Tips/guide to force feed a pleco?

[MilitantPotato]

My 11" TL rhino pleco is wasting away. I recently moved across the country with him and several other fish, and I believe that stress allowed a parasitic infestation to take hold.
He's refusing food, has a somewhat sunken belly, white and inflamed anus, and his coloration has gone from brown and orange, to a black base, with white where the orange on fin was.

I examined his tank mates feces under a 500x microscope and found what I believe to be nematode eggs.
The waste I've collected from his tank mates is mostly normal, with some mucus mixed in. No-one has long streaming white poop, but I'm suspecting they're also dealing with Hex as well due to the small amounts of mucus mixed with the feces. I was unable to see any in their feces, but I don't trust my ability to distinguish the flagellates from other bugs.

I've treated with levamisole at 2ppm, it's 4 days past and he's still refusing food. His tank mates are being fed HexShield.

I'd like to mix up a batch of HexShield or another food and Epsom Salts to force feed him, but am worried about properly getting it into his guts, or forcing too much in him.

I have a 1mL syringe and silicone airline tubing and my first attempt seemed to just all remain in his mouth, as he blew/spit it all out after returning him to the tank.

How far should I attempt to insert the hose into his mouth? How do I position him? He clenches down really hard to stop the hose from going further, and I'm worried that forcin the hose will harm him more.

Also what amount of food should be given? Is 3mL too much?
Thanks!

 

[taksan]

Metronidazole is your friend here

 

[MilitantPotato]

Metronidazole is your friend here

HexShield has that as an active ingredient, along with epsom salt, is it not at a potency that's useful?
I will go buy some and mix my own, but I assumed it was an effective product.
I've been moistening the hexshield with a slightly less potent mix of epsom salt and distilled water as per RD.'s recommendation, figuring a bit extra wouldn't hurt.

 

[phreeflow]

Wish I could be of help here but whenever my plecos have done that, they wasted away slowly. Tried levamisole, metrondazinole, fenbenzadol, praziquantel, Hexshield, water changes, Epsom salts, warmer temps to induce faster metabolism (this has a negative effect as they wasted away faster...they would use up more energy but would still not eat), vitamins, and a bunch of other stuff i can’t remember right now.

Tried a bazillion different foods and the only thing they’d ever take to was live blackworms but then again, they’d only nibble a bit here or there but never enough. They would completely ignore everything else. Tried soaking in various concoctions of garlic and so on.

Seriously don’t know...they are stubborn fish. Once they stop eating, I’ve not found a way to reverse it. Met a lot of other hobbyists go through the same sort of thing. Either they waste away or they just flat out die with no warning...they just sit there with fins wide open looking fantastic without a single spot or sore or anything until you realize they’re not moving or breathing.

If anyone has some insight, please do share. I’m stumped too. I currently breed L46 and others in the past so I know my way around plecos but this something I haven’t figured out.

By the way, there’s a vet by the name “The Fish Doctor” in YouTube and he often force feeds fish in his demonstrations. You might wanna look him up but I’ve never seen him do it to plecos. Keep us updated and good luck!

 

[squint]

I've never heard of gavage feeding of fish without anesthesia. I had vets gavage feed my fish before, under anesthesia.

Look for an aquatic vet. This may take several hours of Googling and phone calls.

Wish I could be of help here but whenever my plecos have done that, they wasted away slowly. Tried levamisole, metrondazinole, fenbenzadol, praziquantel, Hexshield, water changes, Epsom salts, warmer temps to induce faster metabolism (this has a negative effect as they wasted away faster...they would use up more energy but would still not eat), vitamins, and a bunch of other stuff i can’t remember right now.

Did you try dimetridazole, isometamidium chloride, toltrazuril, diclazuril, or amprolium?

 

[taksan]

I’m not actually sure it’s Hex ... I’ve had plecs in Discus tanks that suffered catastrophic outbreaks of Hex and the plexus were unaffected. I’d be smashing the metro and then doing big WC’s daily... and offering fresh veggies daily along with live black worms.

 

[white specter crayfish]

I have a fish that people say might have hex, it's poop is a mix of orange and green (from the food I feed) but no fish has an symptoms so idk what it is, but to force feed a pleco I think a tube into it's mouth is the best method, try some deshelled pureed peas, some medication, and some epsom salt, peas are a laxative and so is epsom salt, hopefully this helps

 

[squint]

I’m not actually sure it’s Hex ... I’ve had plecs in Discus tanks that suffered catastrophic outbreaks of Hex and the plexus were unaffected. I’d be smashing the metro and then doing big WC’s daily... and offering fresh veggies daily along with live black worms.

It could just be that the plecos' immune systems handled the hexamita better. Even within the same species, some individuals are more successful in the battle against parasites. Those are the ones that grow faster.

My biggest loach was 3rd largest a few years ago. One day her growth took off and she overtook everyone. My smallest one seems to have Cryptobia. I'm sure they all have it but some are dealing with it better than other.

 

[phreeflow]

Did you try dimetridazole, isometamidium chloride, toltrazuril, diclazuril, or amprolium?

No...haven’t tried those or have even heard of them. Not sure where to begin but if one of those can help stop plecos from “wasting away” and get them eating again, I’m all ears.

But I don’t mean to hijack this thread...back to the OP’s question, any ideas on how to get his rhino pleco back on track?