Pleco died

[wonderboy1377s]

what did you have in whith it?

I have blood fin tetras, german blue rams, and glass catfish with it.

 

[SaltyCrak]

Are plecos very fragile fish? I have a little (about 1.5") in my one tank and bought another bigger (3") on saturday. On sunday i changed the gravel to sand and this morning i found the larger pleco capsized! I kept 90% of the water and didn't touch the filter when i changed the substrate. My oscars, TT eels and small pleco be all fine. I thought the big guy would be more hardy. But i guess not. Now i don't know if it's worth getting another one, especially if they're so finicky

 

[matubula]

Are plecos very fragile fish? I have a little (about 1.5") in my one tank and bought another bigger (3") on saturday. On sunday i changed the gravel to sand and this morning i found the larger pleco capsized! I kept 90% of the water and didn't touch the filter when i changed the substrate. My oscars, TT eels and small pleco be all fine. I thought the big guy would be more hardy. But i guess not. Now i don't know if it's worth getting another one, especially if they're so finicky

I would guess it was due to stress. Having changed the substrate the day after you got it. Other things that could of killed the newly introduced plec are ammonia poisoning during transit and chemical shock from being introduced to the new tank water. Most likely all 3.

I have kept pleco's for about 8 years now and have found them to be very hardy fish, especially the common varieties like P. gibbiceps/pardlis/joselimaianus

 

[matubula]

Ive had a gold nugget pleco for about 6 months. Everything was going fine and yesterday it died. I saw it eat the night before. I do weekly water changes of 25%. I tested my water and the ammona and nitrites were zero. The nitrates were 20ppm. What could have gone wrong?

GN's are known to be quite difficult to keep in the early stages. But after 6 months and what sounds like very good fish husbandry, I cant think of any obvious reason. How big was it and were there any new additions to the tank?

GN's have very long digestive tracts and ideally need to be able to constantly 'graze', perhaps it could of been diet issue.

 

[tunblue]

sorry for all your losses people....

 

[Mr Pleco]

GN's are known to be quite difficult to keep in the early stages. But after 6 months and what sounds like very good fish husbandry, I cant think of any obvious reason. How big was it and were there any new additions to the tank?

GN's have very long digestive tracts and ideally need to be able to constantly 'graze', perhaps it could of been diet issue.

I read GN's are "Aufwuchs" (sp?) grazers. My feeling is they should not be sold under 4" they are too delicate in trying to provide the right foods. plus in a community tank they are out competed for food... What where the tankmates?

 

[matubula]

Heres a great article by Ingo Seidel on Planetcatfish, bit long but If you want to keep them then its a must.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/shanesworld.php?article_id=382

 

[zerojquan85]

exotic plecos are always hard to get them to eat...

Sometimes even common will die...
I recently bought a Salfin pleco at petsmart that was extremely brown, it was doing fine and growing from 2" to about 4" in just 3 weeks.... but thats when problem started to happen... I didnt see the fish for a few days.. and my water started getting very cloudy....

Then i did a full search around the tank before i went to work.. and saw that the Pleco was caught in between the driftwood... Somehow it died.. and it was decomposing very badly.... I was so sick and sad for it...

Anyways.. point is... Fish die.. no matter how hard u keep it.. just need to make sure to not stress it.. and give it an environment that is safe and suitable....

I make a abit of check my plecos every day now just to make sure... And the other two i def dont want them to die...

They are both Albino and its a chocolate pleco and Albino Common.. Both took forever to find....

ANyways.. i digress... Pleco in my opinion are very sensitive creatures.... anything can go wrong.... and you'll end up with a dead one....

Some fish to AVOID AT ALL COST with Plecos...

MIDAS! RED DEVIL! (These guys kill pleco) no matter how big they are...

Oscar u have to be careful too.. (they are dumb enough to swollow a Pleco whole...)

Jack dempsey as well.... (you might think ohhh they are harmless.... but i believe my jack dempsey killed my baby sailfin pleco)

 

[SaltyCrak]

I didn't have a problem with my Oscar hassling my pleco. The pleco was bigger, so maybe that's why.

 

[Red Devil]

sorry for your loss.. i would not say they are delicate..but i would say plecos are not considered hardy until they are bigger and acclimated to your tank...i lost a couple here and there myself..and thought what went wrong..?