novicefishperson

I've had my Pleco for 4 1/2 years. I was told by the store he would only get to be two inches long but of course I learned the hard way that is not true. Even though I love hime dearly, I have recently been searching for someone with a larger tank to give him to since mine is only 20 gallons and I have no room or money for another tank. However, while out of town this week, my niece was taking care of him. She wrote me an email and said he was depressed and missed me. When I got home he was fairly sluggish. I also noticed he was not pooping normal. (I think she might have overfed him. My routine has been in the morning I give fish flakes (there are three small neon tetras in the tank), early evening more flakes and an algae wafer for him and then before bed a "treat" for him such as tubifex worms (his favorite), krill, etc. He has never liked veges. ) Yesterday he took a turn for the worse so I went online to get some advice. I put epsom salt in the water as a muscle relaxant in case he was constipated. He got even worse in the afternoon - laying on his side, not moving. Today he is the same, plus now has not eaten for two days. What should I do? Should I try to feed him? I do not want to prolong his suffering. It is so hard to watch. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore
I moved your question to a thread of it's own where it should get more responses.

I'm sorry about your pleco.
Does he looked bloated, thats usually a sign of constipation.
If you think he's been over fed, you can try fasting him for a day or so.
Then see if he'll eat a few bits of frozen shelled pea cut up to about the size of his eye or you can try some freeze dried daphnia to get things moving, if that's what it is.

I'm pretty sure salt isn't good for plecos, don't know of that holds true for epsom salt.

What are the readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Over feeding can cause spikes in your readings which could effect your fish.


Good luck, 4 1/2 years is a long time to have a fish and we got so attached.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!!! im sorry about your plec being sick

first thing I would do is a large 50% water change as plecs and salt do not do well at all...have you tested the tank for ammonia? a plec in that size tank is huge waste and if your neice overfed, that would make it more dirty also if you can find either prime, ammo lock, or amquel+ that will help him feel better and detoxify any ammonia / nitrites for 24 hours ...testing is a must to make sure the tank stayed cycled...good luck and I hope he gets better!

novicefishperson

The readings were fine but I did a 50% water change as suggested and put in Amquel+. He isn't bloated so I don't think it is constipation. He is still laying on his side. I ground algae wafers in tank water and used a turkey baster to get it near his mouth. However, as the particles get near his mouth he is "blowing" them away, i.e., none is getting into him. I tried the peas yesterday but he didn't touch them. Is there anything else I can do? It is so hard to watch him suffer. I feel helpless and sad.

Shawnie

when you say "fine" on the readings, can you post them? what test kit do you use? are you still using stress zyme? water changes with the amquel+ will do for now...without physical signs of an illness, we have to go on the water or something to that lines...water changes are always a bonus and wont hurt anything

novicefishperson

Sorry for not being more specific. I use the test strips and they are as follows: ammonia 0, nitrate 20, nitrite 0, hardness 300, chlorine 0, alkalinity 80-120, and pH 6.0. On the latter, I have never been able to keep the pH level higher as the pleco got bigger. Since he was doing fine, I was told not to worry about it. Same thing with the water hardness level. I would say these tank readings have been fairly constant for the past few years. The three neon tetras in the tank are doing fine.

Thanks so much to all for your help. I truly appreciate it.

novicefishperson

Forgot to mention that yes, I still use stress zyme. Is that appropriate? I hope so.

novicefishperson

Update: I was gone from my house for about five hours. When I came back and opened the door, I could smell rotten eggs. The smell is coming from the tank. Also, my three tetras are now dead. New test results show the nitrite level went up to .5. What happened? What do I do now besides pull out the three little corpes? The pleco is pretty much in the same condition. I'm baffled and frustrated to say the least!

Shawnie

OH NO!! im so sorry for the loss of your fish

what brand of test strips are you using? MOST do not have an ammonia reading on them and im curious...stress zyme is something that will not let the tank properly cycle...test strips are very unreliable and dont give very accurate readings...at this point, without a reliable test kit, (API liquid master kit is amazing and has everything you need) see if you can find either prime, amquel+ or ammo lock in your area...you need daily water changes with one of those(stop using stress zyme) because of the nitrite but I also think its ammonia... if you can find one of those 3, it will detox the nitrites and ammonia for 24 hours until your next water change...

Lucy

I'm really sorry about your tetras.
Did you say you were using the strips to test? They can be pretty inaccurate. It would be good to know what the reading is on a good liquid test kits.

The smell could be from the tetras or, and I hope someone corrects me if I'm wrong here, there are gasses than can collect under decorations and substrate if it's not properly aerated. If you've been doing regular gravels vacs, thats usually enough to prevent this build up. However, if you have not, and it escapes it can give a rotten egg smell and be enough to harm your fish.

novicefishperson

I do have a test strip for ammonia. I tested again early evening and the nitrite level went down to 0 and ammonia went up to .5. However, I went out later and bought the API test kit as recommended. According to the API test, ammonia is between .5-1.0 and nitrites 0. So pretty much the same results.

The rotten egg smell did not occur until I put the Amquel+ in the tank and I don't think the tetras were dead long enough to cause such a problem. My tank is properly aerated and I clean the gravel, decorations, etc. every 10-14 days.

Tomorrow morning I plan to do a 25% water change. Any advice on whether I should use the Amquel+ again or switch to Ammo-Lock? I bought the latter just in case it was better to use for this situation.

Pleco is still in bad shape. Very sad day but I truly appreciate everyone's advice. I'm glad I found this site and hope I can one day give back to all of you.

Lucy

I haven't used it, but have only heard good things about Amquel+.
By any chance have you smelled it right out of the bottle? Could that have been the odor?
With any ammonia reading it would be a good idea to change the water daily until you get the cycle back.
What's your nitrate reading? (Something worth mentioning about the #2 nitrite bottle. It contains crystals, unlike the other bottles. In order to get an accurate reading you have to shake the heck out of it and bang it on a table a few times to get it mixed properly).

I know it's upsetting when something is wrong with your fish but just can't figure out what to do for it.

novicefishperson

Checked the levels this morning. Ammonia .5, nitrite .25, nitrate 60, chlorine 0, pH 6.2. Did a partial water change and added Amquel+. Pleco is on his back this morning, still gulping hard, especially when he sees me. Wish I knew what else to do for him.

Lucy

Gosh, I'm so sorry he's doing so poorly.
Your levels are pretty out of whack. A series of water changes today is about all you can do.
As you know ammonia and nitrite are toxic, but so are high nitrates.

novicefishperson

Pleco seems to be doing a little better today, although the water problems remain - ammonia .5, nitrite went up to .5, nitrate 60, chlorine 0, pH 6.2. Did another partial water change and will see how it goes today. I decided to work at home so I could continue to monitor him. I'm lucky to have a job that lets me do so.

matt6765

I would keep doing water changes to lower ammonia nitrite and nitrate