8-9 year old Rhino Pleco seems to be falling apart

[Ichthys]

No links, just personal experience and talking to other fish keepers. And I have some experience keeping fish, as do the people I used to talk to about these things.

Anyone who doesn't clean the filter regularly is putting their fish's health at risk.

An opinion that is totally unsupported. There is no connection between unhealthy fish and a dirty filter that is otherwise working efficiently.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

An opinion that is totally unsupported. There is no connection between unhealthy fish and a dirty filter that is otherwise working efficiently.

I'd need a sound definition of 'dirty'.
A biologically effective filter will, by definition, be dirty.
That said, occasionally, the filter can become home to a whole host of unpleasant organisms and pathogens.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I don't have sources, I'm not even a super experienced aquarium hobbyist, so not claiming any expertise here. But employing some common sense - our aquariums are not closed systems. Do an air quality test in even the cleanest home, and the air contains all different kinds of bacteria, fungal spores etc. These things can and do enter our tanks, along with micro organisms, algae, snails, even pesticides and pathogens are frequently introduced via plants, wood, leaf litter, rock etc that we add to our tanks. The foods we feed can be contaminated too.

As I said earlier, I noticed that my fish were largely ignoring the frozen tubifex I'd fed them when I cleaned the filter, and found rotting worms all over the media, and even some stuck to the biofilm inside the hoses. I embrace mulm, algae, and snails and don't try to keep a sterile tank - but while bacteria were indeed working hard to break down those uneaten worms - it was still essentially a bunch of rotting meat trapped in my filter and not very pleasant to clean, let alone leave it to continue rotting in the filter for a year or more... who knows what kind of pathogens, bacteria or fungus could have been drawn to and introduced to my tank though that?

Rinsing the filter media in tank water isn't harming my tank or filter at all. Might knock back the nitrifying bacteria colonies a little, but they rapidly close that gap, and I have heavy planting to keep the water quality up anyway. There's plenty of mulm left in the tank that the gunk in the filter isn't really helping the system much, just reduces the flow when it gets too clogged up. So if there's no benefit to leaving a filter dirty, but there is *potential* for harm by leaving it, and no harm done by cleaning it - I'm gonna keep rinsing that media once a fortnight and cleaning the gunk from the hoses every month or two.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

He passed last night after I added medications and did a 60% water change with salt. Thank you all for your help regardless

Aaww, I'm sorry for your loss. Possibly better for him to have passed quickly though, a long drawn out process of going downhill is not a good experience for the pet or owner.

You showed a great deal of commitment and care for him, so don't beat yourself up for not knowing more when you were a teen and trusted someone to give the right advice.

I think you should go for it and make the planted tank of your dreams! @Colin_T sorry to pester you, but do you have your advice about how to disinfect a tank after an unknown illness/tank crash? Like in this case, it could be tempting to keep the cycle going and then restock, while personally, I'd strip the tank down and use a bleach solution on the tank and equipment, bin the substrate, then start over fresh, since we don't know what was infecting this pleco? But, I do have OCD (legit) and recognise that I can go overboard when it comes to unknown illnesses and pathogens/cross infection stuff!

I'm reading through this and definitely will take this under advise the next water change I do, actually funny thing about that little bit about using it as fertilizer, I loved using the bucket of water filled with the gunk in the gravel for my potted plants and they seem to enjoy it as well (lots of flowering/fruiting plants that can probably take advantage of the extra nutrients haha). The part about filling the canister to the top might come really in handy, I've been really cautious about that because there's all these warning labels about not exposing the outside/top of it to water but I honestly just think it's not too much of a worry if I put it in the sink first...what I had been doing to prime the pump back up again was backfilling both of the intake and outtake hoses with water like a complete buffoon spending several hours in the process...I will mention that I can't actually have the canister at the same level as the tank, both based off the current piping and the space issue I have here but the rest of this seems like I can definitely take advantage of, thank you! I think when I eventually get back into fish (actually considering making the tank planted first now that he's you know...) I will try doing it every other month to start with when my stocking isn't too high

The warning labels make sense; we do have to be cautious when mixing electrics and water! Just don't immerse the plug or the motor in water... and if they get splashed, be sensible and ensure they're thoroughly dry before plugging it back in. You can keep filter bacteria alive by chucking the sponges/ceramic rings etc into the aquarium while the filter itself dries out, should the worst happen. I use the All Ponds Solutions canister filters, and haven't used an Eheim (but it's a great brand, so bound to be a decent filter), so I don't know how the lid on yours attaches. But mine has four clips to secure the lid. So I secure the one closest to the motor first, so that when I secure the last clips and the water overflows, it overflows on the opposite side of the motor. Keep the plug far away from the canister while you're working on it, and you should be fine

I will mention that I can't actually have the canister at the same level as the tank, both based off the current piping and the space issue I have here but the rest of this seems like I can definitely take advantage of, thank you! I think when I eventually get back into fish (actually considering making the tank planted first now that he's you know...) I will try doing it every other month to start with when my stocking isn't too high

Oh no, you misunderstand me. You don't have to keep the canister at the same level as the tank - the motor needs to be lower than the tank level anyway. My canisters sit on the floor, next to the waist height cabinet that the tank is on. When I said to raise it up level with the tank, it's literally only for a few seconds to allow the air bubbles to flow out of the intake and outtake hoses. Then you can lower it again and put it in the usual spot.

Picture a spirit level, and tilting it so the bubble moves higher or lower. It's the same principle; you're raising it so those air bubbles that are trapped in the hoses and not forming a perfect syphon/full flow, can then travel along the hose and out through the filter, immediately replaced by water from the intake and outtake. With the spirit level, the bubble is trapped and moves back and forth; but the air bubbles caught in the hoses are freed when you raise the canister for a few seconds while the canister is turned on and intake valve is open - and doing that a couple of times allows a full flow, doesn't strain the motor, and is much simpler and easier than spending ages turning the intake on and off, with the motor trying to work against gravity to move those bubbles out. It's a quick way to prime the filter

Planted tanks are wonderful, and since you enjoy houseplants too, I urge you to plan your dream tank! There's nothing wrong with starting over and planning a new tank, and the hobby needs people like you who truly care about their fish and are open to learning

 

[Colin_T]

If you ever lose a fish and there are still fish in the tank, wipe the inside of the glass down, clean the filter, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. This removes most of the disease organisms in the tank and reduces the chance of other fish getting sick.

If there are no fish left in the tank, take the tank apart, clean everything and start again.

 

[Colin_T]

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An opinion that is totally unsupported. There is no connection between unhealthy fish and a dirty filter that is otherwise working efficiently.

I kept fish for over 40 years. I spent 20 years working in the pet industry including working in a quarantine facility that imported fish. We always knew when the filters needed cleaning because the fish started getting sick even though the tanks were water changed and gravel cleaned regularly. When we cleaned the filters, the fish stopped getting sick.

There is a direct link between clean filters, clean water, clean gravel, clean glass and healthy fish. Dirty filters are a breeding ground for harmful disease organisms.