bristlenose problem?

[GrullaQuarters]

Today, after I did a weekly w/c, I noticed one of our bristlenoses was expelling bubbles more often. I figured it was because when I do a w/c, things in the tank get covered in air bubbles, and maybe he was sucking some up. However, he started, about every few minutes, darting to the surface of the water, then back down. Over and over again. This is something I've not noticed before. Our gouramis do this, of course, as they need to, but the pleco now? I've not noticed him do it lately this evening, but he spent the entire afternoon doing it....could this be a sign something is wrong?

ph-8.0
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate40
alkalinity-300
hardness-25
temp-78

 

[smileandnod]

I haven't experienced that behaviour with mine, but my female does sometimes sit with her head and mouth half out of the water. Seems to quite enjoy it as well.

I wouldn't know if it was a problem though. Try planetcatfish, lots of good info on there.

Ian.

 

[Tenko]

Do you have an airstone in the tank?

 

[GrullaQuarters]

No, no airstone in the tank. He only did this yesterday, and isn't doing it yet today. I was just afraid it was a bit out of the ordinary for a pleco to do this! Only change, like I said, is I did a 25-30% w/c soon before this started, and air bubbles always cover things inside the tank for awhile (I assumed that was normal). Perhaps he was just latching on to things, getting air bubbles, and going up to expel them?

I just learned (on this board, thanks!) that I have a male and female bristlenose....this is the male who did this.

Angie

 

[Glee]

Hi Angie

I too have had my male do this. It drove me nuts, until a friend of mind told me to put some driff wood in the tank for him to feed on. I have an albino bristlenose. Well I have never seen him do it again, but I don't see much of him anymore either....Glee

 

[Tenko]

Yeah, they need bogwood to help them digest food apparently. The lfs didn't tell me this when I bought mine, luckily someone here did though. I've got 2 small pieces now, the catfish are always on them.

 

[Woody]

The larger of my two plecos does this on occasion, and I've read about this behavior on several web sites. From what I understand, the belief is that plecos occasionally surface and gulp some air in some sort of effort to regulate their bouyancy. I have no idea how accurate the theory is, but it does appear to be a fairly common behavior, and it has never harmed my pleco.

Mine sometimes shoots to the surface so fast that he hits the lid, and that's fairly common as well. It's a good idea to make sure your tank is adequately covered to keep him from flying out onto the floor.

 

[Olive]

The larger of my two plecos does this on occasion, and I've read about this behavior on several web sites. From what I understand, the belief is that plecos occasionally surface and gulp some air in some sort of effort to regulate their bouyancy. I have no idea how accurate the theory is, but it does appear to be a fairly common behavior, and it has never harmed my pleco.

Mine sometimes shoots to the surface so fast that he hits the lid, and that's fairly common as well. It's a good idea to make sure your tank is adequately covered to keep him from flying out onto the floor.

my sailfin does this as well. I used to have one that would do it quite often-several times a day. I noticed it more often when the ammonia was up, although this is not the case in your tank. I wouldn't worry too much about it..........just keep an eye on him.

 

[Alien_spawn]

Oddly enough my female bristlenose (larger of the two) did this for the first time tonight!!!! my tank has bogwood in it too

 

[Olive]

Oddly enough my female bristlenose (larger of the two) did this for the first time tonight!!!! my tank has bogwood in it too

uh oh, maybe it is like yawning in humans, after we started talking about it, they had to do it?!?

 

[sundog]

Alot of plecs can store air in thier stomachs and then use this to breath it can be a sign that the water flow is not strong enough or that the ph is a little high ......If you place some bog wood in your tank and this cures the problem then i wouldn't worry