Help sick fish

[Sushi67]

I have several fish with some kind of a sore on them. My L-25 scarlet pleco (2 1/2") has a white spot on left front. There was a matching spot on some wood where he hides. I have taken out the wood and boiled it. I left it out until I can find the cause. I noticed symptoms 4 days ago. Also have a L-114 (2 1/2") with a sore on right side of body and a L-47 with a white streak on the top of his body. Two and a half days ago started treatment of a product called Mardel from Sentry AQ for bacterial, fungal, viral infections. Active ingredient is Stabilized chlorine oxides used with normal filtration as per directions. Also have added aquarium salts No change and fish seem to be breathing faster than normal and not eating now. Thinking of neutrilizing medication. Their appetite seemed normal before starting medication. I live in Wyoming and other than Petco advice I'm on my own. Not sure if it could be a parasite?? Any help would really be appreciated. Sorry for pics, not the best camera.

 

[sigaru]

i'm sorry i'm not gonna be much help, but i have one possible cause. i know that when i got my bichir i had to take my pleco out [he's now in his own community tank with some glofish] because plecos have a tendency to try to suck on other bottom dwellers, which can remove the slimecoat of the victim fish and leave them open to infection. have you seen them trying to do this to eachother? now, i'm not an expert and i don't know if this is usually a problem between plecos, but it seems like a possibilty. again, i'm still a bit of an amateur, and all that i know is from doing A LOT of research about all of my specific fish and other compatible fish, but since their appetite went down and their breathing rate up, i would definitely stop the medicine and get what you can out of the water. i would also do some extra water changes for a few days, and use some aquarium salt [as you've been doing] as directed. it does seem to help with smaller infections and stuff. but again, i'm not an expert and this is just what i would probably do myself in this situation. just trying to help since there're no posts yet. and again i want to stress, i'm not incredibly experienced with this stuff

edit:: i would also consider their diet..there's a very nice thread stickied in the pleco forum about plecos' required diets, and possibly if they're not getting everything they should be this could happen? i'm not saying that you don't feed them properly, but you didn't mention anything about it so i just figured i'd mention that too. again, i'm not an expert. i hope i may have been able to help a little though

 

[Sushi67]

I am going to stop the medicine for now. They seem a bit stressed. There is only plecos in this tank and they do have their moments. I have researched them and I pretty sure they are getting what they need as far as nutrition. Never had this happen before.

 

[dragongirl]

I agree that it could be them sucking on eachother. When fish are sick they tend to loose their appetite and if they were eating fine then they probably dont have an infection. I would try melafix, it heals wounds and open sores and its alot more organic than alot of other medicines. Im not sure if you can get it at petco but I know petsmart has it.

 

[Sushi67]

Thanks. I'll try that for now.