Concerned about pleco

[JJDoyle2004]

Ok I am new here so I hope I'm putting this in the right place. I have a 55g tank wit a pleco and a red oscar, I have had lots of trouble keeping plecos' alive who knows why, in my previous experience they have always been the easiest to keep alive. Anyhow, the one I have now has been with me almost a month, new record for my plecos' yay!, He has a ?poop? string hanging from him, it has been there for about a week now and just keeps growing. In 3 days it gets to what must be at least 12-18 inches, strung all over the tank and still attatched. I have never een anything like it, is this normal??

 

[Fuzz16]

...erm...maybe hes just having issues.
what kind of pleco is it, because if its a common you should start thinking about rehoming it...their worthless.

 

[JJDoyle2004]

I'm not sure what kind it is, here is a pic with a good example of what I'm talking about. The stringy bit is just from yesterday moring when I last cleaned

 

[Big Vine]

How long have you had your oscar, and how big is he/she?
What is your feeding schedule...what do you feed and how much, how often?

The color of the poop in that pic looks suspiciously like the color of the Hikari 'Cichlid Gold' pellets I use to feed my oscar, so perhaps your pleco is somehow getting a hold of a lot of this stuff?

BV

 

[JJDoyle2004]

That is exactly what I feed my oscar. I have had him for apx 3 months He/she was only about an inch long when I got him, but now he/she is apx 5" long and I feed 5 pellets in the am, well, noonish, and 20-25 pellets in the pm, tenish, he does eat a lot. I go by the "feed them as much as they'll eat in two minute" so I do, but by morning he is at the top of the tank looking for more so I give him a little noontime snack. I've tried to feed Marcus (my pleco) algae wafers... but... De La Hoya (my oscar) eats those too. I on't know if the wafers are good for oscars or not and Marcus wasn't getting them anyway, so I stopped feeding the wafers. You said "used to" feed your oscar the same pellets, what do you feed him/her now? Are they bad for my fish??

 

[Fuzz16]

a good variety of foods is always good for your fish

and BV doesnt feed it anymore cause he just feeds his platies!!! lol

he looks striped...so ima say clown pleco! lol...or a bristlenose maybe? i suck at this.

i would say hes just eating to much...and fish eat till they die so its good to contorl how much they eat mine doesnt get a lot...

 

[Big Vine]

I meant that I, in the present, "use" the Hikari pellets to feed my oscar...perhaps I should have worded it differently. Sorry about the confusion.

What size of pellets are you feeding him (i.e. small, med., or large?)?
One rule of thumb with regards to feeding, according to what I read, is to watch your oscar's belly. If it gets slightly rounded, perfect. If it appears to be bloated or bulging severly, then I'd probably cut back.

Another thing...
Don't bother dropping any sort of sinking wafers in for the pleco until lights-out at night. Try to 'sneak' them in where the pleco typically resides in the tank, and that way (hopefully) your oscar won't be as likely to gobble them all up. With any luck he'll be sleeping by the time you throw in some food for the pleco. Also, your pleco doesn't exactly look huge or anything, so adding wafers in for him every other night is probably more than sufficient.

With your oscar being at 5-inches in a 55 gal., you're really starting to get to the point where his nutritional demands will begin taxing your tank's bioload-handling capabilities big-time. I'm already starting to worry about how mine (also a 55 gal.) will handle the increased bioload as my fish grow. My plan is to have a 75 gal. for my oscar and pleco by Christmas at the latest (tiger barbs will have probably been eaten by then). Sorry to ramble on, lol.

BV

 

[JJDoyle2004]

ok, first, what is platies? second, My oscar does not seem to have a belly at all, to me, does that mean he's not getting enough? Also, as for the bio-load, I was thinking of getting another filter. I have one for 30-60 gallons, I think, something like that. But with the frequency filter changes are required I was thinking that mayb when they set that capability amount they don't concider oscars and their filthy eating habits. could it do any damage to have that extra filtration? and finally, should I clean my tank more than once a week to keep Marcus from getting SO much of De La Hoyas' overflow? Thank you guys for all your help btw.

 

[JJDoyle2004]

oh yeah, here is my Oscar De La Hoya!

wht do you think? Does he look ok to you? I think he's beautiful, but of course I do he's my baby, lol

 

[JJDoyle2004]

oops. oh yeah again... the pellets are medium sized.

 

[Big Vine]

Let me be more clear on this...

My oscar does not seem to have a belly at all, to me, does that mean he's not getting enough?

I meant for you to watch the belly right after feeding and check to see if the amount you've just given De La Hoya is filling him up or not.

I'm guessing you have some sort of HOB filter.
Not only will I say that it would be of benefit to add another filter; it is an absolute necessity! Generally the rule of thumb with HOB filters is to provide 10x turnover of the water (as measured by your gph = 'gallons per hour') for an oscar tank. For example:

I am using two AquaClear 50 HOB (hang-on-back) filters...both of which are rated at 200 gph when set to allow maximum flow. This means 400 gph for 55 gallons of water...do the math...comes out to about 7.3x turnover rate; meaning that I fall short of this 10x turnover rate target.
(but like I said, I'll be getting a 75 gal. by Christmas)

Note:
Canister filtration is a little different---the target there being 4x turnover rate.

Overall, I'd say the type/size of filter to get really depends on your future plans with regards to housing De La Hoya and whether or not you intend on keeping him in the 55 gal.

BV

 

[Big Vine]

Wow, very nice!

wht do you think? Does he look ok to you? I think he's beautiful, but of course I do he's my baby, lol

I'd say he looks more than "ok" to me!!! Very handsome fellow. *SUNSMILE*

As far as your maintenance/water-changing schedule...
Rule of thumb is to keep nitrAtes in the 20-40 PPM range or lower. Personally I won't let mine get below about 10 PPM, but my oscar's still fairly small. My long-term goal---even if it requires 'back-breaking' effort (which it shouldn't)---is to keep nitrAtes below 20 PPM, no exceptions.

If you don't already have one, I'd recommend getting an API nitrAte test kit at the very least. Test your water each week right before a water-change. If nitrAtes are above your target level (in my case, for the time being, 10 PPM), then you need to step up the frequency and/or amount of water you're changing each time. If you stay below or at your target nitrAte level each week, then simply keep things as-is (or step up the water-changes if you feel like doing more work, lol).

Hope this all makes sense.
BV

 

[JJDoyle2004]

Oh ok. I am very new at this oscar thing. When I got him my friend had one and I really liked it i Kneew nothing at all. I got a 1 gallon tank!! then the next day looked up info and found that I had committed a big no no for my new friend, so I went at that point with what I could afford and got a 10 gallon,he grew very quickly and I just moved to the 55 gallon, and as soon as I am able I intend to go to 125g because I know how big they can get.

I do have the hob filter. So, if I understand correctly, I do not have enough filtration and with plans to move to 125g I would be safe to get sufficient (what the box says is sufficient) filtration for that now and use it in my 55g?

 

[JJDoyle2004]

Yes I do have a test kit, and my ph stays pretty low.. about 7.2... for oscars I've read it should be 7.6. but the rest of my levels are typically within range. And I usually end up doing a 50% water change each week cause i focus on vaccuuming the rocks and before I know it half the water is gone.

 

[Big Vine]

if I understand correctly, I do not have enough filtration and with plans to move to 125g I would be safe to get sufficient (what the box says is sufficient) filtration for that now and use it in my 55g?

My recommendation is this...
Figure out what sort of filtration you'll need on the 125 gal. tank (if you don't already know, then create another thread over in the Equipment section), and then see if any of it can be used on the 55 gal. up until you actually get the 125 gal. I've never used canister filtration before, and my largest tank is the 55 gal. in my sig., so I don't have enough experience to make any specific recommendations about it. (if I had to guess, I'd say you'd be looking to get at least one canister filter and one decent-sized HOB filter for the 125 gal.)

BV

 

[JJDoyle2004]

here are some better pics of Marcus

 

[JJDoyle2004]

Ok thank you, I don't know for sure but I will do more research and find out so I can get my babies properly filtered.

 

[Big Vine]

my ph stays pretty low.. about 7.2... for oscars I've read it should be 7.6

Who said anything about pH? lol
Yours is fine, so don't even think twice about it...but do make sure your tapwater and tankwater have the same pH. Only thing I test for in an established tank is nitrAtes.

the rest of my levels are typically within range

Okay, so what was your last nitrAte reading then?

I usually end up doing a 50% water change each week cause i focus on vaccuuming the rocks and before I know it half the water is gone.

Get a specific nitrAte reading right before your next scheduled water-change, and this will tell you whether or not you need to step it up or even need to be changing 50% at a time. Usually I try to vacuum the substrate on one half one week, then the other half the following week. Seems to work out well...even with only one 20% weekly water-change. Granted, my tank has more/better filtration, and my oscar is smaller than yours. I'll need to step it up to two water-changes per week before too long, I'm sure...

BV

 

[Fuzz16]

btw...a platy is a livebearer, another type of fish.

and hes soo cute!

and i think BV hit all the high points of your questions
cept i still dont know what your pleco is

 

[JJDoyle2004]

I can't figure out how to do the quoting like you do, but "Okay, so what was your last nitrAte reading then?" It was a little darker than the red for 20, but not nearly the red for 40. which is where it usually reads. as far as the h2O changes go, if I change less or vaccuum less I end up with muggy, cloudy water. Due to insufficient filtration I'm sure, but I use stress zhyme and start right each week and it seems to keep it balanced.