pleco problems

[thomas]

The problem is I just can't seem to keep one alive. This is a relatively new tank and so far I've had two pleco die on me. the first one may very well have starved to death as he was put in when I first started the tank and didn't feed him very well. The latest casualty happened last week. I was gone for the weekend and came back to find one of my yellow labs deceased. The other two labs looked alright and so did the pleco. The next day when I got home from work my pleco was dead. The tank had been cycled for a couple of weeks. When I fished the corpse out, he kinda looked like it looked like it had little white dots on the body. I had looked them all over pretty good the night before and didn't notice anything odd with the fish. Possibly ick? But would it kill that quick?

[SGypsyMermaid]

sorry you're having troubles thomas. i think that ick can kill fish pretty quickly. you may not have noticed the spots before. i would watch the remaining fish closely for signs of ick. you shouldn't buy any more fish until you are sure that there is no disease in the tank. i, personally, would treat the tank with 'aquarisol' for a week.

[Woot]

The little white dots sounds like you might have a ich infection in your tank :x When I bought 3 Synodontis for my 30 Gallon, one of them must of had ich and I had to treat both my 30 and 55 gallon for it. Raising the temperature to 82-83 degrees and adding aquarium salt did the job. I did use alittle QuickCure Ick medication as well. I managed not to lose any of the fish, even the sick Synodontis lived.

[thomas]

I only have 2 yellow labs left and they appear to be healthy. No real signs of ick that I can see. One has really good color, the other my wife noted last night is a little paler. I think it is just a sub-dominant male. Can't really tell, as they are only juveniles.

[M_sfan87]

Just check your water codditions every week. Did you let your tank sit before you added the fish? Also try feeding the pleco waffers.

[luvthesefish]

I thought the idea of Pleco's was that they eat what they can find...I didn't know you had to feed them.

Also, when you go to buy fish anywhere but especially the chain stores, look at every tank whether you want that kind of fish or not. Most of stores, even private, have central filtration systems so if one fish in one tank has ick then there's the potential that it is or will affect other tanks in that store.

[SGypsyMermaid]

[quote:ca79f6a1c6="luvthesefish"]I thought the idea of Pleco's was that they eat what they can find...I didn't know you had to feed them.[/quote:ca79f6a1c6]

plecos are primarily veggie/algae eaters. if your tank does not have a huge amount of algae, you should supplement their diet with algae wafers, or veggies like lettuce, zucchini, etc.

[thomas]

About 4-5 weeks ago, I started noticing a lot more algae buildup, so I went out and got another pleco(common). He's been doing pretty good so far. I usually supplement his diet with algae discs a couple times a week. Thanks for all the responses.

[pistonfister]

I had problems with plecos myself. My tank is very etablished 15 years and the other fish are doing great and still I cant keep a pleco. Bought a simple algea eater and in about 2 days my tanks was spottles :D
I have had him longer then any pleco. He's not very pretty but very efficient and hardy.

[jnorris]

I have a pleco that is nearly indestructable. Sure he gets his fins pecked, but they grow pretty quick.

If I were a betting man, I wouldn't have placed any bets for him in the start. He has actually found a niche in my tank.