acestriker

In my 55 gal my 12 inch pleco is suffering from some sort of sickness. His eyes are very much sunken into his head. I don't know why though... he has always been happy and he now looks like of saddest fish i have ever seen. Anyone know what this could be This is crazy.... I have had the worst luck with plecos as of late.

Shawnie

im sorry your plec is sick
do you know your tank readings?
55 gal for a 12 inch fish is stunting him severely as 12 1/2 inch is all the space he has in a standard to turn around in a 55 gal ....I hope you upgrade him soon!

AlyeskaGirl

What are you feeding him? I've come accross that sunken eyes means he's not gettin enough food that he's basically starving to death.

Read the article below, I hope he gets better.

http://www.aquariumlife.net/articles...-fish/128.asp#

iloveengl

Quote from the above article: "Only consider purchase of fish that are eating and show convex, not concave bellies. [...] Should the fish have been so starved that eyes appear sunken, it is unfortunately dead but does not realize it yet. These fish do not seem to recover even with the best of care under ideal conditions."


Oh, poor fishy. I hope there is another possible cause....

If you still have your second pleco in that tank, does he exhibit the same symptoms? Are you feeding them algae wafers and veggies?

Gosh that's sad. I'm sorry.

aquarist48

Best wishes for a full recovery AceStriker! See if you can target feed the Pleco. Too, you can slice cucumbers, different fruits and melons, zucchini. Only leave it in your tank for 12 to 24 hours and remove it. It may take a couple of tries before he realizes it's food. You can use plant weights to weight the food down so it stays on the bottom or place it under an ornament with most of it hanging out.
Again, good luck!
Ken

acestriker

Thanks all for the information... unfortunately he died, the guy a the pet store took a look at him and I guess he died from starvation.. his belly was all sunken in. He always did good with the algae wafers before. I gave him a slice of cucumber and he ate some but I guess it was to late. I buried him in the rose garden so hopefully he is made good use by the flowers, poor guy. I don't get it why do you think he quite eating Thanks again for all your help, everyone.

water specs.

20 nitrate

0 nitrite

7.5 pH

180gh

240kh

bolivianbaby

I'm so sorry you lost him We never know where the fish come from that we buy from the LFS, what conditions they were in, what conditions their parents were bred in, etc.

You did the best you could for him.