Pleco with red bump

[thelovelydove]

Hi all,

A few days ago I noticed my pleco had a white spot on his underside, near his tail, like maybe one of his plates had flaked off. Today I noticed that he has an angry looking raised red bump on his side. The bump does not look like an organism like a worm. More like some kind of septicemia. Could you please advise? Any suggestions for medications? My last water change was five days ago, about 30%. I did 50% about 12 days before that. All other fish look fine.

I have pictures. I can't figure out how to make them small enough to attach here, but I can email them to you if you like.

Thanks, thelovelydove

 

[Lotus]

Check here http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html and here
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_diseases/skin_disorders.html
and see if anything looks/sounds like what your pleco has. It could be a wound site. Is there anything in your tank that might try to attack him or have you noticed any aggresssion in the tank?

 

[thelovelydove]

Gosh, those two sites always make everything sound so dire! Well, if I tried to diagnose him with those two sites, I would say that it's either a tumor, fish TB, septicimia, or a leech attack. About a year ago I had a blue ram that had a long, drawn out death that completely fit the bill for fish TB. I freaked out that I would loose all my fish, but nothing seemed to develop in the other fish. In August I did find a whopper of a leech in my tank. It must have come in with some new plants I had gotten. I have about ten thousand times thoroughly, thoroughly cleaned my gravel since then. Bubba is 11 1/4 inches long, and none of the other fish in the tank are over 2 inches, so I really doubt that any of them are being aggressive toward him. Is it possible there could still be leeches in the tank? Why would they only now be bothering him? I'll check that there aren't any jagged edges that he could be scratching himself on. In the meantime, In think I'll give the tank a dose of Maracyn I & II to be on the safe side. Does that sound reasonable?

 

[Lotus]

That sounds like a reasonable course of action.

I don't know a whole lot about leeches, but I'm guessing it's possible that the one you took out in August laid eggs. Supposedly leeches are much more common in ponds than in tanks.

 

[thelovelydove]

I guess it's always been in the back of my mind that there could be more. I always look for them when I clean the tank. I'll have to look into how leeches reproduce. I hope they don't lay eggs subdermally on the fish.