white spots on my albino pleco's eyes and my regular pleco's eyes

I just recently purchased a ten gallon fish tank 2 days ago and I had a albino pleco already among 6 other tropical fish in there and then I purchased a regular pleco sucker fish and another tropical fish, last night 4 of my tropical fish died and then this morning my cat fished died, and my other 2 tropical fish are acting funny and not eating. I cleaned the tank properly and put the maintenance aquasafe stuff in the tank and checked the ph balance and everything was ok and now I lost almost all my fish and my 2 pleco's have the white spots on there eyes, is this normal? or are they sick and that's why all my fish are dyeing?

 

Sammy83 it is a pleasure to have you on Fishlore.

On your information you said you did not know about cycling. If this is true, then you have probably not been doing daily 50% water changes in your tank to keep the ammonia and nitrites down until the nitrates rise. The first thing I would do is do a 50-60% water change and buy a water condition called Amquel or Prime. That will help detoxify your water until you get this under control.

Your plecos are getting sick because you have bad water quality. If you do the water changes like I recommended it will probably either clear up or clear up with treatment, but you need to get those water changes done as soon as possible. It usually takes 6 or so weeks to cycle a tank and until then the tank is a harsh place for fish.

After you get the water changes done and put Prime or Amquel in the tank you need to sit down and read the stickies on this site or research on the web what is involved with cycling an aquarium.

Good Luck to you!!

 

Please read up on the nitrogen cycle to understand what is going on with your tank and why your fish are dying and sick.

Purchase a liquid test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Avoid strips.

Do a 80% water change right now with your water conditioner. Temp needs to be the same as the tank. Then continue with 50% daily water changes. Pickup a bottle of Seachem Prime water conditioner as its best when cycling with fish as it detoxes the toxins.

A discussion also needs to be done as what fish are appropriate for a 10 gallon tank. Pleco is not one of them.

Welcome to Fishlore.

 

thanks so much guys! I am just a little confused about cycling a brand new tank?
I had a 5 gallon tank my 7 fish and pleco were okay but I wanted them to have more room so I bought the 10 gallon tank and set it up I checked the temp the ph and added aquasafe and then I added a 2nd pleco and 2 new fish and the next day 6 of my fish were dead
I could not cycle... because it was a new tank set up with all fresh new water
I am just really wondering if the new pleco had ick since he has white spots on his eyes and if he could have gave my old pleco ick too
my old pleco is an albino pleco and I am not sure if he had spots on his eyes before today
also my neighbor has a tank set up and has had no problems her tank is cold compared to mine ...can temp be an issue my temp was almost at 80 and hers was at 60

 

It is not the temperature and it is not Ph. It is simply that your tank has not cycled properly. Your ammonia levels and nitrite levels are too, way too high. You need to get an API test kit and test the levels in your water. I am 100% sure that this is what is killing your fish and making your plecos sick.

What happens in a new tank is that there is no bacteria. So when your fish are introduced they start eliminating waste which turns into ammonia. This ammonia sits around making your fish sick, if the water is not changed, until bacteria grow that change the ammonia into nitrite which is also poissonous to fish. Eventually bacteria will grow that turns the nitrite into nitrate which is not poissonous to your fish. Even then high levels of nitrate are bad for your fish. ANY amount of ammonia or nitrite can kill your fish. Your tank has not gone through this cycle so the ammonia and nitrites are killing your fish and making them sick. It is kind of like being stuck in an out house for a week. You might get sick too.

If you put the PRIME or Amquel in with your water changes, it will detoxify the levels of ammonia and nitrite just until the next day when you do a water change. If you don't do consistent daily water changes, your fish will die.

 

thank you wendy so since I just set up my new tank and with the remaining fish that I have in there when should I do the water change again? I will go and pick up the apI test kit tom and do that, but I took out the regular pleco and put him in a different bowl cause I didnt know if it was him that was making the fish sick and die, so should I keep him in the different bowl and take him back to the fish store on monday or put him back in the fish tank????

 

Welcome to Fishlore.

When you upgraded your tank did you transfer everything? Gravel, decor, filter, etc? If you did you would have transferred enough bacteria to have an immediate cycle.

Before the upgrade, what was your water change schedule like? Did you do weekly water changes or just top off the tank? The reason this is important is because fish deplete certain minerals from water. Over time this changes the chemistry of the water. Sudden changes can have such an affect on fish that it can lead to death.

As for the plecos, take them back or rehome them. These guys grow much too large for a 10G tank. When there eyes get a white film on them their water is polluted and affecting their health. If you want to keep them you'd need a 55G or larger tank, depending on the exact species.

Reading about the nitrogen cycle will explain what is going on in your tank. Just click the underlined words.

 

You need to be doing daily water changes. When fish show signs of stress or sickness daily water changes need to be done. Nothing beats clean freshwater.

The Pleco will die in the bowl as he will produce ammonia which will make him sicker. You need to then do daily water changes on the bowl. Dose he have a heater? Airstone for oxygen? It would be best to Put him back in the tank and perform daily 50% water changes. I would take him back to the fish store too. 10 gallon isn't big enough.

Pickup a bottle of Prime also.

Do you have a syphon hose? It's a tube with a hose on the end for water changes and substrate vacs.

 

catsma........everything was new in the 10 gallon tank, I took my 5 gallon tank and put it in my kids room and put glow in the dark fish in it for them and those fish are doing great. but today my 3 fish that are left seem to be doing fine and I put the pleco back in the tank, the pleco doesn't have a white film over its eyes it has a white dot on it and my neighbor told me that if it has that that means the pleco has ick???? but when I had the five gallon I did the weekley water changes and put the aquasafe in the tank and all my fish were perfectly fine, had no troubles, its when I went to the ten gallon and transfered all the fish is when most of them died.......

thanks christine and yes I just bought one of them but I have no idea how to use it...lol and I put my pleco back in the fish tank.

 

What did you buy that you don't know how to use? Syphon? lol

I personally don't think that is ICH on the Plecos eyes. ICH usually starts on the fins of the fish. Daily water changes with Prime should takecare of it. When water is poor it's an open door to infections. So water changes are really important. It can take 6 weeks or more to cycle with fish.

You are doing great!