Pleco with Suspicious White Blotches

[Masa_Rov]

Hi.

I have had a "common" pleco for about 4 years now. It has reached a length of about 7 or 8 inches.

I have a few questions that I hope some of the memebrs can answer.

It has two blotches. They look like lacerations. I put it in a separate small tank to treat it. For five days I treated it with Melafix and with Maroxy (in case I was dealing with fungus). One of the blotches, light brown, no longer has bloody streaks; the other is very, very white in color (about 1/3 of a centimeter in diameter), it does not appear to be cottony or tuffty, however.

Could the second one be also a laceration even though its color is noticeably diferent from the other one?

Finally, has a common pleco that grows to 7-8 in four years reached the limit of its growth? I ask because it is now housed with a still small silver arowana (3").

Thank you.

Masa Rov

 

[The TRUST]

It could be different.

that pleco is small for a 4yr old pleco. You may have stunted it's growth

 

[Masa_Rov]

It could be different.

that pleco is small for a 4yr old pleco. You may have stunted it's growth

Thank you for the reply, Cobra.

I do hope that it did not get stunted... Do they live long?

It has always had a healthy appetite. Normally, I feed it algae wafers and boiled green squash. But it was in a 29-gallon before being moved to a 125 over a year ago... Perhaps being in a 29-gallon for 2 and 1/2 years stunted its growth? When I started keeping it, I changed the water only once every two weeks. It's only since I got the larger tank that I have been changing the water once every 4-7 days. (Sometimes, when I travel, I don't change the water for 10 days.). Could water changes only twice a month stunt a pleco's growth.

I am also wondering whether this is one of the "common" plecos that does not really grow to the 1 foot plus I have seen in some tanks... How large would it have to be to be safe from an arowana?

What about the blotches? This is the second time it has gotten sick. About a year ago it had a bad case of ick. I will try to post a picture of its "bad side" to see whether someone can figure out what it is

Thanks.

Masa