Bristlenose deaths

[Varidity]

Hey guys,

Hoping someone can help me to understand why bristlenose plecos may not be doing well in my tank. Currently have a 29gallon tank that houses dwarf gourami, corydoras, lemon and neon tetra plus is temporarily housing 5 juvenile bristlenose plecos.

These are for my mum for her 4ft tank but due to covid and lockdown where I am I can't take them to her just yet. The babies have been in here all of 4 days and the smallest one has just died. In the past I have attempted to keep a bristlenose in this tank and it too died within a couple of days.

My tank is established, water parameters tested this morning (after fish death) are as follows:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrares: <20
Ph: 6.6-6.7

For some reason everytime I put any bristlenoses in my tank they literally NEVER go onto the substrate. Not to hide or eat or anything. They literally stay stuck either on the glass or on my inbuilt filter and these 5 have yet to be an exception. I've tried feeding sinking wafers, fresh veggies and frozen blood worms and they won't take to anything. I drip acclimated them for over 30 minutes when I added them so I literally have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

I'm feeling so defeated, these are meant to be an easy 'fool proof' fish and I can't keep them alive. I should note that my tank temp is 25 celcius, I have a fine, sand like, black gravel. I have two obvious caves plus two areas that act as cave like zones, heaps of plants, lava rocks and a piece of driftwood.

Warning:
Going to be posting a picture of the dead bristlenose below as I think that it looks very unusual and I'm not sure if it has possibly just been being eaten a bit or if it was like this when it died (has been dead for at the absolute most of 12-18 hours as I definitely saw it last night before bed)

 

[bobduhgeek]

Just a thought, pleco like ph in the 7 to 8 range. They also like a fair current in the water. I would raise the ph, keep the water moving and add blanched zucchini and peas to the food mix. The idea that the dead guy was chewed on indicates somebody is hungry.
When and where did you get the pleco mum? Was she wild caught?

 

[A201]

Considering the Corydoras are apparently doing well, likely the aquarium environment is fine for BN Plecos.
Many varieties of male Plecos display conspecific aggression towards other males, which can result in death. A lot of unseen aggression between fish occur at night.
If you receive Plecos from an online vendor, not a good idea to drip acclimate. Plenty of on line info explaining why a potential ammonia spike can occur w/ drip acclimatization.
No idea why the new arrivals cling to the aquarium glass & avoid the substrate. Maybe not enough hardscape, rocks, driftwood & plants.

 

[pagoda]

The fish might have suffocated. Your pH is on the lower end of the normal for them but they do prefer a relatively high flow of water.

Did you happen to see if they surfaced alot to air gulp?

They do it very occasionally but if there is a lack of oxygen at the bottom of the aquarium they will go up for air very frequently. Cories will surface to air gulp alot more than normal too if the water is too still at depth and not enough oxygen down there

 

[Varidity]

Thanks for all the replies, bit of backstory, I brought them from a local breeder about 10 minutes from me and aside from the now deceased small one (about 4cms in length) the rest are around 6cms long. Is this an age where they would start to show aggression? I was under the impression that it wouldn't start until they were alot closer to breeding age but I could very well be wrong.

I have a pretty well oxygenated tank, I have a bubble bar/ curtain and a high flow filter plus I have it pretty well planted. I do see them very occasionally go up for air but nothing crazy. My pH was originally sitting at about 7-7.2 but after putting in the driftwood it's dropped a bit.

I've been doing small but regular water changes lately to try and minimise the effects of the drop as my tap water is naturally pretty much neutral (about 10% change everyday or every other day) and the pH drop has happened over the course of a week. Do you think this could have still been too sudden? Honestly I'm just concerned that they're not going to be eating anything if they never leave the glass. I have an algae bloom at the moment and so my glass is covered in algae but I also realise that it can't be all they eat either.

Not the best picture but I've attached one so you can see what my set up currently looks like. The bristlenose highest up was down lower on the glass but he got a fright and moved up when I came along.

 

[NotSoAggressiveAquatics]

Don’t try and adjust the ph. It’s way more stressful for the fish if it’s changing. Stable ph is way more important than a perfect ph

 

[A201]

I doubt the slight dip in PH adversely affected the Plecos. BN are one of the more durable Plecos. They don't necessarily depend on wood for digestion.
Do a total lights out tonight & feed just a pinch of a quality sinking food before going to bed.

 

[Varidity]

Okay so figured I'd come back to update and unfortunately for whatever unknown reason they all died. I upped my pH to 7-7.2 and maintained it like that, over the course of the next week after posting this two more died and the two final ones including one that looked like it was starting to do really well (was actually starting to explore my tank and eat with the rest of them ect) died a couple days later when I had a sudden pH crash (low kh caused drop from 7.2 to 6.6 within 24hrs).

I'm heartbroken and have decided I'm not getting any more bristlenoses. This is the second species of fish that I have failed to keep any alive with (first was guppies). Thinking my water is too soft and too acidic for their liking as my tetras, corydoras and dwarf gourami are all thriving! In the process of adding crushed coral to my tank to raise kh and stabilise my pH but honestly I just feel defeated and like I must be a bad fish keeper Probably just going to not add any fish and leave my tank as it is so I don't have to deal with anymore losses.

 

[bobduhgeek]

Very sorry to hear that. It's a hard lesson to learn. You have to stay with what your water can support. I have hard water and have not been successful with neons. So I learn more about fish before introducing them to my tank and only get what fits. Life is like that.

 

[Jo7984]

Very sorry to hear that. It's a hard lesson to learn. You have to stay with what your water can support. I have hard water and have not been successful with neons. So I learn more about fish before introducing them to my tank and only get what fits. Life is like that.

Same for me, but the opposite way.
I have very soft water, I tried keeping platy but was no good.
I stick to fish that like softer water and lower PH now because of it.