Albino Bristlenose Pleco has red sores on his head

[JBsWifey]

Help! My poor little albino Bristlenose Pleco has suddenly developed what looks like open sores all over the top of his head & some on his tail. It seems like this just happened overnight.

I have had him, who's about 3½-4", since 06/04/20, a Betta since 04/22/20, a tiny Otocinclus Catfish Algae Eater since 05/24/20, & an Albino Cory Catfish since 07/20/20 in a 10gal tank.

About 2 weeks ago I realized my Betta was sick because he had what looked like fungus on his lips so I treated the water with API Bettafix but he never got better & then 2 weeks later he developed Dropsy so I had to euthanize him yesterday.

After I euthanized him I did a 50% water change but I also added a piece of driftwood from my 50gal tank.

Water parameters:
ammonia = 0
nitrate = 0
nitrite = 0
PH = 6.4
temp' = 78.4
Hardness = 75
Alkalinity = 0

Normally I do 50% water changes every 2 weeks.

The only things I use in the water are conditioner & Zeolite in the filter.

Originally all 4 fish were in a 20gal with about 8 tetras but I moved the tetras into my 50gal & moved the 4 that stayed into a temporary 5gal until I could get the 10gal ready.

Cory seems ok.

I'm really worried about my pleco so any help I can get would be very much appreciated.

 

[Colin_T]

Why are you using Zeolite in the filter?
It inhibits the beneficial filter bacteria and you can get ammonia spikes.

It's either poor water quality or a burn.

Try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. See how it goes.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Add some salt.

--------------------
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

 

[JBsWifey]

Isn't Zeolite supposed to reduce ammonia? I've used it when needed for 2 years and never had ammonia spikes from it. Anyway, I used it because when I changed the filter it was disgusting and because I didn't know if there was bacteria in the water that could've caused the dropsy. The only fish in the tank, and have ever been in there besides Betta, is the pleco and 2 little catfish. Seems like you copy and pasted..

There are snails in the tank too so, hopeful thinking, could snails have done this? Like I said it seems like it happened overnight.

Also, what do you mean by poor water quality. Should I be using another type of water other than tap? Like I said in the post I ALWAYS use the conditioner.

I know I'm still a newbie since I've only been keeping fish for 2 years or so but I do a whole lot of research.

 

[Utar]

I wished I could help you with your Pleco, but I don't know enough about treating diseases, etc. I hope I don't offend you by saying, that a 10-gallon tank is too small for any size Pleco. When fish have to live in tanks too small for them, this causes them stress. Stress is the number one reason compromising a fish's immune system. Which in time leads to diseases, and other illnesses,

 

[JBsWifey]

I wished I could help you with your Pleco, but I don't know enough about treating diseases, etc. I hope I don't offend you by saying, that a 10-gallon tank is too small for any size Pleco. When fish have to live in tanks too small for them, this causes them stress. Stress is the number one reason compromising a fish's immune system. Which in time leads to diseases, and other illnesses,

Even if he stays a max of 4"? I had no idea. I was actually hoping to move the 3 fish into the 50gal but I don't want to transfer any diseases. Actually he looks a bit worse to me & I'm scared.

Isn't Zeolite supposed to reduce ammonia? I've used it when needed for 2 years and never had ammonia spikes from it. Anyway, I used it because when I changed the filter it was disgusting and because I didn't know if there was bacteria in the water that could've caused the dropsy. The only fish in the tank, and have ever been in there besides Betta, is the pleco and 2 little catfish. Seems like you copy and pasted..

There are snails in the tank too so, hopeful thinking, could snails have done this? Like I said it seems like it happened overnight.

Also, what do you mean by poor water quality. Should I be using another type of water other than tap? Like I said in the post I ALWAYS use the conditioner.

I know I'm still a newbie since I've only been keeping fish for 2 years or so but I do a whole lot of research.

 

[Utar]

I am so sorry to see your Pleco like that. I am trying to help you so I did some research. I couldn't find anything that describes exactly what I am seeing in the pictures, but this what I did find, which is what Colin_T was already suggesting for treatment.

Website link

and a different website saying the same thing.


Website link

 

[JBsWifey]

OMG thank you SO MUCH! I was really getting scared. I'm going to start the salt treatment going by what Collin_T recommended. I appreciate you both.

 

[Slaphppy7]

What kind of test kit do you use?

 

[JBsWifey]

What kind of test kit do you use?

I already know what you're going to say lol but it's the strips. I know I need to invest in the water test kit & I plan to.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Good, the sooner, the better.

If you have a pet store nearby, get some Seachem Prime ASAP and do a large WC, treat enough Prime for the entire tank (1 ml)

This fish has been in a 10G tank for 8 months, and is just now having issues?

 

[JBsWifey]

Good, the sooner, the better.

If you have a pet store nearby, get some Seachem Prime ASAP and do a large WC, treat enough Prime for the entire tank (1 ml)

This fish has been in a 10G tank for 8 months, and is just now having issues?

No he was in a 20gal up until about 3 weeks ago. If he's super stressed about it I'll def switch him back to the 20gal before you can say plecostomus.

 

[Slaphppy7]

He needs fresh, clean water, properly treated, ASAP, and that can only happen in the tank he is in now, without causing further stress.

Why you are using Zeolite in a fish tank filter makes zero sense to me, I've never even heard of the stuff until now.

Maybe I'm mistaken, it IS this stuff, correct? https://zeolite.com/

 

[JBsWifey]

My filter after a wc 2 days ago. What the hell is going on?!

 

[JBsWifey]

He needs fresh, clean water, properly treated, ASAP, and that can only happen in the tank he is in now, without causing further stress.

Why you are using Zeolite in a fish tank filter makes zero sense to me, I've never even heard of the stuff until now.

Maybe I'm mistaken, it IS this stuff, correct? https://zeolite.com/

It's this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002566YC/?tag=ff0d01-20

 

[Slaphppy7]

It's this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002566YC/?tag=ff0d01-20

Ah...not needed, in a cycled tank...there's no need to neutralize ammonia, when it shouldn't be there in the first place...WC's and the right conditioner (Seachem Prime) are all you need

You need to get this ASAP, test your water, and prepare for many water changes: https://apifishcare.com/product/freshwater-master-test-kit