Strange illness in tank

[Grumpy_Marine]

Ok this is for the pleco enthusiasts out here. My tank has the looks of a healthy tank, it is stable with no spikes in any of the tests. I have one fish showing signs of what appears to be true fungis.

The issue is every time i buy a pleco it lives from a few weeks to a few months. I have had them go from 1 inch to 5 inches and then disappear overnight. I do not know what is happening to them i see them one day healthy and eating then the next they are gone no signs whatsoever. I was told by LFS that i wasn't feeding enough algae wafers, so i increased this feeding and no improvment. The only issue with my water tests is in a period of six months the ph level has dropped from 7.4 to 6.8. I do not know what caused the drop in ph it could be the water, i have only been in house for three months of last year. But i do acclimate the fish for 1 hour before putting into tank, could the lower ph be what is causing this? and why would one last for months and others a few weeks? This problem has plagued me in two houses so i don't know what to correct. All other readings are at normal levels according to the drop test i use.

 

[Lotus]

Hi! Long time, no see.

Do you have driftwood in the tank? Some plecos require it in their diet. It's also possible that the plecos are coming with some kind of internal parasite. As almost all plecos are wild-caught, there's a high possibility that they're coming in with something.

 

[Grumpy_Marine]

I have a peice of driftwood in the tank, it is about size of softball. That is what i am thinking, but i have had over 8 plecto now and they all die same way, just vanish overnight. What are recommendations for getting a pleco to survive for long haul, should i QT them in seperate tank for longer or something?

 

[Queen_of_Red_Lions]

I think it is always a good idea to QT plecos for at least two weeks, or really just as long as your patience will let you, especially since most are wild caught. If your plecos are just regular old leopard plecos, you could try a different species, like rubber lipped plecos, or maybe a bristlenose or whatever you prefer,or a different type of cleaning fish all together. There is obviously a mystery going on in your tank, and it would probably serve you well to see if any other type of cleaning fish dies in the same way.

An aesthetically neat alternative to a pleco would be a farlowella, which kind of looks like a gar turned into a sucker fish, or a butterfly loach, which I have. However, butterfly loaches are pretty shy and I have only ever seen mine on the back wall of the tank. If absolutely ALL else fails, providing your tank is decently capable of supporting it, I would just get one or two comet or shubunkin goldfish. I have a shubunkin who spends his entire day picking at the bottom of the tank, gobbling up every last morsel he can find, and generally looking for anything to eat on the tank decorations as well. They won't do as good of a job vacuuming up the sides of the tank, but if your main concern is cleaning the bottom,these guys are naturals. Most people will tell you that you cannot keep them with tropicals, but so long as the water is cool and not super warm, or so long as you do not have very aggressive fish, you should be fine. Depending on the size of your tank, I would only get one or two, because they respire a lot and what not.

Unless your tank grows a lot of algae, or a lot of food goes uneaten, it is quite possible that you do not even need a pleco or a cleaning fish at all. I have a twenty long, among others, and the only reason I have a pleco is because my boyfriend thinks they are the coolest fish ever. Good luck! Hope I could help!