Does my pleco have ich? Fin rot? Is he dying?

I believe my pleco ate a neon tetra because one went missing and now the pleco's stomach looks swollen/white and now has white dots/patches all over him. Is he dying? Does this look like ich? Is his tail getting fin rot? I pulled him out of my 65gal tank and QT him as of now. My other fish don't seem to have any signs of ich but I did treat them just in case. Not sure what I should do with the pleco. I did treat the QT tank with the "liquid super ick cure" 2 days ago but he doesn't seem any better. Thoughts? suggestions?

 

Hi Nanz1lla ,
Welcome to fishlore.
I don’t see anything that looks like ich. ?
Ich is often seen first on the fins as what looks like grains of salt. The white dots I see all over the body are the natural colour of a bristle nose pleco.

I agree it looks sick , but for the size of the head the body looks small ? Maybe the stomach is swollen but that doesn’t explain the general lack body size/ weight ?

I suggest it needs wood today to hide under and eat. As well as fresh vegetables and a little dry fish food.

 

I think it is safe to put him back. And probobly the best way to get him back in shape. I dont see any ich or fin rot. Next time, please use Ich X, because Super ich cure is not safe for catfish, scaleless fish or inverts. And it is really hard on all fish, You need to be more sure of a diagnosis before treating with medication. If you think you might have ich, you can slowly start to turn the temperature up to 86 degrees, but no meds untill your sure you see ich. Ich x is more mild and it is safe for inverts, scaleless fish and catfish. I used it , it worked, and my loaches were fine.

 

I think it is safe to put him back. And probobly the best way to get him back in shape. I dont see any ich or fin rot. Next time, please use Ich X, because Super ich cure is not safe for catfish, scaleless fish or inverts. And it is really hard on all fish, You need to be more sure of a diagnosis before treating with medication. If you think you might have ich, you can slowly start to turn the temperature up to 86 degrees, but no meds untill your sure you see ich. Ich x is more mild and it is safe for inverts, scaleless fish and catfish. I used it , it worked, and my loaches were fine.

Oh gee....The main tank was treated with it 3 days ago though. How long do I have to wait to put him back into the main tank? But ok I'll look into getting drift wood and feeding veggies!

 

I have not used the brand of medication you have but the active ingredients are the same ( similar) in the Australian brands of ich medication which say to repeat the dose every 3 days .
This suggests to me the medication stops being as effective after 3 days?

I suggest a 45% to 50% water change should have the main tank suitable for the pleco again?
Alternatively waiting and doing a second 45% to 50% water change after other 24 hours would surely have the tank ready ?

I am interested to hear Noroomforshoe s opinion?

 

I have not used the brand of medication you have but the active ingredients are the same ( similar) in the Australian brands of ich medication which say to repeat the dose every 3 days .
This suggests to me the medication stops being as effective after 3 days?

I suggest a 45% to 50% water change should have the main tank suitable for the pleco again?
Alternatively waiting and doing a second 45% to 50% water change after other 24 hours would surely have the tank ready ?

I am interested to hear Noroomforshoe s opinion?

Im nervous about doing that large of a water change in my main tank, I did a 50% water change 2.5 weeks ago. I finally got my good bacteria built up, so I don't wanna mess with it too much. I did however do a 25% water change last night.

If anything I'm gonna keep my pleco in the QT tank and do the water changes for him. I just don't know what's wrong with him (if anything at all) Im nervous about putting him back in the main tank and dying. He came with the tank and he looked rough from the get go. His patchy skin just has me concerned. Could he possibly just be camouflaging with my white rock decor and maybe I'm over thinking that he's sick? Idk! I've only had my tank for 3 weeks.

 

Ok Nanz1lla
Thanks for stating that you have only had the tank for 3 weeks. That helps a lot .

I know you think you have an issue with the pleco but can we please start with the basics of fish tanks?

I suggest you need to study up on the nitrogen cycle or research it enough to determine if I am an idiot in what I am about to say or if it’s now common knowledge amongst modern fish keepers ?

The bacteria live ON all hard surfaces . Not much if any is permanently IN the water . A cycled tank can have a 50 % water change every day and not effect the bacteria numbers. In fact it’s the fish and their need for small changes in parameters that stop us changing more than 50% at one time. If it was not for the fish we could change 100% of the water multiply times per day without effecting the bacteria.

I have done 45% water changes in the morning and another later in the evening on the same day without hurting the bacteria and most species of fish that I have are fine with it.
I have fry in grow out tanks that get three or more 45% water changes each week for months no problem.
All my tanks get one 45% change each week with other random changes on random days as I do odd jobs each day ( old retired gentleman) .

Please don’t take my word on water changes , research what other people do. For example there are people on this site who are happy to change 75% of the water at one time. ( they say) .

Because you got the fish and tank second hand I can be a lot more honest in what I see with that pleco knowing you had nothing to do with how it happened. At least from the pictures above I see a malnourished underweight fish. It may never come good or it might survive? They live for around 8 years and should be 3 plus inches at one year old. The proportions of head to body show a fish that has not been eating enough.

You mentioned not messing with the tank.
In fact what we all have to avoid is cleaning to many hard surfaces on the same week. A common statement to tell a newbie is “ only vacuum one half of the gravel each week “ in reality I believe an established tank can have all the gravel vacuumed.

We don’t replace filter media or cartridges.
We definitely don’t clean all the glass ,gravel ,filter and ornaments on the same day.

Nitrates are bacteria poop not the bacteria themselves.
Edit to add

The patchy skin . Check out pictures of a “ calico pleco “ that might put your mind at rest on the skin colo?

 

Oh gee....The main tank was treated with it 3 days ago though. How long do I have to wait to put him back into the main tank? But ok I'll look into getting drift wood and feeding veggies!

If your fish are not covered in white spots, if they don't even have white spots on their fins, I recommend you add active carbon to your filter to remove the medicine. Ich meds are like chemotherapy, they are sent in to kill indiscriminately, hoping to kill the bad stuff before the good stuff but causing damage to immune system and everything else as it passes through. Sorry if that was too dramatic, Do a large water change, don't add more, add active carbon, in the meantime you can feed that pleco some yummy stuff! Hope everything is great!

 

Thank you all for your inputs! I ended up putting the pleco back in the main tank, it looked super miserable in the QT tank. It didn't want to eat, swim or do anything in there, I probably just stressed it out; this is all a learning experience for sure!! hoping this little pleco doesn't die on me because like Flyfisha mentioned it definitely looks malnourished - idk what the previous owner did/had going on in the tank but I do know for sure there was some "sickness" cause the previous owner of the tank/fish gave us a lot of fungus/ich treatments...and apparently the wrong type of treatments for the fish that were included - which probably explains why the pleco looks the way it does. BUT anyway, I'll be looking into drift wood and we be given this little guy some veggies!! Crossing my fingers nothing happens to it!