Common Pleco's Tail Missing A Piece

[tetraman]

My pleco's pad happens to be where my corys chill, and when I dropped my new catfish pellets in, they where eating them raavenously, and right next to my pleco's tail. Apparently, they mistook it as part of the meal, and now there is a decent sized chunk taken out of my pleco's tail. Will it fill back in? Is there a chance he will die of a bacterial or fungal infection? What should I do?

 

[smithrc]

It wont have been corys that have done this?

What are your water stats at - fins splitting are a sign of something wrong.

If you keep up with water changes it'll fix

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah I'm dubious about this being the cory's, it could be water quality or he could have caught it on something. Test your water and take action as appropriate. If your water's fine treat with melafix to speed the recovery and help prevent any secondary infection developing.

 

[tetraman]

Never mind, it just looked like a chunk. It's just a little frayed. I WAS slightly overdue for a water change, so that might have done it. I made one last night, though, and I doubt that's the reason because I actually saw the green catfish messing with the pleco's tail.

 

[dwarfgourami]

If you think about what corys' mouths are like, the way they can't chew but hoover food up like spaghetti,
it seems unlikely that they could take a chuck out of anyone. They never seem to do any damage to each other when they nuzzle each other, as they do all the time.

 

[tetraman]

They didn't take a chunk out, they just roughed it up and split it a little.

 

[fishfishfish]

swordtail tend to take chunks out of things when breeding

 

[KathyM]

It's unlikely that any of those fish took a chunk out of a common plec's tail. It's more likely that he's either got some kind of fin rot or has roughed it up on something else - sharp edges of something in the tank? TBH though he's not living in a tank suitable for him, and he's suffering for it. I would get him better and rehome him.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I agree with KathyM, its much more likely the damage was done by a fungal or bacterial flesh infection- particually in the pleco scraped itself on anything in the tank, the injury could have got a secondary infection. If it is an infection like a fungal or bacterial one, you will need to use a med like Pimafix and increase filtration.

What are the pleco's activity levels like and how much or often do you feed it? Does it look skinny at all? Do its eyes look sunken into its head, or do they stick out? Can you get any pics of the damage? Is the chunk sore or inflamed looking at all or have any white or grey substances on it like cottony or slimey growths?

 

[fishfishfish]

o.well my aunt must have had some aggressive swordtails in her 125 gal

 

[tetraman]

The only swordtails I've had for months are the babies in the breeding net. You guys are taking this way too seriously. He's fine! He looks normal, he's eating, and the tail's improving.

 

[KathyM]

To be honest, what do you expect us to do? you ame on here asking if he was going to die. We responded with advice. You obviously don't want to take that advice, but come on, at least be polite. If you want to stunt your fish, that's up to you, but don't slate us for giving you advice when you asked for it in the first place.

 

[tetraman]

I asked if he was going to die because it looked like a chunk was taken out.