This is the second pleco I've had that I've seen this happen to, but the first I caught too late. The onset was incredibly sudden this time, as it was the last; yesterday my pleco was happy and healthy, and today I found him at the bottom of the tank with his tail haloed in fungus, his fins tattered and ripped, and many of his scales missing or raw. Sections of scales above the base of his tail look very red. I moved him to a deep hospital tank, to which I added some epsom salt (don't have any aquarium salt on hand), a chunk each of Maracyn and Maracyn Two, and some Fungus Eliminator. I have an unshaded 60 watt lamp set up near the tank as a makeshift heater to keep the water a little warm as well. There is also a small bunch of anacharis in the tank, in which he is currently nestled upside down. He's breathing, but not sucking on the side of the tank.
I included the pictures below to see if anyone can help identify the problem. I searched the forum for similar posts and read a few things about internal parasites, but I thought I'd also mention that he was in a tank with a betta and two black mystery snails (as was the previous pleco who seemed to have died of the same ailment). The betta has always ignored my pleco (my schedule allows me to observe them both during the day and at night, often very late) and the only thing I can say about the snails is that I have seen the pleco attach himself to their shells and recently I've seen him on the side of the tank right next to one of the snails. Is it possible that the snail attached himself to the pleco and caused such damage, so quickly? Like I said, there was no sign of this earlier; I just discovered it tonight.
I apologize for the poor picture quality, but I circled his fungus-covered tail (which looks stubby and broken off at the end, as well as missing fins) and his torn fins to help.
Any idea what might be the problem, and what else I can do?
This picture shows the redness most clearly (not saying much):
I included the pictures below to see if anyone can help identify the problem. I searched the forum for similar posts and read a few things about internal parasites, but I thought I'd also mention that he was in a tank with a betta and two black mystery snails (as was the previous pleco who seemed to have died of the same ailment). The betta has always ignored my pleco (my schedule allows me to observe them both during the day and at night, often very late) and the only thing I can say about the snails is that I have seen the pleco attach himself to their shells and recently I've seen him on the side of the tank right next to one of the snails. Is it possible that the snail attached himself to the pleco and caused such damage, so quickly? Like I said, there was no sign of this earlier; I just discovered it tonight.
I apologize for the poor picture quality, but I circled his fungus-covered tail (which looks stubby and broken off at the end, as well as missing fins) and his torn fins to help.
Any idea what might be the problem, and what else I can do?
This picture shows the redness most clearly (not saying much):
