Clown Plec Hanging Near Surface

I managed to finally get a better pic of the clown plec. As you can see he is above the water line now. I think his tail also seems to be damaged - this is probably related to the 3 cardinal tetra deaths i have had in the last few days. I'm going to bed with white spot treatment as i think i either have white spot or velvet - so i guess the plec may be suffering with this too!

Will the plec be ok if i put that treatment in the tank??

This seems unusual but I am no way an expert hope you get help soon

The clown plec is no more. He had what looked like fin rot plus red bases to his finds - i presume from septicemia.
The whole tank is being treated for white spot - with fin rot a likely secondary problem.

Sorry about the death.

Is he being bullied ? Does he have hiding places ? You have to be careful with whitespot treatments with plecs and loaches (scaleless fish) as it can damage them.

Yes the last remaining plec (a bn) has hiding places, but beacuse of the white spot treatment i'm not holding out much hope for him. Just like the clown plec, he looks like he has bits of dirt attached to his body - whether these are external parasites or damage to his mucus membrane i'm not sure - but i have to make sure that i get rid of the ich in my tank before i can treat with anything else

What is your water maintenence schedule? It really sounds like there are some water quality problems. Stats can read perfect and still have deficiences.

My first recommendation is to do frequent small (10%) water changes--even several times a day. Replace any medication accordingly. It is bacterial if there is pop eye and fin rot and septicema. These are nearly always related to water quality. It is better to do frequent small water changes than infrequent large changes.

I would also try to get some oak bark as this was what perked mine up. Nutrition can be a problem too.

Is the tank in a draft or is there lots of noise.

Try going back to the real basics.
Like position
water quality
clean filter..... and I do not mean clean as in sterile have you used tap water here instead of rinsing it through.
Changed the cotton wool like filters.

I found adding a nitrate? nitrite filter to my filter helped as I am sure the cycle due to plecs being dirty cause spikes at times.


They are not called .... machines for nothing,,


Your so lucky to have them

Perhaps one on its own will settle been told they are territorial.

I do a weekly 15% water change which incorporates a gravel vac. I also rinse the filters in the tank water in the bucket so that i dont lose any of the benefical bacteria.

I have been told that the fin rot is a common secondary illness when there is white spot in the tank. I also think that when the first two cardinal tetras died these were in the tank for a good 12 hours plus - so they then led to an ammonia spike - which as you say isnt good and can lead to bacterial infections.

Is the best course of action now to finish off the White spot treatment (due to end Sunday evening), meanwhile continually check the water stats to make sure there are no spikes and then treat afterwards with a Fin rot or anti-bac medication My remaining plec in the tank doesnt look too good with what looks like bits of dirt attached to him (could be the external parasite). I presume i cant treat with white spot AND fin rot treatment at the same time??

Well your doing the right thing which is good.

Can I ask what whitespot treatment your using. I have had varied results with mine, I have now found King British Ws3 do be the best, and even on full does did NOT harm my plecs in anyway...

Dont put both treatments in at the same time would be my advise. If you can isolate the plec and treat that would be better. Sometimes 2 treatments can be too much. If you are going to treat both, make sure they dont have the same active ingredients. If your thinking of mixing treatments, ask the-wolf first, hes pretty #### hot with treatments.

Thanks for the mesages of support. I'm using Interpets No 6 medication for the tank - it seems to be working ok, and the remaining fish seem to be getting stronger. That's good to know that the King British treatment doesnt harm plecs. I have used their methylene blue treatment and that was really easy on the fish in my other tank.

I've decided to stick with the White spot medication and wait for that to finish before deciding whether i need to treat for fin rot.