As far as I know he is just a common pleco, he is black with light grey zebra type stripes. He is still very thin, eats alot of zuccini but no real weight gain and is no bigger than when I got him a year and a half ago. I have another pleco that just rasps the driftwood though.
HELP 911
- Thread starter TankBuster
- Start date
I wouldn't be too hasty to diagnose the problem as internal parasites. It would be best to know a few things about the tank and the plec's tankmates first. How many gallons? How many fish? What species? What are the water conditions - spec. nitrate? It very well could be internal parasites, but the only way to definitely confirm this is with a close study of the feces ... Does this plec have adequate hiding areas? Are there enough caves for all the plecs in the tank? Enough feeding places? The condition you describe could have many causes. I've dealt with hundreds of imported/WC plecs and seen serious parasite issues with only a few. And most of those problems were more attributable to the conditions the fish were being kept in, or shipped in. There also could be more serious internal problems that are unresolvable with medication. The best treatment would be to quarantine this fish and more closely observe his condition. Even seriously emaciated plecs recover when treated with kid gloves, solitude, oxygen and lots of food. I'm not saying do nothing!!!!! but it would be best to not simply medicate on the hope that you are doing good. Most commercial deworming products are not as easy to use on livestock as one would hope. And most medicated foods are not very palatable to most fish.
Good luck with it!
J
Good luck with it!
J
First thing is get him somewhere where you can observe him better. Keep him where he has exclusive rights to the food. If he is smaller he will not be the dominant pleco, and may very well just be getting chased away.
OK well he is the biggest, he is the first one out to the food. I am feeding wafers at night and large fresh zuccini in the day. He eats so much but doesnt gain or grow. He has plenty of hiding spaces, more than enough. Not getting harrased, his fesces is the same as the other plecos. He is in a 250 g. with a puffer that has learned to respect other fish in the tnak, a TSN, black ghost,and a spotted gar. Amonia-0 Nitrite-0 Nitrate- between 5 and 10 ppm, after 10 ppm I get weird and do a 30 % water change. He is living the life but not getting very big and very thin. Not scary thin but just huh... thin. The other rasp the huge driftwood but he doesnt. He even shares a piece of zuccini with another pleco with no problems. He is way too big for any others in the tank to swallow.
Post a pic of the plec in question, your description earlier could have been an L066. I am just wondering if he isn't a common, and has just hit a plateau of growth.
Depends, my last common looked kind of like a king tiger. THe coloration when he was stressed made him look like an L066. First glance that is what you would think he was.
