AKICILJ: pleco edition

[truepenny]

So, on Friday I went out and bought two albino bristlenose plecos. One of them is normal and healthy and zips about doing pleco things (nom nom nom). The other is weirdly bulbous (and this isn't something that started since being put in my tank: the aquarium store guy remarked that it had a bit of a belly): its thoracic section is so convex that it can't easily press itself flat against anything. Dorsal fin down, very low activity level, color not as good as its tankmate's.

My first thought was eggs, but I am dubious--I don't know enough about the reproductive habits of the bristlenose pleco to know if this is what a gravid female would look like. And if it's not eggs--or even if it is--the fish is obviously uncomfortable and I would prefer not to have the poor creature die just because I don't know to do anything for it.

Some very bad pictures are here.

Before anyone asks, no, it's not being overfed. And both plecos came from the same tank in the store. But other than that, I have no idea of what may or may not be wrong with it, and would be very grateful for more expert opinions. If you have websites to recommend, that's also a plus, although I already know about Planet Catfish and PlecoFanatics.com.

Comments

[ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com]

I think one of my last plecos had a similar problem right before it died. I'm under the understanding that it is caused by intestinal blockage. Insufficient dietary fiber I think.
(Are your plecos in the same tank?)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yes, they are.

... so how does one go about improving the fiber content of a pleco's diet?

[ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com]

(I asked the question in parentheses because plecos don't always get along well with each other. I've had problems with that in the past)
Peas or zuchini are the things I find suggested (I didn't manage to save mine, but I didn't find any suggestions about the problem until rather late.) I suspect you need to at least cut the zuchini in half for it to work.

Alas, my last pleco died a few months ago (a big monster almost as long as my forearm. It had one of my cory cats jammed in its throat, which convinced me to move to another style of algae eater. The big ones occasionally can get aggressive and I'd lost a couple of fish in that same tank. Don't know if the pleco was the cause, but I decided not to risk it until I get a much bigger tank.)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Clearly tomorrow I should go buy a zucchini. *g* Thank you!

[ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com]

No problem. My success rate with healing fish has been, over the last 20 years, pretty hit or miss, but you can't hurt your plecos by offering them zucchini. (I'm not sure that cucumbers wouldn't work, but the posts I found last time I looked into this one all said zucchini...)

Fibre

[msss.livejournal.com]

Generally, plecos should have driftwood in the tank. Feeding lightly steamed peas, zucchini and other fresh vegies also helps. If it's already blocked up, you might try a salt bath or bath with epsom salts - the fish boards should be able to tell you the right dilution.

Re: Fibre

[msss.livejournal.com]

I should point out that I mean a small piece of said vegies, not the whole zucchini (!), weighted down with rubber bands and something that will sink.

Re: Fibre

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

They do have driftwood. I'll look for information on the salt bath idea. Thank you!

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

I am afraid your petstore provided you with an unhealthy fish. You might consider returning it for one with erect fins, good color, and high energy.

[msss.livejournal.com]

Yes, that. And if you have a spare tank, you might want to consider setting that up for quarantine when you get new fish. Makes them easier to observe (and treat if necessary) as well as keeping your eixsting pets safe.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I only have the two (which I got, as I said, together on Friday).

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

I don't have lots of experience with sick plecos, but I have had good results with salt treatments for other fish ailments. I'd recommend a small, separate tank for the sick fish since it will make treating it, as well as monitoring its intake and output, easier.

The salt bath I've used in the past was achieved by adding one teaspoon aquarium (or kosher) salt per gallon of water in the tank to the tank twice a day for five days (followed by one teaspoon per gallon once a day for three days if necessary), and then a partial water change (25-50%) after all the salt had been added.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Another vote for peas. If it were a goldfish, that would be a swim bladder problem, which could be caused by a number of different things - but the most common *and* the only curable one is, essentially, constipation, to be solved by offering blanched green peas. I don't know if plecos have swim bladders, but the symptoms and possible cure sound suspiciously similar.

If that were a goldfish, it would also be having difficulty regulating its height in the water, even to the extreme of floating upside down while still clearly alive. But again, I don't know how much overlap there is.

The other thing is, if the poor thing is swollen enough that, say, scales are sticking out in a sort of pine-cone like fashion, then that's probably dropsy, not constipation, in which case you want to remove the fish from the tank quickly, and either take it back to the store or euthanize it yourself--unless, again, it's different for plecos. That one, however, I think is maybe closer to universal. It's certainly not limited to goldfish, I know that.

I'm sorry. It sucks to have this worry now, so soon after the death of your previous pleco.

Good luck.

(I do think that you should think about how you want to handle the fact that your store sold you a sick fish, because that's just plain not cool.)