had veggies before (or if the water quality has messed up their feeding habits) it may take a few tries before they start in on the offered vegetables.

My BN's get fresh zucchini every other day (put in before I go to bed and taken out int he morning) and on the opposite days a variety of Sera catfish chips, Wardley algae wafers, Hikari algae wafers, and whatever I've fed the mid and top water swimmers that gets to the bottom.
 
Im confused...I was told Planaria are a sign of good water >_<
I usually put in cucumber and mushrooms over night and algae wafers on the other nights. They do have Driftwood in the tank as well which they are territorial over as it forms a little cave. They are a good size as far as i can see, they've fattened up since i brought em home and grown a good bit so i think they're good for food -- though i will give up on trying to get protein to them for now and stick to the veg *_*
 
Juzah;2561650; said:
Im confused...I was told Planaria are a sign of good water >_<

They are a sign of excess food waste in the water. Excess food leads to high ammonia and nitrite levels. If you have a lot of planaria your water is likely on the path to becoming toxic to your fish.
 
oh i see..The worms have gone now, as i've done 2 water changes since, and im doing another today so hopefully my waters not toxic :P Tank water just smells of water, its not like that really thick dirty water smell - so i think the params cant be too drastic.
 
Juzah;2556112; said:
I've seen pics of people holding their plecos in their hands, and im curious as to how this is done - i mean im sure there its not a science or anything but i wouldn't want to risk causing harm or extra stress to my little friends.
I'm wary of catching the little self defense spikes that come out at the rear of the head when threatened.

Its just an easy way to hold them without getting stabbed by all the spines.
 
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