Rubber lip pleco wont eat...

[Fishandfrogs]

i jsut put him in the tank a couple days ago, and he seems to latch onto the glass only in one spot in the whole tank (right under the filter) and he wont leave that square 3 inches of glass. Problem is, thats the one side of the tank that DOESENT have any algae growing on it for him to eat. ive put a couple wafers in there, practically on his face at one point and he wont eat them.. I was going to try zucchini, but whats the point if he wont eat anything? should i be concerned? or is he jsut getting adjusted to his new tank and will eat soon?

 

[d3sc3n7]

I would give him a while to get adjusted. If he's been in there for like a week, and still not acting normal. Let us know

 

[FishGeek]

Give him time to adjust and feed him with the lights off after you have noticed that the algae is gone. He knows it there but hes just been put into a new enviroment so hes unsure whether its safe to venture around. Let him figure things out and start munching on the algae in your tank before you try and feed him wafers. This way you wont waste your food and you wont pollute you tank.

 

[sphed]

Feed him at night. Get some driftwood to because rubber lip's like to rasp on it and fiber is a necessity in their diet

 

[Fishandfrogs]

well, the rubber lip is no more i came in from work today and he was lying on his back by the edge of the tank like he had fallen off the glass. I honestly dont know why he couldnt cope with my tank though. Only indications he wasnt feeling well were the night before he started do the color changing thing that pleco's do occassionaly and went from his usualy tan-ish to a much lighter off white. also for about 5 minutes he tried to sucker-climb past the waterline, which i did find odd. Temperature has been maintained at 74-78 degrees, and the water is clean. I dont know about the ph and the nit levels so i guess ill go pick up a test tomorrow. None of my other fish seems bothered by the water though so i dont think thats it.

 

[lighter]

Try to feed at night when the lights are dim and watch if it's eating. They're nocturnal and shy by nature.

 

[TabMorte]

Have you checked your Nitrates recently?

I was just reading an artical about how often your nitrates get high but because they've risen slowly your fish are acclimitized to it but new fish are not.

 

[FishGeek]

How big was the pleco?? If he was about 2 inches than that is your answer. Anytime you get a pleco that is less or just at 2 inches they are just as fragile if not sometimes more so than Angels and Discus. You have to acclimate them slowly and give them a place to hide and minimize the amount of time you spend in the tank cleaning and what not for about a week or sometimes longer. Leaving the light off for the first couple of days is also a good idea.

 

[Fishandfrogs]

he was at about 2 inches, but im also starting to realize that the water in that tank was getting pretty bad. i dont have a test kit yet so i dont know anything for sure, but i did a 50% water change tonight and all my fish are way happier and the water is a lot clearer. im thinking that the combination of stress and poor water conditions may have been the cause.

 

[djbids]

I just added a 2" pleco. My tank is pretty new but it reads 0ppm on nitrates, nitrite and ammonia. tank is 2 weeks old. added danios 5 days ago so i could start cycling. and then....i couldn't wait and bought a pleco today. he just died. my tank is fine, my temp is 80, i have a 36 gallon. i think its my punishment because i didnt wait the full cycling period...although i dont know if i really did anything wrong....i did let him acclimate for along time, added tank water etc...kept the lights off. swam for a minute then move twice, he then went to the top of the tank and just perched on the plants which was wierd. he was straight up and down almost balanced. anyhow....tell me if i killed this poor guy or maybe he was just sick. He was in my tank all of 4 hours. he literally fell out of the plant and sunk to the bottom.