Pleco going nuts with replacement sponges

[Cardeater]

I just tested the water and I'm about to start a water change. Ammonia is 0.25 which isn't surprising as there's a dead dish inside. Nitrate was 5ppm. I was about to start water change but figured I should test nirtrite. I out safe in to detoxify the Ammonia while I test.


I wondering if plecos eyes are cloudy or if I'm being paranoid. Trying to compare to pics from yesterday.

 

[Cardeater]

Nitrite was at 0. I'm in the middle of a water change. Drained 80% and then started filling while still draining on other side so this should be more than 100% of a change (it's filled up to 50% level while draining as water fills faster than it drains when I do this).

I had the carbon sleeve from my Aquaclear box when I bought it two years ago as I don't use carbon. I added it to Aquaclear just in case there's some chemical.leaking from the sponges. Figured it won't do any harm and might help and I have it sitting around anyway.

All the other fish seem fine. I'll watch pleco closely.

I haven't added any fish in over a year and I change water regularly so I'm not sure if anything is wrong. The swim bladder fish from three weeks ago might have gotten injured. The panda Garra as well.

I guess it's good panda Garra died today because I was supposed to be gone for the weekend. I'll cancel trip if I see anything wrong after this water change. Dead fish would have been in tank all weekend as I doubt my mother would have noticed it. It was behind the sponge tower.

 

[Cardeater]

I can't tell if plecos eyes are normal but I guess they are no worse and possibly better.

I just looked up a bunch of older pics and it's hard to tell if his eyes are different now than they were before.

I might just be paranoid bc that panda garra died. I guess it's more likely that panda garra got injured when pleco knock down sponge tower and was moving the PVC pipes as the panda garra like to hang out by the sponges and the PVC pipe.

I researched cloudy eye and if it was cloudy yesterday it might have been from the detectable ammonia reading from the dead panda garra.

I'll do another water change tonight or tomorrow and just keep monitoring.

I'm upset about losing the one fish but I guess I couldn't have predicted he would have not only knocked down the tower but also move the PVC.

 

[FINWIN]

My fish sometimes pick tasty food morsels off the sponge...I think that's what your pleco is doing.

 

[Cardeater]

My fish sometimes pick tasty food morsels off the sponge...I think that's what your pleco is doing.

Yeah he does that sometimes and so do the clown Loaches. He was going nuts over new sponges right after I put them in so presumably there wasn't any food there yet.

Over the last day he has stopped though.

 

[Cardeater]

Just an update. As I've said before, it's frustrating when I find threads when I'm searching and I don't see results or outcomes in the thread.

Pleco seems fine. I went to water changed every 2-3 days since I had the issue and thought ohis eyes might be cloudy. Seems fine now. I'll still proceed with extra water changes for the rest of this week because a rainbowfish ran into something and scraped himself (seems to happen every several weeks).

Only casualty was that panda garra that I assume got injured when pleco pushed over sponges or rolled the PVC .

As you can see even in this pic, the panda garra like hanging out on the PVC .

 

[Cardeater]

My fish sometimes pick tasty food morsels off the sponge...I think that's what your pleco is doing.

Just took this now. He's probably doing that right now: eating film off the sponges. He is relaxed now and just resting on the sponge. He has done this many times in the past. Sometimes he would move his mouth along the sponge like plecos do on glass but he wouldn't try to knock tower over.




It was weird that first two days. I'm still convinced that some chemical from sponges was causing his behavior as he was really going nuts as hasn't done it since.