Help!

[BigPhyl]

I bought a new plec (leopard plec) for my new tank last week.
when i got him he was very dark with distinct white spots all over, but in the last day or so he seems to have lost most of his colouring.
now only his tail and head are still dark, the rest has faded to a pale brown, roughly the same as the sand in my tank & im worried he may be diseased.
Im pretty new to tropicals personaly, only having seen my brothers when i was younger so im not sure if its something to do with my tank, but my other fish seem to be fine...

Please hel;p me out, is it diseased or what? im realy worried.

 

[littletankbigworld]

Has your fish tank cycled yet? It is possible your fish has a disease called velvet.

 

[MissFishy]

My guess is that since your tank is "new", it has not been cycled and your fish is dying from ammonia poisoning. Please take the time to read the link on cycling in my signature below, if you don't take action immediately, your pleco and anything else in your tank will probably die within a week or so.

On another note, welcome! You've come to the right spot for help! Don't hesitate to ask any questions you have.

 

[BigPhyl]

the tank is actually second hand, i bought it off a friend who had had it for about 6 months. that's why i didnt think it was to do with cycling as he told me it would be fine. i read around first and it sounded like it would be all right, though we did about a 50% water change. Ill look into it thanks for the help & welcome lol

 

[BigPhyl]

also i have "stress zyme+ biological filtration booster"
is that the same sort of thing as the "cycle" stuff?
sorry about the noobish questions lol

 

[MissFishy]

No, stress zyme will not do anything with your tank cycling. Again, I suggest you read through the link thoroughly about cycling and water changes for a better understanding. The tank *might* be cycled if the water and gravel were left undisturbed in the tank while you moved it (unlikely) AND you haven't added untreated water to the tank since your friend had it AND it had fish in it within 3 days of being empty.

 

[BigPhyl]

the fish would only have been out about an hour or so & we replaced about 10 litres of treated water as we only took out enough to make sure it wasnt to heavy/wouldn't spill during transport.
If it makes any difference, he keeps going from a proper dark colouration to pale with clear fins and back again...

 

[kenny1tothe6]

I do see where MissFishy is coming from with the cycling problem...but with the tank being setup for ~6 months, I doubt that's much of an issue...doing regular Water Changes and such will prevent MiniSpikes that may occur, but I doubt a full blown cycle will happen again.

But to the P-L-E-C-O problem, my clown plecos do the same thing. I think they change their colors to better match their surroundings. As you said, he became about the color of the sand.

Good luck with him!!

kENNY