Sick Common Pleco

[tropicalcrazy]

blue gouramis get up to 6". what you cant read on most information sites is the older they get, the bigger they get, the more aggressive they get. they can also end up being very territorial ecspecially if your tank does not get switched around or addition and decreasion of fish all the time. ive kept blue, opaline, and gold and about 2 of each at different times and some together. they are semi aggressive at youth but when they start getting 4-6" there aggression level seems to get very high including with new additions to the tank.

waiting to move your fish until they become established in that tank is a bad idea. the older a fish gets and the bigger they get, the more stressful and chances of death become upon it. moving them as juveniles is much easier. ive moved juveniles the same way i have adults and ive had lots of adults die but no juveniles. plus the stress it takes on them trying to catch a large fish.

i would rehome as soon as possible. how long have you had your tank set up? also they always say a. use a liquid test kit and b. ALWAYS test before water change so you can get a true reading on what the fish are going thru therefore you know what you need to do to get numbers correct.

also about ammonia readings reading zero meaning that it isnt cycled yet, that is also incorrect because my tank has been set up for 2 1/2years now and i have had zero readings on my tank before.

you post very good information on your posts and you are very detailed and sound very intelligent but i would honestly listen to all of these guys/gals of their advice of getting rid of ALL large fish that will outgrow that tank asap and then you can get some others. right now you may not be overstocked on size but bioload you are.

and yes NEVER LISTEN TO PETSTORE EMPLOYEES, find a few different ACTIVE forums and get some advice from the people because they will not give you incorrect information and they will share there experiences with what happened with the same type of fish.

 

[Mikael616]

My Tank has now been running for a month and one week, Cycling time was 1 month, and 2 days. total deaths: 1 golden gourami named Finnigan, the pet store (One I refuse to shop at now) I got him from took responsibility, as the fish caught a ton of terrible diseases within the first day while my other fish were fine (other was Fluffy the Pleco) Because they took responsibility for Finnigan's death they gave me my columbian shark, Cat-Face, in return. Diseases included pop eye (Easter weekend, poor guy I could NOT get meds for him in time, I felt bad) fin rot, ich, and some form of internal parasite that caused red lines on his body.

Thanks for the advice, I found a good local petstore who'll hapilly take my columbian shark <3
As for my testing ; I do believe I stated I am using the Master freshwater test kit, it is NOT strips, you put the chemical in the test tube with your water sample and the colour it changes to, matching up on a colour sheet, is where you are at (basically, while still not 100%, as stated, WAY more accurate then test strips). My tests are done before testing (aside from lst week because I freaked out about Fluffy's wierd fin problem and just did a huge 75% water change before even looking as I already knew the tank was overdue for a change as I tried to get everything syncronized to be done at the same time. Wont be trying that one again! ^.-

I don't want to get rid of poor fluffy my Pleco T-T He's only 3 inch right now, I couldn't get away with waiting until he is 5 inch? -clings to him- I love the poor guy so much. BUT as it is not a matter of if I get rid of him, but WHEN, would a bristle nose pleco do beter? I've read they get to be about 4- 5 inch. Which I believe would fit my tank. (I don't want any more pet store people telling me what i want to hear so I'll buy the fish)

Currently here are my fish again with their size:

1 Blue Gourami: Roughly 4.5 inch now

1 Columbian shark: (being moved to his now 155 Gal Tank at a family owned pet store on thursday) He is about 6 Inch now (He grew SO fast! I got him at 2 inch last month!)

1 Common Pleco: 3 Inch

1 Boesemani Rainbow 1 Inch

1 Half-banded Spiny Eel Roughly 5 inch long, although ultimately a rather small fellah, the half-banded eels are amoungst the smallest freshwater variety gettig to be about 8 inch max, but most commonly seen 5-6 inch in captivity

1 Clown loach : Roughly 1.5 Inch

 

[tropicalcrazy]

yeah i would say dump the clown loach, common pleco, and colombian (i know you have plans), and yes get a bristlenose. albino's get to 3-4" regulars 4-6". also if you decide to go planted they are a good pleco for the planted aquarium. i love mine and he is VERY active. he is definitely the most active pleco ive ever had. ive had 2 rubber lip, 1 clown, both 3" max 1 hifin and 1 common pleco both 16-18" max size (and if correct conditions they can even exceed that limit).

i would highly consider the blue gourami (only reason i say if you put a large environment and he is full size at 6" he can be VERY active and can accidently hurt himself on something. personally with the experience that ive had in keeping gouramis at different times i would say get rid of him and get a dwarf gourami 3-4" max size. also they can tend to have more coloration. i think blue, opaline, or gold gourami's should be in a 50g+. but thats just my 2 cents worth.

you could also add 5 oto's and their bioload is not huge at all so they really wouldnt affect your bioload, therefore your guaranteed your tank would always be clean with a bristlenose and them. maybe get yourself a couple more different rainbow fish and a dojo loach with a dwarf gourami or 2.

 

[lauraf]

I agree with tropical. As much as you love Fluffy, it will only get harder over time to get rid of him. Get an albino bristlenose istead - mine is taking on a beautiful golden hue and is very entertaining and a good cleaner.

 

[nanu156]

I think you pulled WAY tooo much water and thats what caused this issue. Dechlor doesn't work as well as people seem to think it does, i would stay with 20% changes weekly your fish will likely do better. The drift is an awesome idea, and the tannis is good for the fish.

Also make sure you are FEEDING your pleco. They ARE NOT algae eaters. Common Plecs have TEETH. I would recommend alternating potato with Zucchini along with a high protein cichlid sinking pellet.

 

[Mikael616]

Thanks guys, I'm looking for a loving home for fluffy now -hugs him- I do adore him so much but if I can get him a home with someone who really knows their stuff I'll sleep peacefully at night.

Mr. Cat-face the columbian shark has found a great new home in a MASSIVE display tank at a local family owned petstore (they offered totrade for another fish as they said cat-face was really in great condition -cheers- but I declined, best not grab anymore fish for now)

The clown loach is my mom's and dad's they begged me to get one for them T-T (at $14 I didn't want the poor guy) but they are insisting they had one for three years and it only reached about 4 inch (I have NO idea what sized tank or anything, possibly he got stunted in growth from a small tank). I'll see what I can do about him. It was the clown loach that mom and dad wanted or a crud load of tetras which I HATE, so i took the loach.

As for the dojo loach you think they would do alreight in my tank?? I LOVE them O.O Totally adorable, I just doubt I could find a place that sells them.


SO on this list:
1. Fluffy to a new home
2. See if I can talk mom and dad into giving up their loach
3. Possibly find my blue gourami a new home. (reason why I didn't go for the dwarf gourami's is the diseases they can have, I read the bigger gourami's are much healthier and almost all sources say a 20g tank for the blues T-T (but I hear you on the agression, he's starting to get cranky when anyone goes in his corner )

AND

with those things done all I'll have left is:

Edger the Half-banded Spiny Eel (sorry but nothing will convince me tolet this lettle guy go O.O I have a thing for odd fish and the 'eel' is totaly love, in any case he doesn't get bigger then 5-6 inches)
&
Padington the Boesemani Rainbow (I'm thinking of getting one or two more of these guys as they are schooling. Padington is actually doing really well, the gourami and him are buds specially now that cat-face is gone).


As for Pleco food:
I am feeding him the hakari sinking algea wafers as well as sinking brine shrim pellets. He eats both hapilly ^^

 

[tropicalcrazy]

yeah best to get rid of all those. glad to hear they have gone to much suitable homes. they will be much happier. the aggression on the gourami will only increase until fully grown. at full grown size he may call the whole tank his territory. also to sex a gourami, look at the bottom dorsal fin and if its short and rounded its a female, if its long and pointed then its a male. here is a link: Blue Gourami this picture is a female. as wise of diseases idk about that. ive had 4 different dwarf gouramis and only had one that had an intenstinal disease that i couldnt get rid of. he had it for months. i tried lots of things. was going to donate but died before i could. your eel should be fine. idk how it would get along with a dojo loach, they can get up to 12" heres a link: Dojo, weather loach, Misgurnis anguillicauditis, with care, maintenance requirements and breeding information for your tropical fish
i would say definitely get a couple more Boesemani Rainbow to make them happier. also maybe get a small school of tetras, barbs, danios, or swordtails and then your tank will be getting close to full

 

[tropicalcrazy]

also about the clown loach, if a fish is stunted it is probably because of cramped quarters or overstocked and that means lots of stress on a fish. stunted fish from what ive learned have a much shorter life span

 

[OrangeCones]

I think you pulled WAY tooo much water and thats what caused this issue. Dechlor doesn't work as well as people seem to think it does, i would stay with 20% changes weekly your fish will likely do better.

How does a large water change cause the problem? What do you mean that dechlor doesn't work as well as people think?

 

[Mikael616]

Tropical: Thanks so much for the advice tropical ^^ I'll look into stuff for my blue gourami, and he's a boy. I've known he was a boy sinse I got the lad ^^ (I do a lot of online reading about all the fish I get and usually find out the store folks either didn't know what they were talking about or simply lied so I'd buy the fish XD Normally I'd go to the store, see what they have, go home, do my own reserch BEFORE buying but in my case I don't drive, I have to rely on my father who resents everything I ask of him >> Thus it's a one shot if i managed to get a ride out of him, and then after that I pretty much have to wait a month ^^

Orange: I was cunfused by that post also, orange ; like....completely confused as I'm not sure i even know what dechlor is.
As i stated I do a 25%- 50% water change every sunday depending on what my watr tests read (sometimes the nitrite is higher, that's when i do the 50%, and if the water is average (meaning my usual readings) I do my 25%.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

oc wasnt understanding why someone would tell you to do smaller water changes because when something goes wrong we will all advise or do it ourselvess larger and more frequent water changes to get it out of the water.

 

[Mikael616]

Ah yeah that's what I though, when I saw fluffy had his issue I did a 75% change.

I've actually given away fluffy now T-T same store that took my columbian shark was happy to take him and I got two Half-beak fish (TINY guys though! they were 50 cents -no not the terrible rapper >> -) Anyways they get to be about 4 inch if they can survive! My gourami is trying to eat them O.O (As mention someone said I should probably give my gourami away and get a dwarf gourami. If he keeps tring to eat those adorable half-beaks >< Straight to the pet store he goes! We can't have that kind of behavior and besides, as a lover of exotic looking fish, I'd much rather have the half-beaks O.O totally awsome guys! They even eat cool T-T) Also picked up a VERY tiny albino bristlenose pleco, he's about half and inch.

Fish stock currently:
1 blue gourami -about 4.5 inch (probably going to let him go to a new home)
1. Boesemani Rainbow - 1.5-2 inch
1. half-banded eel- about 4-5 inch (tiny guy though, think, usually under substrate)
1. clown loach - 1 inch (Fraid he's staying my mom got REALLY upset when I mention I might give him away and it didn't go well, we'll just have to see how it goes. Currently there are no issues with him)
1. albino bristlenose pleco - 0.5-1 inch
2. half-beak- 0.5 inch

QUESTION:
with my rainbow fish, do rainbows get along with other rainbows? (after I probably move my gourami if I don't seem overstocked) I was thinking of getting some neon rainbowfish, their body type and general look is the exact same as the Boesemani Rainbow, but the neon's stay a tad bit smaller, about 2.5 inch as opposed to 3 inch for the Boesemani Rainbow. Reason beig is I know the rainbows school but the neon rainbows are half the price of the Boesemani, I was wondering if they might just school together anyways as they are so close in look, body typ, just the colours are slightly different. (the neons not having the yellow coloured back half). So yeah >< Was curious if I could pull that off (if I'm not overstocked of course).

 

[nanu156]

dechor and you...

How does a large water change cause the problem? What do you mean that dechlor doesn't work as well as people think?

Cones we meet again!

Anything over 20% causes shock and stress on your fish. Think about what you are doing to your parameters. I mean i guess if your ammonia spikes to 4 or something crazy like that (in which case set down the fish food lol)

My fish husbandry habits were adopted from my friend who is a wholesaler/breeder. She runs 200+/- tanks out of her home and sells fish full time.

Things I learned from her
-Aqua clear filters are the Whip
-Carbon should only be used to remove meds, no need to have it in there all the time
-Undergravel filters are a good addition to any tank
-Filters are ALWAYS under rated, go wayy bigger then you think you will need.
-Chemicals of any kind do not mix with plecos (no ick meds, no salt, no ammonia meds, no tank clearing meds NOTHING)
-dechlor doesn't work (to really "dechlor" you need to let the water sit for 2-3 days)
-pet stores lie, and tell you thigs like buy this filter, buy this dechlor etc to get you into the habit of buying replacement parts.

just my 2 cents

 

[nanu156]

oc wasnt understanding why someone would tell you to do smaller water changes because when something goes wrong we will all advise or do it ourselvess larger and more frequent water changes to get it out of the water.

TropicalCrazy,

1. did your bushy get bushy yet?

2. Smaller more frequent water changes. yes. Clean water is always a good thing.

3. HUGE WATER CHANGES will cause issues. I don't know where people get the idea that they should start an eco system (your fish tank) and then basically remove all of the ecology at once. 75% is WAYY too much.

4. Why are your tanks getting all wacky in the first place? Probably because you are removing way too much stuff from the tank at once, then causing a mini cycle or a full cycle to begin again. 20% once a week, twice if the tank is getting wacky 3 times if it is getting really bad. If your ammonia is getting high stop feeding until it goes down, you don't have anything in there that needs to eat every day. Fish are opportunistic eaters, meaning if the food is there, they will eat but they won't die if you don't feed for a few days.

5. Dechlor removes very little if any chlorine, so when you add that much fresh water containing chlorine you kill TONS of the beneficial bacteria, not to mention you change the PH, Softness of the water, temp, ammonia, nitrates/nitrites etc ALL at once. And your fish get freaked out by all the activity too. So you just stress them out then they get sick.

Take my advice or don't, it's up to you. but as you can see from the stock that i had room to post I have fancy fish many of which are rare, I rarely ever have fish death. (when i do it's because someone got the boogers beat out of them)

 

[OrangeCones]

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