What could be wrong with my common plec?!

[orangeorange]

New here - though have read many things and followed some advise.
Not sure if this should go here or under freshwater illness...
We have a 10+ year old common plec. 13" by himself in a 25 gallon.
Have been waiting to get a 65 gallon until he seems well. Don't want to stress him with a move if he's not 100%.
He has been getting constipated every few months for a while now.
Usually for a day or two. The most was a week. Peas always helped.
The week scared us and we dosed with epsom. 3 - 5 tsp per day for 5 days.
Worked! He was back to normal fior 2 months.
It happened again. End of Jan. Tried the epsom again. Didn't work.
He pooped a bit. He ate a bit, but never back to normal.
We tried 6 doses of kanaplex and with the last dose started 6 doses of metroplex. He seemed to poop a bit, but last 2 times was mucos, not green.
He's only been getting a few peas a day.
In the beginning we fasted for 3 days.
We dosed the peas with garlic, metro & epsom.
He ate some.
He has a bulge on his side (see pictures) - that he seems to have always had but it gets more pronounced when he doesn't poop.
The whiteness on the bottom near the lateral line looks worse in the pictures.
The pictures don't show our concern - the left part of the line where it goes up has some small red scrape looking dots? Maybe 3.
He reacts normal, goes up on the glass - though very infrequent lately, ate a bit of zuccini...
Amonia is .25 with the meds - we've done about a 1/3 water change before each dose.
Nitrite is 0.
Nitrates are 5.
PH 8.2 - always.
What could this be???
What else could we do???
We have the last dose of metro tomorrow.
Then will put back carbon and let him take a break from meds.
Oh - there has been epsom in there too. 6 tsp. Replaced proportionally with water changes.
Thank you all for any suggestions!

 

[orangeorange]

View attachment 1303850 View attachment 1303851 View attachment 1303852 View attachment 1303853 View attachment 1303854
View attachment 1303850 View attachment 1303851
New here - though have read many things and followed some advise.
Not sure if this should go here or under freshwater illness...
We have a 10+ year old common plec. 13" by himself in a 25 gallon.
Have been waiting to get a 65 gallon until he seems well. Don't want to stress him with a move if he's not 100%.
He has been getting constipated every few months for a while now.
Usually for a day or two. The most was a week. Peas always helped.
The week scared us and we dosed with epsom. 3 - 5 tsp per day for 5 days.
Worked! He was back to normal fior 2 months.
It happened again. End of Jan. Tried the epsom again. Didn't work.
He pooped a bit. He ate a bit, but never back to normal.
We tried 6 doses of kanaplex and with the last dose started 6 doses of metroplex. He seemed to poop a bit, but last 2 times was mucos, not green.
He's only been getting a few peas a day.
In the beginning we fasted for 3 days.
We dosed the peas with garlic, metro & epsom.
He ate some.
He has a bulge on his side (see pictures) - that he seems to have always had but it gets more pronounced when he doesn't poop.
The whiteness on the bottom near the lateral line looks worse in the pictures.
The pictures don't show our concern - the left part of the line where it goes up has some small red scrape looking dots? Maybe 3.
He reacts normal, goes up on the glass - though very infrequent lately, ate a bit of zuccini...
Amonia is .25 with the meds - we've done about a 1/3 water change before each dose.
Nitrite is 0.
Nitrates are 5.
PH 8.2 - always.
What could this be???
What else could we do???
We have the last dose of metro tomorrow.
Then will put back carbon and let him take a break from meds.
Oh - there has been epsom in there too. 6 tsp. Replaced proportionally with water changes.
Thank you all for any suggestions!

 

[orangeorange]

Sorry, don't know why it doubled the first 2 pictures?
Only upoladed them once! ?

 

[TheNewSeverum]

I dont like putting people on blast but the shear fact you have a common pleco, a fish capable of getting 24"+ in a 25 gallon aquarium is truly dumbfounding to me. Even a 65 is way to small for that fish. Could be issues with stress as his living environment is way to small. Its like putting you in a small bathroom to live your life. What are you feeding? How often? How often are water changes done and how much? Realistically you should give the fish to someone who would properly house it because that poor thing looks terrible. I'm sorry, I hate being that guy, but I know a lot of pleco keepers are thinking, or will say the same thing.

 

[tlindsey]

Welcome aboard

I suggest stop medicating and do larger wc's each week. Do the same % or more each week in the larger aquarium.

 

[thefredpit]

View attachment 1303850 View attachment 1303851 View attachment 1303852 View attachment 1303853 View attachment 1303854
View attachment 1303850 View attachment 1303851
New here - though have read many things and followed some advise.
Not sure if this should go here or under freshwater illness...
We have a 10+ year old common plec. 13" by himself in a 25 gallon.
Have been waiting to get a 65 gallon until he seems well. Don't want to stress him with a move if he's not 100%.
He has been getting constipated every few months for a while now.
Usually for a day or two. The most was a week. Peas always helped.
The week scared us and we dosed with epsom. 3 - 5 tsp per day for 5 days.
Worked! He was back to normal fior 2 months.
It happened again. End of Jan. Tried the epsom again. Didn't work.
He pooped a bit. He ate a bit, but never back to normal.
We tried 6 doses of kanaplex and with the last dose started 6 doses of metroplex. He seemed to poop a bit, but last 2 times was mucos, not green.
He's only been getting a few peas a day.
In the beginning we fasted for 3 days.
We dosed the peas with garlic, metro & epsom.
He ate some.
He has a bulge on his side (see pictures) - that he seems to have always had but it gets more pronounced when he doesn't poop.
The whiteness on the bottom near the lateral line looks worse in the pictures.
The pictures don't show our concern - the left part of the line where it goes up has some small red scrape looking dots? Maybe 3.
He reacts normal, goes up on the glass - though very infrequent lately, ate a bit of zuccini...
Amonia is .25 with the meds - we've done about a 1/3 water change before each dose.
Nitrite is 0.
Nitrates are 5.
PH 8.2 - always.
What could this be???
What else could we do???
We have the last dose of metro tomorrow.
Then will put back carbon and let him take a break from meds.
Oh - there has been epsom in there too. 6 tsp. Replaced proportionally with water changes.
Thank you all for any suggestions!

I had been following your thread on planet catfish. My big worry would be the fluctuations in water quality with that big of a poop factory in such a tiny tank I know with my 3 big guys(all 12") in the 100 gallon they carpet the ground with poop in less than 24hrs.

I dont like putting people on blast but the shear fact you have a common pleco, a fish capable of getting 24"+ in a 25 gallon aquarium is truly dumbfounding to me. Even a 65 is way to small for that fish. Could be issues with stress as his living environment is way to small. Its like putting you in a small bathroom to live your life. What are you feeding? How often? How often are water changes done and how much? Realistically you should give the fish to someone who would properly house it because that poor thing looks terrible. I'm sorry, I hate being that guy, but I know a lot of pleco keepers are thinking, or will say the same thing.

I agree that is way to small of a tank for a Pterygoplichthys pardalis, usually they max at 15-17" not 24"+. I do think the issue could be stress though

 

[orangeorange]

Here is a picture of him - the lighting makes the white look waaaaay more pronounced! His coloring is a little whiter because he's stressed but it's more on the bottom.
But in this picture you can see on the left where those white lines go up there are a few "dots" that look kind of like a scrape. They're not that noticeable but they might be a clue.
The main problem is that he's not pooping!!! He's not eating much either. All we give is peas twice a day because we don't want to bloat him any more. He is definitely a bit bloated.
And he has that bulge on one side that you can see in the top 2 pictures.
We changed about 1/3 - 1/2 of the water and put back the carbon.
We're at a loss for what to do.
We put a drop of vitachem on a ball of about 3 peas.
Seems like he eats a little...
Water temp is about 81 give or take a 1/2 degree.
What does it mean when he keeps his mouth open?
He goes up for air but no more than usual.
????

 

[orangeorange]

Woops - forgot the picture!

 

[TheNewSeverum]

T thefredpit I mean given the right environment I'm sure they can get bigger than what people say they do. But I dont own them so I have no experience in that species. None the less, stress and small tank are my two main concerns.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't high water temperature and high ammonia levels equal very low oxygen amounts? That could be the reason he keeps getting air at the surface. What filter are you running?

 

[thefredpit]

T thefredpit I mean given the right environment I'm sure they can get bigger than what people say they do. But I dont own them so I have no experience in that species. None the less, stress and small tank are my two main concerns.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't high water temperature and high ammonia levels equal very low oxygen amounts? That could be the reason he keeps getting air at the surface. What filter are you running?

I know with the several species called "common pleco" there is a lot of confusion on max size. I currently own 2 in this genera and am caring for a 15" one of this species at the rescue I help at(I'm their pleco and oddball guy). But yeah small tanks are the bane of large plecos.

Yes high temp and high ammonia means low oxygen