Help! Pleco Problem!

[moola]

We have a 90-gallon tank with a Fluval 404 filter system. Tank had a 16" common pleco (we think) that was about 10 yrs old, a 6-7" sailfin pleco who's a little more than a year old and a dozen or so platys and one juvenile molly.

Did approximately 30% water change on Monday (9/20). Husband cleaned the filter media with water and changed the charcoal and replaced the impeller and shaft and the top part of the filter mechanism that snaps in.

Monday evening, I went to feed the fish before bed and found the big pleco upside down. I touched him with a net and he seemed to bounce up to the top, but then he didn't suck onto the wall as he usually would. Husband took a look at him and pulled him out of the tank and we got no movement response at all. Unfortunately, he passed on.

The little sailfin seemed to be fine all week, but just this evening, I went past the tank and found him sitting at the top of the water, somewhat stuck onto the wall, still breathing, but not really moving. I reached in and gave him a touch and he didn't move.

We've got him out of that tank and in our other 55-gallon, which has another common pleco in it, but my husband has to hold him or he just floats. He's still breathing, but there's no movement.

Any suggestions or help would be appreciated!!

 

[Redtailcatfishlover]

We have a 90-gallon tank with a Fluval 404 filter system. Tank had a 16" common pleco (we think) that was about 10 yrs old, a 6-7" sailfin pleco who's a little more than a year old and a dozen or so platys and one juvenile molly.

Did approximately 30% water change on Monday (9/20). Husband cleaned the filter media with water and changed the charcoal and replaced the impeller and shaft and the top part of the filter mechanism that snaps in.

Monday evening, I went to feed the fish before bed and found the big pleco upside down. I touched him with a net and he seemed to bounce up to the top, but then he didn't suck onto the wall as he usually would. Husband took a look at him and pulled him out of the tank and we got no movement response at all. Unfortunately, he passed on.

The little sailfin seemed to be fine all week, but just this evening, I went past the tank and found him sitting at the top of the water, somewhat stuck onto the wall, still breathing, but not really moving. I reached in and gave him a touch and he didn't move.

We've got him out of that tank and in our other 55-gallon, which has another common pleco in it, but my husband has to hold him or he just floats. He's still breathing, but there's no movement.

Any suggestions or help would be appreciated!!

My first common pleco ive ever had and my last i had for about a week and then he started to float at the top but he was still breathing. A couple days after i found him on the bottom of the tank hard as stone dead

 

[moola]

Well, I'm happy to report that little Dyson survived the night. I didn't look into the tank this morning before I went to work because I didn't want to have to work knowing that he'd died. When I got home, he was stuck to the side of the tank in usual corner, looking and behaving normally! My husband told me that he found Dyson like that when he got up this morning, gave him a nudge with the net and he scooted across the tank with no problems!

The nearest we can figure is that maybe there was a short in the heater that somehow zapped the fish - he likes to hang out close to it. Could be what also killed the big pleco on Monday and we just got to him to late. My husband thinks that holding him in front of the water output of our 55 gallon tank and moving him around may have kept him going, since he kept breathing the whole time.

So, now the old heater is out of the tank and we have a new Fluval E300 heater hopefully another 20 years of pretty sailfin pleco!

 

[Dullamite]

Oh man, that sucks. Hopefully that is the solution. Good luck with the new heater, and hopefully you'll keep the sailfin for 20+.