Doneko

I just noticed today that my small 1 inch pleco's head had turned white. The tank is 6 weeks old, I started with 2 tetras and 3 plants, 3 driftwood, all from Petco. I measure water conditions with 6 in 1 quick dips:
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
hardness 150
clorine 0
alkalinity 120
pH around 7.6 (hard to tell from the color chart)

I weed the fish twice a day with flakes, making sure they eat most of the food.

I have algae growing, so I added a 1" pleco (the dwarf type), two weeks ago, who has been busy at night. I do not feed him, there seems to be some algae on the wood and the tank. I have been changing 15% water with treated temperature matched RO water, I changed 20% 2 days ago, because the water was getting too green.

Just today I noticed that the pleco's head turned white, and is not hiding, just laying in the open without any movement.

I read that tis might be fungus. What should I do? Can I save him? Will this affect the other fish?

Here is a photo of him/her:
http://qqriq.smugmug.com/photos/585224981_u4J8U-L.jpg

Thank you for your help!!!

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore

I'm sorry your pleco is looking so poorly.
It doesn't really look like a fungus, it looks like he's lost scales. It it fuzzy?
It would help if we knew your ammonia reading.
By your readings, it looks like your tank isn't cycled since you're not showing any nitrate reading. Is your tank heavily planted?
The strips can be inaccurate, it would be interesting to see what your readings are with a liquid test kit.
Are you using any additives, salt etc?

Doneko

Hi Lucy,

Thanks for the quick reply!

She is so small, hard to tell if she is fuzzy. You are right, it looks like she lost scales. (My daughter insists that all our fish are girls

I have only 3 live plants in the tank. The 4 cardinal tetra seem to be very happy. Here is a photo:

http://qqriq.smugmug.com/photos/585273904_AznFN-L.jpg

There is no ammonia test on the strip. Nitrate/nitrite never moved higher than 0. I did not add salt, only Neutral Regulator with the weekly water changes.

There is no ammonia test on this 6-in-1 strip. What should I do next? Change some water? I did 20% 2 days ago.

Lucy

That's a really nice tank.
Until someone who knows more about them posts with some ideas, keep the water pristine and add some extra stress coat or fish protector.
If you can get an ammonia reading tomorrow, that would help a great deal, if anything we'd be able to rule out ammonia poisoning.

Is she breathing heavily?
Are you adding anything to your tank other than water conditioner?

Also, you probably should be supplimenting her diet with algea wafers and/or fresh veggies like zuchini or cucumber. I don't think they can live on just the algea in your tank.

Doneko

I placed a little piece algae wafer next to her, and actually touched her and she did not swim away. She is just sitting there still, not breathing much. I do not have stress coat or fish protector, I will pick them up with an ammonia test kit.

The white area keeps getting bigger. I am afraid she will not survive the night.

I did not add anything else to the water. What did I do wrong?

Thanks again for your time, I really want to do this right!

aquarist48

http://www.jbl.de/onlinehospitaluk/p...=2&GalleryId=2
Good morning. The above link has some graphic pictures of fish disease that may be helpful in your diagnosis. Maybe it will be of some help to you. Best of luck.

Shawnie

im sorry your plec isnt doing well..I hope things get better!!! im going to guess at ammonia also where the tank is only 6 weeks old and a 10 gal ...when you added the plec his bioload probably sent it over the top ...getting an API liquid ammonia test kit will tell you allot...if you can find some prime, amquel+ or ammo lock, one of those will keep the fish safe for 24 hours with partial water changes every day...getting the test kit is a must and will let you know more ..good luck!

Doneko

My small pleco deceased last night. I am very, very, very sorry about this.

I removed her from the tank last night, and changed 20% of the water this morning. I purchased a full API liquid test kit and took pictures of the results. Ammonia seems to be low, but it's not easy to tell the colors apart. PH is high. Nitrite and Nitrate are both 0.

Ammonia:
http://qqriq.smugmug.com/photos/585908741_etEFE-L.jpg

PH:
http://qqriq.smugmug.com/photos/585909277_MyVNN-L.jpg

High PH:
http://qqriq.smugmug.com/photos/585909014_yuBxv-L.jpg

This morning I noticed slat like white spots on the back of 3 out of 4 cardinal tetras, consistent with the ICH pictures aquarist48 linked in.

I picked up the following products, but have not applied any yet. If I need something else, I will head to Petco ASAP. Please point me to the right direction. I want to make this right and save the tank. This is breaking my heart

AmQuel+ Removes Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia
Salt
Melafix

Thank you all!!!

Shawnie

im so sorry about your loss of your plec
Just do some daily partial water changes with your amquel+ nothing else needed.....if you think its ich, raising the temps slowly to 84F for two weeks, will kill it..do some extra water changes with gravel vacs to get up ich spores if thats what it is.....add a bubble wand or rock to have extra oxygen as warmer water contains less oxygen...do not add melafix or salt as you could mess up the cycle process....the ammonia does look like 0 to me but my eyes are awful with the greens and yellows..im sure other members could help better....having live plants could give you a 0 nitrate reading as the plants will eat them.....if the ammonia is yellow, you are cycled.....

Doneko

I have replaed 1 gallon water, added 1 tsp AmQuel+

I very slightly increased the thermostat, but it has no Fahrenheit reading, will have to get a thermometer.

I have no aeration solution, so I lowered the water level a little bit, now the water from the Aquelon filter breaks the water surface and creates bubbles down about one third of the tank. Will this work for now?

Can you please give me a water changing schedule? Does 1 gallon a day sound OK? What should I treat the water with at the time of the daily water changes, Amquel or Neutral Regulator? NR removes clorine and ammonia. I have been adding 1/4 tsp with the weekly 10% water changes. How much should I use?

Thank you very much!!!

I did not know the fish tank came with an awesome community! I will rise my kids to be fish experts. This is an honor to be part of this amazing hobby!

Lucy

I'm really sorry about your pleco. He was really cute.
AmQuel+ is fine for water changes. If you're treating for ich, I would take a guess to change the water every couple of days since you need to do thorough gravel vacs to get rid of the spores.

Doneko

I got the thermometer, I raised the temperature up to 84 in a few steps.

This is how my 4 cardinals look like:



I have never used a gravel vacuum. I purchased one with a hand pump. I have 4 little snails hiding in the tank, I'm nervous about picking them up. when I vacuu, do I have to stir up the gravel, or is it enough to use it only on the surface?

I tested for ammonia, still low.

Do I need to worry about the high PH? How much Amquel+ and/or Neutral Regulator should I add? It's time for the next 10% water change.

Thank you!!!!!