I found one my bristlenoses like this.

[professorjimjam]

Please see the attached image. One of my bristlenose plecos, approximately 3 to 4 cm in size, was found dead. Upon examining the body, I noticed that its belly was swollen and filled with algae. All other plecos and fish in the tank appear to be healthy, so I am trying to understand what may have caused this.

My initial assumption is that the pleco may have overeaten algae, which could have led to its death. However, I am not certain and would appreciate any insights you might have based on similar experiences. I have not added any food to the tank for about a week, as there is an abundance of freshly grown algae available for them to graze on. Today, unfortunately, I found one of them dead.

Please let me know if you have any advice or suggestions to prevent this from happening to the others.

 

[tlindsey]

Please see the attached image. One of my bristlenose plecos, approximately 3 to 4 cm in size, was found dead. Upon examining the body, I noticed that its belly was swollen and filled with algae. All other plecos and fish in the tank appear to be healthy, so I am trying to understand what may have caused this.

My initial assumption is that the pleco may have overeaten algae, which could have led to its death. However, I am not certain and would appreciate any insights you might have based on similar experiences. I have not added any food to the tank for about a week, as there is an abundance of freshly grown algae available for them to graze on. Today, unfortunately, I found one of them dead.

Please let me know if you have any advice or suggestions to prevent this from happening to the others.


View attachment 1564098View attachment 1564099

Sorry for your loss I've never seen anything like that. Hopefully someone will chime in with the answer of what happened.

 

[jjohnwm]

I don't think that most of that is algae. In a tropical-temperature aquarium, dead fish putrefy and decompose very quickly, and an albino fish has no natural pigmentation to disguise or conceal the disgusting goo that is accumulating inside the fish. The organs are the first things to go, so that's the area that shows up through the white exterior first.

The belly is about the only part of a pleco that could be considered soft, so as the goo expands inside that's where the skin ruptures. That little bit that is leaking out might be a small amount of the stomach contents, but most of that darkness visible inside the body is rotting organs.

 

[professorjimjam]

Thank you!

 

[YankeeJack]

Purely anecdotal observation on my part: A couple of years ago, I had a run of bristle nose pleco deaths, similar to your image -- looking like they had some sort of bloat and their guts were all green and full. I observed that it seemed to coincide with feeding some spirulina algae that was designated for salt water fish.

Since I've focused on fresh water foods, hikari algae wafers, flake, and carnivore sinking pellets, no deaths like that. (incongruously, they do get BBS, which I think does help them grow faster)