I think it may be that the paleness is a better indicator of excessive CO2 than the gasping at the top is. There are even plecos that are considered to be carnivorous. Unlike ich or fin rot, there are no medicinal treatments for cloudy eyes, as the problem will solve itself when the cause has been determined and fixed (water conditions, tank aggression, etc.). My pleco is laying on it's side still breathing but not moving. But what they carry and what will work I couldn't say. Some people may find their pleco to be more active if they feed it live worms or move it to a bigger tank. ), -Research nutrition based on specific pleco species, fin edges turn black or brown and look frayed, have white dots (another possible symptom of ich). The main pressure on the regulator has been dropping so I raised the main pressure in the regulator and then increased the bubble flow. It could be related to water quality, malnutrition, or even other things in the tank that are causing the fish stress. Like fin rot, Ich may appear due to poor tank conditions. Mine in the day is under a log and will only come out if there is food. They are seriously chill dudes lol. Contests including the Tank of the Month, Since plecos are a type of catfish, they feed off of algae. This situation can be turned around if you act fast. API Liquid Super Ich Cure is another product you can purchase to treat ich. Just laying on the bottom. My drop checker had pretty much all of the air OUT of the "exchainge" area, in it's place was water. Theres a good chance that youre not doing regular tank maintenance. Ive had the pleco for 4-5 months now and hes usually very active day and night. This is perfectly normal behavior for plecos. If the chain is broken, this creates dangerous circumstances. Usually, rapid breathing is caused by some pollutant or toxic in the water. What does it mean when a pleco fish dies overnight? Do you see the gills moving at all or are they truly motionless? However, a stressed pleco catfish can be recognized by a few things: A stressed pleco is most likely the result of an insufficient tank setup, bad water quality and or conflicts with other fish or plecos. A healthy probably pregnant bristlenose pleco female. Your pleco needs immediate care in both cases. For a limited time, download my pleco catfish ebook below on how to care for these beautiful animals. Researching before owning your pleco will give you the necessary information and guidance on preventing and treating these issues when they happen because not every fish owner is perfect. Yes this normally happens with Plecos. Also having a water test kit for ammonia and nitrite will help greatly in knowing when to do water changes. Resting on the bottom of the tank or hiding in plants or other objects. Check out the FishForums.net Monthly Ensure that youre feeding the fish appropriately. Good luck. The fish might be very sick and it feels unable to move. If you are worried, you can try to move the pleco with your hands and see if it swims away. This can be a sign of an internal infection due to injury or the food its been eating. Pleco catfish don't move a lot he started they're nocturnal. If they are desperate enough, they will turn upside down in their search for food at the surface. Change the Tank Water Frequently. If you get no response, the fish is surely dead. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. It can get habitual to the routine, and they follow the owner's hand movements. I doubt this is the issue, but my pleco was acting odd, curving and swimming like he was intoxicated flying from one side to the other, no CO2, regular parameters, but I checked the temperature, like yours mine was breathing up a storm, but I raised the temp 4 degrees up and he was fine my temp dropped to 72, and he was going bananas, but after about 20 minutes I guess he caught a warm front and hugged the heater damn near. Posted on Last updated: February 14, 2023. My fish is alive and moving, but isnt breathing? Plecos are a type of tropical fish that need a heated tank with a filter. Make sure the tank has been cycled before introducing any fish to it so there are no dangerous spikes in the water. Even the pleco was quite all right till yesterday. Youll also need to fix issues with water quality in the tank while solving stress problems. 2005-2019 Monsterfishkeepers.com. If the fish is hiding among the plants or in a cave and not moving, thats perfectly normal. If you cant see the gills moving, this suggests that the fish is truly dead. Its also possible that nothing is wrong at all. Plecs are tropical fish, and goldfish are coldwater, so they're not compatible unfortunately. If none of the above are the problem then diseases come into play. Many things can cause stress such as poor water conditions, overcrowded fish tanks, and incompatible tank mates. Today he is floating upside down in the top corner of the tank. What kind of disease? As weve discussed briefly, starvation is a very common death cause of plecos. He is still breathing, but he doesn't move when I approach him, only if I touch him. You transfer water from the aquarium to the bag while slowly removing water from the bag. JavaScript is disabled. Mine doesn't get active til well after 10pm at night. This happened all of a sudden. Home > Plecos > Care > 11 Signs Your Pleco Is Dying [+ How To Save It]. Fish tank Pet fish Pet Animals and Pets. Aren't the nitrates a tad on the high side? . Plecostomus fish, commonly called plecos, are relatively easy to take care of. Add an airstone if your filter doesnt create enough surface movement. An air pump is optional, but recommended to prevent your pleco from swimming up to the surface to gulp air. Provide adequate space and decor (ornaments and positioning of objects) so there is no danger for your pleco. I thought the pH controller was set okay so I wasn't too worried. If your pleco is gulping at the surface or swimming up and down the tank to reach for oxygen, this is a severe problem. Just keep an eye on him. Cloudy eye is caused by bacteria and if your pleco is under stress, has had an injury, or lower immune system it can come up. Clean your fish tank. Checking temperature and pH levels is also essential because the water needs to be at a pH of 7.0 to 8.0. Just as important is what you put in the tank. WHats wrong? Plecos turn white for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to: poor nutrition, disease, stress, or inadequate tank conditions. If the fish is breathing, its likely that its simply resting. I had similar problems when I had a faulty regulator. If all he is getting is algae (either fresh from the tank or wafer form) he may not be feeling very good. Hello, I have this pleco for like 6 months. Feed food before lights out and he is likely to come out when it is dark to feed. You need to monitor the water parameters to keep things in check. They can also take advantage of other opportunities that come with darkness, like avoiding predators. Turn lights off and put in some bloodworm or something and then come back in five minutes with a torch. Nitrite is the most dangerous, and should always be at 0 ppm. Turned out, that fish wasn't a female but the male had trapped the less dominant male and choked him (though there were plenty of caves). When you dont treat this disease, it can cause the fish to lose vision or even lose the eye. Same my pleco only comes out when the lights are off and since ive got an enenemy (sorry if i spelled wrong) he just stays there and dosent move at ALL even in the day and the lights are off i guess he loves darkness an also cus hes hiding from my guppie named bob. So I sighed, and accepted I was going to lose him. you read and agreed to the. Today he seems very docile. Of course, its often human error that causes plecos to die in fish tanks. It could be that the fish is sick and has some type of problem with its gills. Monitor your fishs feeding to ensure he is eating. Infections can be remedied by giving the fish medications. This is of course innocent. A lot of pleco types also benefit from driftwood in their tank. Even the tiny three-inch long zebra plecos are carnivores. You can get something called Stress Coat at the pet store, it basically removes any chlorine that may be in your water, it has also been proven to reduce fish stress. There has to be something wrong. Fixing constipation issues will be easy. Also, does he have any places to hide? While in fact, there are hundreds. They will float uncontrollably to the top of the aquarium, turned upside down, while still being alive. A pleco dying is often the result of bad information and lack of knowhow about the species. Depending on the species, feed a varied diet of both vegetables and protein-rich foods that sink to the bottom. Common pleco not moving after tank flush! Plecos that like to eat algae such as bristlenose plecos will need to be fed as well. Check the tanks temperature to ensure it is between 72 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Silly fish. Both tanks are also a bit small for their inhabitants, so moving your Plec will overstock your Goldie tank. if he is acting strange i would try to get him in a small treatment tank with lots of oxygen, dose a general med and salt would be a good start till you can figure out what is wrong with the little fella. Fish Lore's aquarium fish forum - aquarium hobbyists helping hobbyists since 2005! Most likely, the fish have fin rot due to poor water conditions in the tank. Recently, I watched. My Pleco did that for a while too. In most cases, it is poisoning by ammonia, nitrite, or other nitrogen. Now the tank is in pretty bad shape (were working on it!) If the water condition and bacterial infections caused the situation, then youll need to fix those problems. How can I make my plecostomus more active? You should be changing 15% of the water on a weekly basis. My betta is laying at the bottom of the tank and breathing heavily. Plecos are strong swimmers, so it may be necessary to have two people present in order to remove them quickly. What's wrong with him? Make sure to ask your fish store whether they have quarantined the fish already. Having more females than males also helps. It could also mean that the fish is constipated, though. It is a disease that causes fluid build-up in the eye socket, resulting in the eyes protruding out of the socket. It might help you to figure out how to help the fish by doing some troubleshooting. The average life expectancy of plecos is between 10 and 15 years. The tank is now highly planted, and he's very fast. Feb 14, 2004. Most of them can be caused by poor water conditions in the tank. It frustrates me that when you look up information about plecos, people speak about plecos as one species. Many different types of illnesses will make fish feel lethargic. Definitely looks underweight. Some plecos will swim upside down because they want to eat the food on the surface of the water. 3. Fish could die due to being bullied by other fish as well. Regular water changes are an important part of fish tank maintenance. Fish laying on its side, mouth open. Young animals are sensitive to too much protein. Plecs are also known to suck the slime coat off goldfish, causing injury and illness to the goldfish. Fish laying on the bottom of the tank and breathing deeply require action as soon as possible. Keep reading to know more. Also, algae is starting to grow on the glass so I dont think that hes roaming around much at night either. It can also be due to stress, so separating the bloated fish from its tank mates will ensure a stress-free environment for your pleco to recover. Abdominal swelling typically means that the fish has some type of internal infection. If you arent regularly testing the water using a pH balance testing kit, then youre going to have a harder time keeping the fish alive. As I said, the other fish are showing no signs of stress. this post deserved to be sharedlots of gems! Without the tank cycled, there are no good bacteria to convert the ammonia into nitrates for live plants to consume. I had a big common pleco that lived for over 10 years in a 30 gallon tall along with. Clean the gravel at the bottom of the tank with a gravel vacuum, and make sure any decorations are clean as well. Threw him in the tank anyway and it survived. LL, yes I just moved, but the pleco has been in this water for almost a month. If the fish is still alive, it should move when you touch it. Of course, itll be prudent to try to touch the fish to see if it moves. If the fish is not moving, then there are no signs of life, such as breathing or eating, then it has likely died. #3. Most of these signs of death are preventable by monitoring the water conditions and performing weekly water changes. In addition, you will want to quarantine the sick fish, as it is contagious and will spread quickly. The fish could have been on the verge of death for some time. T. Swearingen, http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=126, S.Barbatus & Black C. Schultzei breeding tank. Take action by doing water changes and adding an air pump. The assumption is that plecos will simply eat the algae in the tank. These are great fish and you want them to thrive under your care. Supply food for the other fish during the day. I quickly put in an airstone and within 5 minutes they were back to normal. If you cant see your pleco at all, it may be hiding in the substrate or in the plants. If the pleco is not moving but breathing, then there are several things that could be happening. It still might take plecos a bit to feel bold enough to swim around. Often, its very hard to tell whether your pleco is sick or not. There are various products that might treat it but as for your best option on products I don't know. It was in a tank with Piranha and had scars on it, but after a while they left it alone. I came over to his house about 4 hours later and noticed the plec was missing. Fin rot is one of the most preventable illnesses, as the main contributor to this disease is poor water conditions. Take any remaining fish out of the water and keep them somewhere safe. He could still be in shock from the move. It looks like he is taking his last breaths in only a day and that too without showing any symptoms of any disease. Poor water conditions, bacterial infections, and even injuries have been known to make this happen. Thats because theyre quite withdrawn fish that dont want to show when theyre sick (otherwise, predators will notice). (Per Species Guide), The 7 Biggest Giant Pleco Species You Didnt Know About, Do Plecos Eat Plants? Htels & Rsidences de tourisme; tablissements recevant du public; Habitats individuels & collectifs; Amnagements extrieurs; Design, Mobilier & Tapisseries Wouldn't the fish survive for at least a few days even if it was suffering from a disease? This is the main reason why we cycle aquarium tanks. It is an extreme problem with oxygen to have, but it can occur if you don't do a good job maintaining the tank.
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