RivendellTS

My Plecos just up and died out of the blue yesterday. The tank (55 gal) has been running since October 25th (purchased from a local person and basically broken down and re-set up at my house the same day within a few hours) and all of the other fish are doing well. Water parameters have been GREAT. did a water change on Saturday and I also transferred the fish from my daughters 5 gal tank to the big tank. Checked the water Sunday and everything was fine. None of the other fish look even remotely sick nor are they acting in any way strange (well OK except for my daughter's Mickey Mouse Platy male who has taken a fancy to the red eyed tetras that were already in the tank. He now swims with them. I was kind of hoping he would be a friend to the female MM platy that came with the tank...go figure!). The plecos did not seem to be acting out of the ordinary. I just came home from work yesterday and noticed he hadn't moved from where he had been in the morning (and I know he was alive in the morning...he was breathing) and he looked "discolored" on the top of his head. When I poked him, he was dead. Is it odd that he didn't float to the top? Anyone have any idea what could have happened?

Beth1965

I River,
What are your water perameters? From both tanks? Did you acclimate the plecs before you added them?

Plecosaurous

Was it multiple plecos or just one? Could it have been perhaps a lack of food? Were you giving them algae tabs or other sorts of food to help supplement their diet?

AlyeskaGirl

Awww, I am sorry you lost him. What were you feeding him? I agree with the above poster. What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? What test kit are you using? Also in your aquarium info you said you don't know about the nitrogen cycle? If so below is a link to read up. It's the most importent thing in keeping fish.

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Below is another helpful link.

http://fish.mongabay.com/diseases.htm

RivendellTS

I know about the Nitrogen Cycle now. I am using the API test kit. This is off the top of my head but on Sunday ammonia and nitrates were 0 and nitrites were 40 (I always get "ates" and "ites" mixed up so that could be reversed. I did write them down but I don't have access to that at the moment.) The plecos wasn't one of the fish that was transferred - he was already in there. I transferred a MM Platy and 2 neon tetras. I did acclimate them and when I actually moved them I netted them from the bag into the tank rather than pour the water from the bag into the tank. No I was not putting algae wafers in there. I thought they ate...well the algae in the tank. Oh boy do I feel BAD now!! I have the smaller siamese algae eaters in my other daughter's 10 GAL (I will be moving them into the 55 gal in a few weeks too) and I don't give them algae wafers. We've had them for several months (since June). I guess they are so much smaller they can survive on the algae in the tank. I can't believe I starved the poor fish to death.

jdhef

I'm sorry about you losing your Pleco.

I think you got nitrites and nitrates reversed. Although the API test kit booklet says that nitrates should be below 40, most people here will tell you they should stay below 20. I don't know how sensitve Pleco's are to nitrates so it may have nothing to do with you losing him.

I think you should have been feeding him algae wafers, or some veggies, but I'm not sure you had the tank set up long enough for him to starve to death. Since they are cold blooded, fish have a pretty low metabolism and can go longer than you would think without food.