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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| cg49me's sick pleco
I think my pleco might be sick... I noticed some spots on his face yesterday that I don't recall seeing before... Could it be fungus? He's also been less animated than usual.
I've been keeping up on the water changes, always adding dechlorinater when I do them. ammonia has kept below 0.25ppm, though I still haven't been able to get any nitro readings.
The green stuff in the last pic is just an algae disc that's dissolved since I put it in earlier today.
The tetras that are in the tank with him are all just fine. | 
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Fungus on my pleco?
I started a new tank (10gal) a week ago - I know I've already done several things wrong, but I'm doing daily water changes waiting for the nitro cycle to kick in.
I also know that I shouldn't have a pleco in a tank this small, but for the time being I'm trying to keep him as happy as possible. There are three neon tetras in there with him, and until yesterday night, everything was fine and dandy.
Yesterday evening, however, I noticed some gray patches on the left side of my pleco's face that I didn't remember from before. The last picture here was actually taken a few days ago, and (though it's from behind), you can just notice one of the patches in it.
His activity level has dropped from when I first got him - in fact, he's been in relatively the same spot since this morning (about 4hrs now). Any other day, he'd be in one spot for only about 5-10min, then bustle off to some other part of the tank for awhile. Anybody know what's wrong with him? Thanks! | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| it actually looks like stress or ammonia burns to me..which is probably from the uncycled tank......do you have some prime water conditioner or even better stress coat + which has healing aloe in it? that will do so well with the daily water changes..but the best thing ,as you know, would be to return him or bigger tank asap..I hope he does ok!! | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| I've been using Stress Coat (not +, but it does have "healing aloe vera" in it) every time I change the water. Could the water changes themselves be stressing him out?
I put about 5 drops per gallon of water I add - too much/not enough? The bottle says 1tsp per 10gal to remove chlorine/ chloramine, 2tsp per 10gal to repair skin and fins and to replace slime coat. | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| you need the plus because it neutralizes the ammonia and nitrites..the plain stress coat is great for healing but does nothing for the other issues..otherwise prime will do the same thing as the plus...one or the other would be needed asap with the water changes 
EDIT: what is that stuff beside the plec in the 3rd pic? | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| It was an algae disc that I'd put in earlier this morning.
I'll try to find some SC+ or Prime tomorrow. I've been monitoring the levels daily, and ammonia has been no higher than 0.25ppm in the last three days. Neither of the nitro levels have been readable yet.
Jaws (my pleco) is currently attached to the side of the aquarium, so he's moving. I put in a dose of SC, which will help for the short term at least.
Thanks for all the help - keep it coming! | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hi cg49me. I moved this post out of your other thread. It should get more responses here and hopefully someone can help identify what wrong with him.
I'm looking for a link I have that has pics of different fish diseases.
Here's the link: I don't see anything that looks like your pic. JBL - Online Hospital
I've been reading up on some fish ailments and sometimes what we think is a fungus can actual be something else. I have got to organize my favorites. I'm looking for that atricle now.
Last edited by Lucy; January 18th, 2009 at 06:55 PM.
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| if he hasnt eaten that disk yet, and you have that leftover, hes sick..id get that out asap...and that is causing more ammonia which isnt good as you know...for you to have an ammonia reading and no nitrates, its still cycling and the water changes are whats needed but even more, to neutralize that ammonia is a must... ...he will take a bit to really have the effects of ammonia because they are not sensitive per nature...goodluck with him and again, that tank will always have issues with him in there....goodluck in whatever you choose to do  | |
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January 18th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Ooops, didn't see you had started a new thread. I merged the one I made and yours together.
I found the info I was looking for. True fungus is white and cottony. Body fungus isn't a true fungus at all, but a bacterial infection. Disease and treatment chart
Last edited by Lucy; January 18th, 2009 at 07:12 PM.
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January 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Kind've off topic, but one of my tetras up and died on me this morning. I'd say ammonia poisoning is the culprit. Currently trying to find a new home for everybody... | |
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January 19th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| I'm really sorry you've lost one of your fish.
Really, I wish stores would hand out fishless cycling instructions to customers. It would save so many people heart ache and fish lives.
That was out introduction into fish keeping also. My daughter wanted fish. We bought her a nice 10g set up. The store said wait a week then she could add 5 guppies. Needless to say over the course of 1-2 weeks we lost all the guppies.  | |
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January 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Found SC+, so I'll stick with that for awhile. Also, I threw a cucumber in the tank just now - we'll see if he takes to it. I don't know if it'll help his health any, but it won't be as much of a mess to clean up as a dissolved algae disc.
*edit*
I found these ammonia "tank buddies" tabs at Wa-Wa last night, so I dropped one in until I could get to the LFS. My ammonia readings today were all but zero. | |
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January 19th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| It's not a good idea to use products that claim to eliminate the ammonia will also starve the bacteria your tank needs to cycle.
Stress Coat+ detox's the ammonia for 24 hrs with out removing it. It makes it safer for fish but available to the bacteria.
Daily water changes will help you get your parameters under control until the cycle is complete. | |
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January 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Drs Foster and Smith has the "ammo rocks" in their pond section. This would be good to add after the tank has cycled to help with the ammonia. The Prime is better because it makes the ammonia okay for the fish, and still there for the bacteria to feed on. You can also get "white diamond" filter media. It is the same zeolite that the ammo rocks are, only small enough to go into the filter like the activated charcoal does. | |
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| I had this problem with my plec, I had had him quite a while and had grew to a nice size but unfortunately he didn't survive, I hope you have more success | |
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| He died this morning. Thanks for all the help guys - wish I'd known about the nitro cycle sooner. | |
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Moderator
| I'm sorry you lost him.
Our first experience with a tank ended up with dead guppies because we didn't know about the cycling process either. | |
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