I have a common pleco that I have had for a little over a year. It is about 10 inches long. A couple of days ago, all the spines on it's fins turned bright yellow and the lighter part of it's patern on it's stomach turned white. Any ideas why?
pleco changing color?
- Thread starter frnchjeep
- Start date
Haven't checked them in a while. That makes sense, though. Around the same time, my sump pump died. While I am waiting for the new one to be shipped, I have a small canister filter as a backup and have been doing daily water changes. Everything should be back to normal soon, but will he be O.K. until then?
If it is a common, this is definitely a bad sign. There are other plecos that actually slightly change colors as they mature, but not commons. As other people mentioned, usually a sign of stress. My commons change colors when I am forced to move them to bigger tanks, but it always goes away within an hour or two.
Yes, he will probably be fine until then. If he is still white after a week or so, and you dont have your new pump, then I would get worried. I'm sure you know this, but just make sure you try to get the water to close to the same temp. before you add it. I only mention this because when I do a 10% water change with water that is only around 5 degrees off of what my main tank is, my pleco will get whiter for 5-10 minutes, so it obviously stresses him.
Yes, he will probably be fine until then. If he is still white after a week or so, and you dont have your new pump, then I would get worried. I'm sure you know this, but just make sure you try to get the water to close to the same temp. before you add it. I only mention this because when I do a 10% water change with water that is only around 5 degrees off of what my main tank is, my pleco will get whiter for 5-10 minutes, so it obviously stresses him.
Temping the water isn't too important, as long as you are within 15dF. I do 75% waterchanges on tanks all the time, and don't temp the water and have never had a problem. This is also a breeding cue for many plecos. As far as being fine for more than a couple days, you will have to monitor the water params every day at least once. This is the only way to know if the fish will do alright.