Pleco Dying

I honestly didn’t use any chemicals other than treating my water with prime. The very first day I did a water change of 80% and the next day when I tested, my ammonia was still pretty high so I just kept doing 80% water changes everyday until it was cycled. It was a very tiresome process after about a week but I haven’t lost any other fish since that first mass water change. Is your pleco the only fish in your tank right now?

Yes, it is the only one. I only had the betta and the pleco. Now I have to make sure the water is perfect to get other fish my pleco looks miserable. I hope the water gets good asap.

 

Yes, it is the only one. I only had the betta and the pleco. Now I have to make sure the water is perfect to get other fish my pleco looks miserable. I hope the water gets good asap.

Based on the pictures above, it is possible that your pleco may not live through the cycle. About how big is the pleco?

 

Based on the pictures above, it is possible that your pleco may not live through the cycle. About how big is the pleco?

.. like around 1 inch and a half? He does look bad. His eyes are white!!

 

Have you done any water changes yet?

 

Have you done any water changes yet?

Yes!! I did yesterday and this morning before coming to work. After work I will get the kit to test the water.

 

.. like around 1 inch and a half? He does look bad. His eyes are white!!

He’s way small. Do you have the master test kit yet?

 

miss.mikn

After work I will get the kit to test the water.

 

He’s way small. Do you have the master test kit yet?

He is small I have him since February. I will be heartbroken if he dies too.

He’s way small. Do you have the master test kit yet?

Not yet. After work I will. I just might leave early to get it sooner!

 

He is small I have him since February. I will be heartbroken if he dies too.

Unfortunately, it’s always a possibility with a fish in cycle let us know the results once you test your water so we can go from there and hopefully save your little guy

 

Unfortunately, it’s always a possibility with a fish in cycle let us know the results once you test your water so we can go from there and hopefully save your little guy

I hope so and I will. Thank you so much

 

All good advice. I struggled with cycle issues on my first tank as well.

I'm not going to add to what others have said. I agree that you should be do a 50% water change, dose prime, wait 24-48 hours and test the water again, and then repeat the process if you come up with ammonia and nitrites collectively greater than 1 ppm.

However, I wanted to address some of the other things you said in your original post.

With those ceramic rings, you will almost never have to change your filter media. I wouldn't even look at it, think about it, or touch it unless you notice poor water flow.

I doubt the brown algae can be attributed to the driftwood you added. Brown algae (or diatoms, really not algae at all) are a pretty common part of a new tank. I had them in both of my tanks. As the tank balances... they'll clear up, and bonus.... they are fish food for the pleco.

You should never have to adjust your PH. Most fish will prefer consistency over trying to hit a target number. So if its between 7 and 8.2 ish. I would leave it alone. If not, we can talk about ways you can buffer your water without chemicals

Removing your substrate, algae, filter media... essentially "scrubbing your tank" is almost never a solution to anything (barring a few diseases or extraordinary circumstances).

You're not dumb, just misinformed, or may have needed to do a bit more research, and you are. You joined fishlore! Welcome btw I'm a rookie myself and can say I have gained a wealth of knowledge here and other places in the short time I've been here.

If you get any of this confused in the next week or two, let us know and I'm sure help will shortly follow.

Out of curiosity, what bacteria did you buy?

 

All good advice. I struggled with cycle issues on my first tank as well.

I'm not going to add to what others have said. I agree that you should be do a 50% water change, dose prime, wait 24-48 hours and test the water again, and then repeat the process if you come up with ammonia and nitrites collectively greater than 1 ppm.

However, I wanted to address some of the other things you said in your original post.

With those ceramic rings, you will almost never have to change your filter media. I wouldn't even look at it, think about it, or touch it unless you notice poor water flow.

I doubt the brown algae can be attributed to the driftwood you added. Brown algae (or diatoms, really not algae at all) are a pretty common part of a new tank. I had them in both of my tanks. As the tank balances... they'll clear up, and bonus.... they are fish food for the pleco.

You should never have to adjust your PH. Most fish will prefer consistency over trying to hit a target number. So if its between 7 and 8.2 ish. I would leave it alone. If not, we can talk about ways you can buffer your water without chemicals

Removing your substrate, algae, filter media... essentially "scrubbing your tank" is almost never a solution to anything (barring a few diseases or extraordinary circumstances).

You're not dumb, just misinformed, or may have needed to do a bit more research, and you are. You joined fishlore! Welcome btw I'm a rookie myself and can say I have gained a wealth of knowledge here and other places in the short time I've been here.

If you get any of this confused in the next week or two, let us know and I'm sure help will shortly follow.

Out of curiosity, what bacteria did you buy?

Hi! Thank you!
The brown algae wasn’t going away, it was driving me nuts. I kept doing water changes and it kept coming back. Also, the Ph up I only use it when its low, but I won’t use it again lol. I attached the picture of the bacteria I am using.

 

I would swap that for some tetra safe start

 

Hi! Thank you!
The brown algae wasn’t going away, it was driving me nuts. I kept doing water changes and it kept coming back. Also, the Ph up I only use it when its low, but I won’t use it again lol. I attached the picture of the bacteria I am using.

No Problem!

Brown algae will do that for a while, but eventually will balance out and disappear. How long do you have your lights on every day? What type of lights are you using?

When you say your PH was "low". How low are we talking?

Never used that kind before, but I have had success with seachem stability. I would not recommend Tetra safe start like some may. In your situation you're going to need seachem prime to convert ammonia into ammonium to protect the pleco. Prime renders Tetra safe start useless.

 

No Problem!

Brown algae will do that for a while, but eventually will balance out and disappear. How long do you have your lights on every day? What type of lights are you using?

When you say your PH was "low". How low are we talking?

Never used that kind before, but I have had success with seachem stability. I would not recommend Tetra safe start like some may. In your situation you're going to need seachem prime to convert ammonia into ammonium to protect the pleco. Prime renders Tetra safe start useless.

Yes, someone told me about the Seachem Prime. I guess I should never listen to the associates at the store, they never give me the right info .
I am not sure what kind of lights, but they are on at from 8:00 to like 10pm. Is that too long?
The ph is low for me when its like 6, they told me it shouldn’t be lower than 7?

I would swap that for some tetra safe start

**** so many products, haha . I am definitely using the wrong ones.

 

Yes, someone told me about the Seachem Prime. I guess I should never listen to the associates at the store, they never give me the right info .
I am not sure what kind of lights, but they are on at from 8:00 to like 10pm. Is that too long?
The ph is low for me when its like 6, they told me it shouldn’t be lower than 7?

Does the ph fluctuate a lot? You should test it again when you get your new kit
If you mean 8:00 AM to 10 PM then yeah, that's a lot. I have planted tanks and I don't keep mine on any longer than 8 hours. If you don't have any live plants, I would reduce that to whenever you're viewing the tank or 6-8 hours.

 

Does the ph fluctuate a lot? You should test it again when you get your new kit
If you mean 8:00 AM to 10 PM then yeah, that's a lot. I have planted tanks and I don't keep mine on any longer than 8 hours. If you don't have any live plants, I would reduce that to whenever you're viewing the tank or 6-8 hours.

The ph really doesn’t fluctuate so much.. only when I do water changes. And my plants are artificial. I will reduce the time from now on. What do u think of removing the gravel? Not using any? I think it makes things worse lol

I would swap that for some tetra safe start

What do you think of having the fish tank without gravel? Do they really need it?

 

What do you think of having the fish tank without gravel? Do they really need it?

I would use prime instead of the tetra safe start since it does the same thing plus some. I personally replaced my tetra safe start with prime.

For the gravel, did you clean it before you put it in the tank? Do you have a gravel vacuum that you use when you clean your tank?

Do you have a local fish store that you can go to instead of stores like petco or PetSmart? Chain stores like those typically will give you wrong information because they do what they need to do to keep you coming back. Your fish die, you come back, buy more, and they make more money. If they give you the right advice, you go back less and they make less money for it. Long story short: if there’s a local store, they’ll be more helpful in the long run

 

I'm suggesting TSS since the cycle has been lost, that in addition to prime should help the pleco make it through this

 

I'm suggesting TSS since the cycle has been lost, that in addition to prime should help the pleco make it through this

Yes but prime does the same thing as tss and more. Dosing with both would just take longer and is an extra step that isn’t necessarily needed. That’s just my opinion though. Having both as an option could be more beneficial to the op than it was for me

 

I'm suggesting TSS since the cycle has been lost, that in addition to prime should help the pleco make it through this

Tetra themselves say that Prime ruins the affects of TSS if I'm not mistaken

 

Oh right, forgot about that part. Thanks for the reminder guys

 

The ph really doesn’t fluctuate so much.. only when I do water changes. And my plants are artificial. I will reduce the time from now on. What do u think of removing the gravel? Not using any? I think it makes things worse lol

I would just leave the gravel and setup you have alone for now, and pay attention to your water parameters.

If the PH becomes an issue you can always get some crushed coral, put it in some old pantyhose and tie them off, and add it to your filter. (a teaspoon at a time then monitor). However, if it is only happening at water changes I wouldn't worry about it.

Keep us updated, yea?

 

Keep us updated, yea?

I will!!!! Thank you

Keep us updated, yea?

I'm suggesting TSS since the cycle has been lost, that in addition to prime should help the pleco make it through this

Yes but prime does the same thing as tss and more. Dosing with both would just take longer and is an extra step that isn’t necessarily needed. That’s just my opinion though. Having both as an option could be more beneficial to the op than it was for me

So I got home and this is how my pleco looks!! All white. I checked the ammonia level seems to be 0.25?

 

So I got home and this is how my pleco looks!! All white. I checked the ammonia level seems to be 0.25?

You say your pleco is white, does it look like some sort of fungal growth? I can’t really tell from your picture

 

Welcome to Fishlore and hope your Pleco feels better soon!!!

 

So I got home and this is how my pleco looks!! All white. I checked the ammonia level seems to be 0.25?

What about nitrites/nitrates/pH?

 

So I got home and this is how my pleco looks!! All white. I checked the ammonia level seems to be 0.25?

Yeah, I'm not seeing a picture if you tried to upload one. Starting a tank with a sick fish is going to be really hard. I hope he's strong. I'm afraid that it would just be more stress though to remove the gravel and/or really make any changes at this point. You're just going to have to do water changes very frequently and it would probably not hurt to cut the lights back to only 6 or so hours a day. If he gets hungry and starts scavenging then maybe throw in an algae wafer.
Don't beat yourself up too much if he doesn't make it. Many of us, if not most, jumped into the hobby without a very deep understanding of what we were getting into. Good luck!

 

What about nitrites/nitrates/pH?

Ph 6.5
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0

 

Dose whatever the recommended amount of prime is to treat your entire tank. Test again tomorrow same time. All you can do

You do have a heater right? What's the temp in there?

 

You do have a heater right? What's the temp in there?

Yes I do. The temp is a little over 80

 

Dose whatever the recommended amount of prime is to treat your entire tank. Test again tomorrow same time. All you can do

Prime will mess with ammonia readings on the API test kit iirc. If that's the case, and I think it is, then I'm guessing it would probably be best at this point to forego the water changes and even the testing for 4 or 5 days and just treat the whole tank daily as you suggest. Maybe after 4 days skip a day of treating with the Prime so that the water will give an accurate reading? Just spitballing here so somebody feel free to correct me if I'm off base.

 

To me it sounds like possibly one of two things. It could be fish fungus or, it could just simply be that the water is too cold. We’d definitely want to know the tanks temp to help better

 

You say your pleco is white, does it look like some sort of fungal growth? I can’t really tell from your picture

I have no idea, I posted a another one. I'm going to check how do fungal growth looks and see

To me it sounds like possibly one of two things. It could be fish fungus or, it could just simply be that the water is too cold. We’d definitely want to know the tanks temp to help better

Its a little over 80. I posted the pic lol just in case

 

I have no idea, I posted a another one. I'm going to check how do fungal growth looks and see

A little like cotton balls. It doesn’t look that way to me but, again, could just be the picture.

 

A little like cotton balls. It doesn’t look that way to me but, again, could just be the picture.

Yes! Its 82.1

 

Prime will mess with ammonia readings on the API test kit iirc. If that's the case, and I think it is, then I'm guessing it would probably be best at this point to forego the water changes and even the testing for 4 or 5 days and just treat the whole tank daily as you suggest. Maybe after 4 days skip a day of treating with the Prime so that the water will give an accurate reading? Just spitballing here so somebody feel free to correct me if I'm off base.

Prime just changes ammonia (toxic to fish) to ammonium (non toxic). As far as I know a test kit will still read the accurate amount.

mattgirl thoughts?

 

Welcome to Fishlore and hope your Pleco feels better soon!!!

Thank you!!

 

Prime just changes ammonia (toxic to fish) to ammonium (non toxic). As far as I know a test kit will still read the accurate amount.

mattgirl thoughts?

I agree 100%. As someone that uses prime and tests water almost daily, I get accurate readings on my water and have never felt like the prime was changing any of that

 

Y'all are right, not sure what I was thinking.

 

If sounds like you removed your cycle but that isn't the end of the world. I am thinking the problem with your Pleco is stress related. Keep in mind I could be wrong but a lot of times Plecos and other fish too will start losing their color when they are stressed. Right now I would turn the lights off and hopefully a bit of quiet time will help calm your little guy down. With everything that has been dome to his home in such a short period of time he need to calm down and de-stress.

Now that you have your test kit I need you to run all of the tests on both your tank water and your source water. I can give better advice if I have those numbers.

Since you are going to be doing a fish in cycle. (I am counting on your Pleco surviving) water changes and Prime are going to be the best thing you can do for this little guy.

I do have to clarify something that was said earlier. Prime is a water conditioner. Tetra Safe Start (TSS) is bacteria in a bottle. They are two totally different products. Prime does absolutely nothing to help a cycle grow but it will help keep your water safe for your water pet because it detoxes low amounts of ammonia and nitrites.

Please post the numbers and I will try to help.

 

If sounds like you removed your cycle but that isn't the end of the world. I am thinking the problem with your Pleco is stress related. Keep in mind I could be wrong but a lot of times Plecos and other fish too will start losing their color when they are stressed. Right now I would turn the lights off and hopefully a bit of quiet time will help calm your little guy down. With everything that has been dome to his home in such a short period of time he need to calm down and de-stress.

Now that you have your test kit I need you to run all of the tests on both your tank water and your source water. I can give better advice if I have those numbers.

Since you are going to be doing a fish in cycle. (I am counting on your Pleco surviving) water changes and Prime are going to be the best thing you can do for this little guy.

I do have to clarify something that was said earlier. Prime is a water conditioner. Tetra Safe Start (TSS) is bacteria in a bottle. They are two totally different products. Prime does absolutely nothing to help a cycle grow but it will help keep your water safe for your water pet because it detoxes low amounts of ammonia and nitrites.

Please post the numbers and I will try to help.

Hi, I am sorry I fell asleep early last night, but this morning before coming in to work I tested the water.

Ammonia : 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Ph: 7 (It has never been 7)

It seems like he is getting worse. I took a pic. It looks like his skin is falling off. I hope you can see it on the pic. I am so sad! I hope he is not suffering. He is probably too stress out too.

 

Ph: 7 (It has never been 7)

Good! Don't touch it!

I would be interested to see the results after you test your tap water.

Is the little guy still active? Seem stressed by his behavior??

 

Good! Don't touch it!

I would be interested to see the results after you test your tap water.

Is the little guy still active? Seem stressed by his behavior??

I won’t touch it lol. And no he is not active, he has not move from the same spot. He keeps like moving his fins but that's it. I attached a picture, not sure if u can see it. His skin on top of the head is coming off Stressing me out.

 

View attachment 543019 View attachment 543019

I won’t touch it lol. And no he is not active, he has not move from the same spot. He keeps like moving his fins but that's it. I attached a picture, not sure if u can see it. His skin on top of the head is coming off Stressing me out.

Nothing wrong with using stress coat if you still have it (I think anyway)

 

Nothing wrong with using stress coat if you still have it (I think anyway)

I do still have it. Should I use stress coat plus primer? I'm thinking on maybe giving him some meds? Like antifungal or something? Omg I am so sad.

 

Yes! Its 82.1

I could be wrong and maybe the species of Pleco you have needs it but I think that is way too hot for a pleco. I keep my temp down to 76 for my plecos but mine is a bristle nose and before I re-homed him, a common.

I would cool that temp down and give this little guy some quiet time. since you aren't seeing any ammonia in the tank right now there is no need for a water change at this point. Just lower the temp, leave the light off and give him some quite time.

What are you feeding him?

 

I could be wrong and maybe the species of Pleco you have needs it but I think that is way too hot for a pleco. I keep my temp down to 76 for my plecos but mine is a bristle nose and before I re-homed him, a common.

I would cool that temp down and give this little guy some quiet time. since you aren't seeing any ammonia in the tank right now there is no need for a water change at this point. Just lower the temp, leave the light off and give him some quite time.

What are you feeding him?

Hi, he is eating algae wafers? I removed the driftwood because I believed that's what keeps bringing the brown algae over and over. About the temperature, I had a betta in the tank (which died 2 days ago) after cleaning the tank), so that’s why the temperature is always around 80. I read it’s supposed to be between 78 and 82 degrees? I am not sure if you saw the pic I posted this morning, now his is skin is coming off so not sure if I should just give him some meds? I don't know. So frustrating because I don't want him in pain. I do have the light off.

 

Hi, he is eating algae wafers? I removed the driftwood because I believed that's what keeps bringing the brown algae over and over. About the temperature, I had a betta in the tank (which died 2 days ago) after cleaning the tank), so that’s why the temperature is always around 80. I read it’s supposed to be between 78 and 82 degrees? I am not sure if you saw the pic I posted this morning, now his is skin is coming off so not sure if I should just give him some meds? I don't know. So frustrating because I don't want him in pain. I do have the light off.

I saw the photo. Can you tell if the skin is actually pealing off or if it is just white?

Back when I had my common pleco he really freaked me out one day when he started getting white patches all over his body. It wasn't long after a water change. As soon as he settled back down his color returned. I finally decided he wasn't happy with water changes because it happened again and again.

I read up on clown plecos. I saw that their temp range is between 73 to 82. It really is best not to keep them in the highest temp range. Before medicating, since you are not sure what kind of medication might help Please lower the temp.

This might be caused by his diet too. They are mainly veggie eaters but do need meat (protein) . You may want to consider adding shrimp pellets and even bloodworms for him. Some fresh veggies might help him too. I know my Elbert loves his raw zucchini.

 

I'm certainly no pleco expert, but isn't this one of the species which requires or benefits from the inclusion of wood fibre from driftwood in the diet? I think I'd leave the wood in there.

And, it seems to my eye that he looks better in the more recent picture? Or is this wishful thinking?