Pleco with White and red area on nose? What is it?

Hello,
Does anyone know what's going on with my plecos nose? I noticed yesterday there was a white patch there and today it's turning red. I just got him and the 30 gallon planted tank he is in 12 days ago so he's recently had the stress of that move. He's been digging like crazy and even moving some tank decorations. Finally stopped that a couple days ago because he made a cave he's finally satisfied with. I'm wondering if he has injured him self or is this some sort of disease? Water parameters are:

Ph 7.4
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Water temp is 80

As soon as I saw the readings I did a 50% water change so Ammonia and Nitrite are now half of that. Ph is the same because that's what my tap water is.

He's been eating bug bite pleco formula tablets and I've put cucumber in for him a couple of times.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Looks like physical damage to me. He’s bumped into something. The ammonia won’t be helping but with good water it should heal. I’d do another water change. Ammonia is very toxic at that pH.
He sounds like he might have been stressed at not having anywhere suitable to sleep.
It’s a Common Plec so it needs a much bigger tank. That could also be stressing it.

Ichthys said:

Looks like physical damage to me. He’s bumped into something. The ammonia won’t be helping but with good water it should heal. I’d do another water change. Ammonia is very toxic at that pH.
He sounds like he might have been stressed at not having anywhere suitable to sleep.
It’s a Common Plec so it needs a much bigger tank. That could also be stressing it.

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Ichthys said:

Looks like physical damage to me. He’s bumped into something. The ammonia won’t be helping but with good water it should heal. I’d do another water change. Ammonia is very toxic at that pH.
He sounds like he might have been stressed at not having anywhere suitable to sleep.
It’s a Common Plec so it needs a much bigger tank. That could also be stressing it.

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Oh good glad to hear it looks more like physical damage then a sickness! I will do another water change. I think I'm going to try filtering our house water to try and get the ph down too but that's going to be a longer term project. How big of a tank do you think this guy needs? He's currently about 8 inches long. Thanks so much for your help!

Sorry if this isn't great news, but that pleco's only going to get bigger. Not having one myself, not 100% sure, but it was my understanding that they need at least 75gal to start with and possibly an upgrade to 100gal at some point. It may sound like a lot, but common plecs (if that's what it is) can get over 18 inches (or if your like me and use a plausible system of measuring, ~45cm) long.

If you can't do that, I'd recommend returning him, sorry. Hope he gets better!
PPJ

PygmyPepperJulli said:

Sorry if this isn't great news, but that pleco's only going to get bigger. Not having one myself, not 100% sure, but it was my understanding that they need at least 75gal to start with and possibly an upgrade to 100gal at some point. It may sound like a lot, but common plecs (if that's what it is) can get over 18 inches (or if your like me and use a plausible system of measuring, ~45cm) long.

If you can't do that, I'd recommend returning him, sorry. Hope he gets better!
PPJ

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Thanks good to know, the lady I got him from had him in this tank since he was small but maybe I need to think about some other options for him.