albino bristlenose

[goheels1]

i have an albino bristlenose. when i first got him; he was a very pretty light mango color. in the past week or so, he seems to be losing his color. he is pale. now in the past two days, he is taking a small bite out of the algae wafers then he leaves. is he about to leave me? any ideas on what's going on with him? he ate every bit of the algae in the tank when i first got him about a month or so ago. no more algae is there & none has grown so could this be the problem also? thanks.

 

[OrangeCones]

What are the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

 

[goheels1]

ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - looks between 10 & 20
looks like everything is normal except the nitrate a tad high i guess. this tank has been cycled since mid aug & the nitrate has always read this. no change up or down.

yesterday, he looked almost white. today, he is not as white; got a lil color back but still not the mango orange when i got him. any ideas to the problem?

 

[goheels1]

i came to this site looking for help since no1 at the LFS knows anything. no1 helped me & my poor bristlenose died today. where else am i suppose to go if i have questions about my fish?

 

[emmanuelchavez]

It's possible that he could've had some type of internal parasite.

 

[goheels1]

thanks for your response emmanuelchavez. if it was an internal parasite, could it be passed along to my other fish?

 

[emmanuelchavez]

Potentially, yes. Though, they probably would've started to show symptoms by now. I have some juvy albino bn plecos, and they have the mango coloring you've mentioned. I'm not sure what else could've caused the plec to die. What are your temps at? Maybe it got too cold for it? My fish tend to lose some color when their water gets too cold.

 

[goheels1]

my temp always stays around 78degrees; so not too cold. for the past 1.5 weeks, it started hiding in a cave. not sure why; never hid b4. i have never had success w/ a pleco. this one lasted longer than any others i have ever owned. was surprised it just went down like it did. now my tank is loaded w/ algae again. think i'm done w/ plecos. scrapping is the next best thing. guess we will never know what happened to my dear albino bn. it was so nice in color at one time. now i'm going to keep my fingers crossed to make sure nothing happens to my remaining fish.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

You don't by chance add any aquarium salt, do you? I think, but not too sure, so many someone else could chime in, they're somewhat sensitive to aquarium salt.

Is it possible he could've been picked on by other fish and been stressed out? I don't have any experience with rainbows, ID sharks, or SAEs, so I don't know what aggression is like with them.

 

[goheels1]

no, i don't use aquarium salt.

funny you asked about other fish picking at him. i was just wondering that today. when i would drop algae wafers or shrimp pellets in the tank, every single fish xcpt the ID shark & SAE would snatch the food from him. i have even seen the zebra danio nip at him & try to take the food. i've only seen the danio do it a cpl times though; never saw if it happened more. the rainbows are the most greedy fish i have ever seen. they would take his food but never nipped him. as far as the angelfish, as soon as the rainbows picked up the food from him, the angel would take over. so, yes i was wondering today could it have been stress. however, the last few days b4 he died, when i would drop the pellets/wafer in front of him, he would not touch it or may take one bite and leave. does that sound like stress? i'm not sure. thanks again for trying to help me figure out what happened. trying to figure out if i want to purchase another one or not.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

Stress probably sounds like a good diagnosis. I have a couple of discus that are being bullied by two other discus when trying to eat, that they're starting to give up and only eat whenever the other two are not around.

Are there a lot of hiding spots for your pleco? I have several terra cota pots in my 100g that provide hiding spots for my bn plecos, and they seem to enjoy them.

 

[wananwu]

If you decide not to give plecos another round, you try some otos i have 5 of the little guys and they are crazy algae eaters. plus they like to be visible swimming all around at any time.

 

[goheels1]

i heard otos are delicate & die easily. is that true? do they eat all types of algae? i have mostly brown algae. since my albino died, the tank is full of algae & i nd something to eat it. but do let me know abt the otos. thx.

 

[PlecoCollector]

Otos are very sensitive and need very very good water quality. In schools they do clean very well and would probably rip apart your brown algae.

Keep in mind that plecos need a high level of dissolved oxygen in their water, which often kills them. The fact that he lost his colors makes me think he was stressed out by something, maybe your ID shark or SAE? Neither are very nice, especially as they get older. If you get rid of the ID shark somehow you tank could probably handle a Common Pleco, which aren't as fragile.

 

[goheels1]

will the common pleco eat the brown algae? and what do you mean nd a high level of dissolved oxygen? never heard of that. i'm just getting back into the fish tank world after years of being out of it & even when i was in it yrs ago, didn't stick with it very long. had plecos back then & they always died.

 

[freshwatergal]

my condolences

with a tank that large go ahead and get a standard pleco... don't worry about size. If you have a LFS that is not Petsmart and or Petco... they should be willing to purchase the fish back, or trade you for a smaller one again (if the one you bring them is healthy). that is what my LFS is going to do for me. I only have a 20 Long and have an Albino Pleco, a Sailfin Pleco, an Otocinclus Catfish and two Pepperd Cory Catfish. I almost never have to clean my gravel and the water stays sparkling clean. I do water changes anyway of course but it is much easier and I am guaranteed the trade-in option when Tigger (my regular Pleco) gets too large for my taste.

I forget how many other fish you have but you may be able to support even a full sized pleco since they basically eat their own waste and are slow movers. If you go ahead and get one on the larger side.... the other fish would be less likely to bother him.

 

[bassbonediva]

a full sizd pleco since they basically eat their own waste

I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree here! Plecos (especially commons) DO NOT eat their own waste. They are giant poop factories, much along the same lines as goldfish. I had one in my 18gal Eclipse 1 tank (was told he wasn't a common, so he wouldn't get much bigger than the 4" I bought him at...he got to 7" before I said enough!) and he completely fouled my filter and made my tank absolutely filthy before I finally had enough and took him back to the LFS...and I only had him for three or four weeks. He did not eat his own waste and didn't even touch the algae growing on the sides of my tank. Far from it, he scavenged bits of leftover food and gobbled up the algae wafers and turned it into more disgusting poop.

 

[freshwatergal]

Far from it, he scavenged bits of leftover food and gobbled up the algae wafers and turned it into more disgusting poop.

when given algae wafers they will they will not "work" for their food. Mine is progressing wonderfully and has grown about an inch in about a month and a half. I will occationally feed wafers as a treat or to supplement but no more than 5-6 wafers for my 5 bottom feeders. remember that I have the Sailfin Pleco, an Albino Bristlenose, an Oto Catfish, and two Peppered Cory Catfish. Between all of them SOMETHING is eating the waste because the tank is spotless and even the 5 inch long poops of the Pleco seem to disapear (not into my filter) overnight.

 

[goheels1]

well, i will try the common pleco. i think they are ugly fish but i need something to clean the algae in this tank. as far as the algae wafers, i don't see how any pleco will ever eat those in my tank. the angelfish & the bosmani's devours the wafers once they hit the tank. even if i hide it in one of the decors, they find it. they are funny to me. let's see how the pleco do & will update later. thanks.

 

[goheels1]

i broke down and purchased a common pleco. i have had it for almost 3 days & that thing does not come out. actually, i seen him out the house once for a brief min & it was during the night. (it stays hidden in one of my houses in the tank). he is alive; i checked. do these fish not come out during the day? i don't like plecos; i purchased it for a reason...to clean my tank. he is not doing it. he is cleaning whats ever in the house & that's it. now i can't return him b/c the LFS only takes them back if they die.

i have a SAE & a pleco & neither touches the algae in my tank. the albino bristlenose i had did a great job. i really would like another but they are too expensive around here. glad the last one was given to me. anyway, back to my ?...are the common plecos the type fish that stay hidden? thanks.