# Sighs.. Pleco death again.



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

So.. Some of you might recall my pleco losses when I fed some slices of cucumber.

So I was really wary to feed veggies again for some time that wasn't pellet form.

I had some extra bits of romaine hearts, I've fed it many times before and I added two medium leaves to the tank. The one thing I didn't do was blanch them at all but they were washed.

Tonight at around 11pm, the leaves of course are trimmed and half eaten but my male bristlenose pleco was dead.

Not a scratch on him.. the only thing I did notice was a distended tummy, kinda lumpy as well. 

Do these guys over eat enough to kill themselves? I am totally floored..


----------



## vrb th hrb (Feb 20, 2010)

odd.... are all the other fish in the tank fine?

i've been keeping plecos for a while, and as much as people recognize BN's as easy to keep/easy to breed, they are the only species of pleco that I've repeatedly had die on me. In my tank and in other peoples tanks. I suspect there are certain water parameters that they are easily affected by.

As far as the veggies go, if you are giving them a good rinse before adding to the tank, and not leaving them in for too long, that shouldnt be an issue. My crew of plecs get a rotating veggie diet of peppers, sweet potato, cukes, zukes, broccoli stem, melon rinds. I stay away from lettuces/spinach because I find they shred the hell out of them and clog up the filter intakes.....

as far as your fish loss goes, check your nitrate levels, ph etc etc. Maybe there has been a change in tap water chemistry with all the rain we've been having recently......


----------



## missindifferent (Jun 25, 2010)

I've never heard of that!
But I've had mysterious pleco deaths.

2 juvie L144s died in 1 week. I think the (also juvie) albino BN who was also in the tank killed them.

Then I moved the albino BN in with a 2.5" common pleco and the albino died a month later. I think the common killed it. (But my bf has an 8" pleco and 2 L144s and 2 albino BN and the common doesn't mess with them!)

Then the common was in the tank by itself (well there are guppies and a betta) and he died... ?_? I'm so baffled, because I keep the water clean! (I had clown loaches at one time.)

Now I have 3 L144s in the tank and they look fine ... for now. -_-...


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Yea I am washing them, but maybe.. not well enough. I've gotten both veggies over at sun valley. 

I wish I took a photo, he was totally fine, colour wise and everything except for a really big tummy. But I was really upset about it..

I've never had this issue before either until just lately. Other leafs went to the large sailfin who is fine, the other plecos are just fine..

How long do these guys live? I think he was maybe 2 to 3 but I thought they lived a heck of a lot longer.

Thanks for your help you guys, I don't get too worked up over fish death and stuff anymore like I used too but that guy was my fav. 

All the other fish are fine, guppies, shrimp, other plecos.

I'll do some tests with my kit, but I need a new one since the ammonia is used up


----------



## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

sorry to hear that Cid.

You mentioned a very large stomach.....did it always have a large stomach? or is it just when it died?


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Not that I saw at all.. just the normal tummy. When he died it was very not normal. The tummy, and the lower area just below the tummy had a large bulge...


----------



## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Sounds like bloat. caused by stress, over eating or water quality.

Here is a article about it


----------



## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

I dont think its bloat......as bloat will show signs long before it finally kills...

when did you feed the greens?


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Hmm Thanks Tbemba,

Here are some numbers
Tank 
NH3 (ammonia) 0.6 
No2 (nitrites) 0 
PH 7.6 

Tap
NH3 (ammonia) 0.6
No2 (nitrites) 0.1
PH 7.4-6

Filters are a penguin 330 and a Filstar 4, its a 90 gallon planted tank.

It has a couple of types of wood, including that cactus wood? (that really holey stuff)

I feed a mix of pellets and flake which has spirulina, worm flake, etc etc.. The plecos get some sort of green every 3 days or so.

I didn't see any odd behavior at all and he was always out first to eat. But I'll keep an eye on it and feed the protein food less.


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Oohh I gave them the lettuce at around noon yesterday. I noticed the death at around 11:30pm.

I saw him floating up at the top, tummy up... I thought he was going after some of the larger duckweed in the tank or something.

About two weeks ago I did do a parasite food for about a week.


----------



## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

you saw it floating up? Sounds like it died earlier on the day, since plecos dont float up until the built up enough gas in their stomach.....which could potentially explain the large extended stomach.

what do you mean by parasite food?


----------



## bcarlos (Nov 19, 2009)

It definitely wasn't caused by not blanching, as I've never blanched a veggie in my life. I will side with a comment made above-- I've lost more BNs in the past than any other pleco, and often times for no reason.


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Thanks Bcarlos.. Honestly, I've never had such a bad streak in years of fish keeping which is why I am so so lost right now.

Ohh sorry Hitch, its the anti parasite medicated fish food by Jungle. I've been trying to narrow down what the losses could be from. You could be very right, I just assume it was recent because I thought it was alive still. Its eyes had been clear and noone was trying to eat him or anything. The colour was normal, not faded or anything. 

I do a 30%-40% water change once a week. Usually friday or sat.


----------



## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Pleco's have been know to over eat and die just like gold fish. Usually, this happens when they are 3 - 6 months old and when introduce with new food. This is more so for BN for some reason but others like Zebras and Inspector babies have this problem as well. A few years back, I've lost %50 of BN batches this way until I started controling the amount of food they eat.
So over eating is a real possiblity, but I just have to wonder though, it should be old enough stop eating ...
Another possibility is constipation. That's why it's important to rotate your food and mix in vergies or algae wafer at least once a week for BN. High protein food causes constipation and bloated stomach.

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Here is a pic of him from the 16th or 17th.










Ahhh I see Zebra, They are -forever- eating my plants which I never really cared about. lol I was thinking if that would be variety enough or maybe a sign that they wern't getting enough to eat.

So I had been more than giving with the greens when I did feed it. Last week they had a diet of wafers as well.

Everyone else seems just fine for now. I am planning a big redo in the future as I have issues with the soil on the bottom of the tank. I am very curious to see what my Nitrates are at.


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Btw.. thank so much everyone for helping me sort this out. If you see anything I might be doing wrong, please feel free to tell me.


----------



## grafx (Nov 13, 2010)

well, you have ammonia in the tank. which is never good


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Yup.. Been an ongoing issue. One I hope to fix by replacing the soil, x upgrading the filters a bit more.

I have ammonia in my tap as well, so I was going to try to double dose prime the next time I do a change.

there are roughly 40 some odd fish in the tank, a break down would be..

1 gold gourami
8-9 odessa barbs
4 BN plecos
5 harlie tetras
5 black neons
3 cardinals
5 guppies
2 gara gara
2 flying fox
2 corys


----------



## grafx (Nov 13, 2010)

having ammonia in your water really shouldn't matter if you have enough nitrifying bacteria to break it down everyday


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I'll see if I can get some more bacteria friendly material for my canister too..


----------

