White patch on pleco

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BPags52

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 22, 2009
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Tallahassee, FL
So last night while the lunar lights were on I saw the L-326 (approx 3") out feeding. So I grabbed the flash light to take a closer look since I hadn't in awhile. I was unpleasantly surprised to see a white patch on its side :irked:

Any ideas on what this might be?

I'm on my lunch break now so don't have time to go over the specifics of my tank or test the waters (will tonight). But I do test the waters with API liquid kit at least once a week and have never tested positive for any ammonia or nitrite, and my nitrate stays between 10 and 40ppm. I do 2 20% water changes a week (and gravel vaccing with python while removing water).







Not the best pictures I know, but I couldn't convince it that sitting still in front of the bright flashing light was in its best interest.



I have more info about my tank/stock/setup in this thread:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249380

I didnt notice anything growing up/out of the white patch, it just appears to be covering a small area on its side.

Any ideas on what it might be and best way to treat it?

I added 12 tablespoons of APIs Freshwater Aquarium Salt (using the directions for general tonic/stress reducer) so thats about 60g of salt treatment for the 125g tank (I under dosed salt because I've heard its not good for plecos).

NOTE: I do not have a hospital/quanantine tank so that is not an option (though I know its ideal). I will have to treat the whole tank if I do treat it with something (so preferrably looking for something thats known to be safe for sensitive fish, as I'm most concerned about my 2 small EBJDs).
 
Do any other of the fish show any signs of anything wrong? Do you think there's a possibility it could have gotten into a scuffle with one of the other plecos? I am far from an expert with this stuff but if your water quality is good and all the other fish are well, I would believe it was a pleco fight. If I'm not mistaken you have not introduced any new fish in a couple of months, and all of your plecos are leporacanthicus and psuedacanthicus sp. which are known to be a bit fiesty at times. Just my .02 .

Sorry I could'nt be more help partner. Bump for a friend in need!

Random question, do you use dechlorinater of any sort?
 
Yeah I use Prime, and I pre-mix it with water in buckets before adding to the tank (I generally add 1 mL per 5g bucket of water, which should treat 10g, just to be safe).

The last fish added to the tank was the L-326 back in early June. It being the result of a pleco fight wouldn't surprise me, as it spends alot of time near where the larger L-264 hangs out. But is this just a wound? Or some sort of infection resulting from a wound?

Since you mentioned it, I have been having a problem with my largest red hook silver dollar.

About a month to 6 weeks ago I noticed the "snout" of the red hook was a little darker than usual. Within a day or two I noticed what looked like a tiny white pimple on the darkened area. I wasn't sure what it was. I thought it could have been the result of swimming into something (as they spook easy) and maybe breaking its skin a little. Another day or two passed and to my horror, it seemed the area where the "pimple" was, was rotting away. You could start to see the red hooks teeth.

I wasn't sure but I assumed it was HITH, which surprised me, as I've been real good about doing regular once to twice a week water changes (has been twice a week since this started). I test my water about once a week and have never tested positive for any ammonia/nitrite, and nitrates never get above 40'ish ppm. pH is a stable 7.6

I've read the best way to treat HITH is to get your water pristine, so, thinking the red hook had HITH, I did a 20% water change everyday for about a week then went back to twice weekly wc's. Also at the start of this, I used 1 dose of Melafix and Pimafix (all I had left), in an attempt to prevent infections/it getting worse/etc.

After it looked pretty bad for a couple weeks it began to slowly but surely heal up. Just last week I was starting to think it was going to fully recover. The area that had "rotted (for lack of a better term)" away before has healed, but now a different portion of his upper jaw is starting to look like its going to do the same thing I just mentioned.

I first noticed the latest 'problem' with the red hook on Tuesday I think. Thats when I got fed up/frustrated that its not healing as I thought/hoped. I had been avoiding adding salt because I've read plecos don't like it. But on Tuesday of this week I added salt to treat 40g worth of water (125g tank). I underdosed to avoid irritating the plecos.

Then last night is when I first noticed the white patch on the pleco. I went ahead and dosed another 20g worth of salt.

and here I am now.



I had almost forgotten this, and now I'm thinking I shouldn't leave it out. Last week after doing a gravel vac/water change I was leveling out some of the gravel with my hand and felt something in the gravel. I pulled it out and it was a small old piece of driftwood...with a rusty screw still in it. Apparently an old piece of driftwood I had was held in place with a screw, which had torn away from the main piece of driftwood over time and buried in gravel. This is starting to sound like a stupid question, but could this be the cause of all this headache? It's the only thing I can think of that would foul my water, but I'm not sure by how much.

I will post before/during/after pictures (in a couple hours) of the red hook to give you guys a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Ok sorry for the rambling, hopefully all that info can help determine whats going on.
 
Pics of the Red Hook on 7/12






I took this pic just a few mins ago, the major damage in the previous pictures has healed up, the worst area was toward the right half (its right, our left when looking at it) of its upper lip. Now its left half of upper lip has a 'hole', but its not nearly as bad as it was (yet)
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Ill start off by saying Im no expert, I had a pleco die in my tank and the next day there was a similar white spot on my senegal bichir, I treated the tank with anti fungus (jungle labs) and within 3 days it was gone. wait for other insight though.
 
Hmmm. Just in case I end up having to treat with Jungle Labs' Anti-Fungal med, is it considered safe for all fish? I have 4 fancy plecos and 2 EBJDs that I'm concerned about.
 
I've seen that exact same thing on Silver Dollars many times from them banging into the glass. Mine are in an 8' tank and I think that's the only reason they don't get the same problem. I don't think that's HITH at all, I honestly think it's an injury and has nothing to do with the Plec. I know people use MelaFix at the drop of a hat but I really don't like that stuff & I hope you won't get talked into using it. PlecoPlanet.com has some articles & they may have some about fungus/plaque patches. I also don't think the rust would cause any of the problems you've got or all fish in rivers and ponds would have problems.
Do you treat your Plecs for parasites after you get them? The fancies are all wild-caught so I always give them 2 rounds of PraziPro while they're in quarrantine. Just something to think about. I hope you figure it out and I wish I could be of more help. But....I'm rooting for him to do better.
 
That does help Penguin :D nice to have some feedback on the silver dollar thing, because I have no experience with HITH so I wasn't sure.

I didn't think to treat the plecos with prazipro/etc when I got them. But I did treat the tank with melafix / pimafix a couple months ago (one of the common silver dollars had a gash/red mark on its side from running into something, so I dosed the tank as a precaution). This was shortly after I got my EBJDs so I was trying to keep them from catching anything.

as far as melafix goes, I just happen to have a 16oz bottle of it coming in with my next supply order that should be getting here tomorrow or Saturday.

I'll have to check out those articles tomorrow.

I managed to get the flash light on the pleco about an hour ago and from the angle I was looking at it, the white patch didn't stand out as much. But it was easiest to see last night from a side view, so hard to tell if its already decreasing or if I just had a bad angle on it.

I did a 25g water change tonight (and replaced 25g salt dose). I think I'll be doing daily 25g water changes (no more salt) through the weekend.
 
Hold off the Melafix and Pimafix. Those do not help much compared to Prazipro which destroys possible flukes and internal parasites. TwistedPenguin is correct with all her theories. The silver dollar does not have HITH, only injury.

Give it a few more days and just increase your maintenance frequency. I am thinking bacterial infection on that white patch by the pleco. It doesn't look like a scrape to me at all. If nothing improves after a few days, get a rubbermaid tub and use it as hospital tank. Treat the fish with Kanaplex.
 
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