Gold Nugget Pleco Died

[DanielKeepsFish]

Well, its me again...
 
I got a gold nugget pleco yesterday. I did all my research, foods, tank mates, tank size, etc. 
 
Anyways, i bought one from my lfs yesterday for 59.99 and I made sure to acclimate it very cautiously, and i checked my water stats. ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 10 
 
PH: 7.2
 
gkh: 4
 
Tankmates: 3 skunk cories and 3 angelfish (mine are 2-3 inches long right now)
 
Tank size: 40 or 45 gallons... Im not sure. It is 36 inches long, 18 inches wide and 16 inches tall
 
Plants: Planted tank with one anubias, one anubias nanus, 2 java fern (happy to say they have propagated) and some assorted plants that i don't know the name of. I also have one amazon sword, and a plant i forgot the name of...
 
Decor: One giant hunk of driftwood, one rock.
 
I woke up, fed my fish, and noticed he was just kind of sitting there doing nothing so i poked him with my finger and he just fell of the side of the glass and was dead. I  checked his body for injuries or signs of disease and he had a white layer over both his eyes and nostrils. His stomach was full, not con caved and he had what almost looked like a bruise on his stomach. 
 
The day i got him i brought him home from the fish store (they are a reputable place called Aquarium city) i acclimated him for about 1 hour, turned off the lights in my aquarium, let him be for around 3 hours, fed my fish, and then turned off the lights again because it was late at night. All the while he was sitting on the glass right behind the pump of my 45gal hang on back filter. It is normal for fish to be stressed while moving from home to home so i just let him be. 
 
Next morning i wake up and he is dead as  rock. 
 
 
(YES i do know how big angelfish get and how they are semi-aggresive)
 
PLEASE HELP!
 
 
(p.s.  all of my other fish are normal)

 

[nic1]

Hey, how far away was the store you bought him from? Any chance you can compare their water parameters with yours? I.e. hard/soft water, Ph etc.
Also, don't throw him away just yet, bag him up keep him on ice so he doesn't deteriorate and take him back to the shop. See what they suggest as this sounds a bit weird here, make sure you take a look at their other plecos and see how they are behaving.

 

[DanielKeepsFish]

oh... i already flushed him down the toilet...
 
Anyways, the store is about 10 minutes away and i made sure to ask how long they had him. They said their shipment of GNP's was about 3 weeks ago so he should have been fine in the store and the weak ones would have died off.
 
Also, he was there biggest one. He was already nearing 4 inches

 

[nic1]

This may be a case where there wasnt enough food for him to eat, he was probably too stressed to eat and the move from the store and the different water parameters pushed him over the edge.
There may be many causes that contributed to his death, the bruise sounds like blood poisioning, maybe caused by something bacterial or he could of had an internal worm.
cutting him open would of eliminated this if you knew what you was looking for....
 
I think that next time you should get some water readings from the store and see how they differ from yours before you buy anything, ask if they were wild caught or home bred, as wild caught fish are often so starved by the time they reach the store, home bred fish dont come with a clean bill of health either, but its always good to know where they come from and their back ground especially if you are buying an expensive fish.
 
Someone else may have other suggestions also, but with a fish just suddenly dying like that over the space of 12 hours or so I think he was already ill.

 

[DanielKeepsFish]

well he was probably wild caught because gold nugget's breeding habits are undocumented...
 
I called the store and they said they would give me 60 bucks in credit if i bring in the receipt.

 

[DanielKeepsFish]

I went there and they told me my water was pretty screwed up (i brought a sample for them to test because my test kit is bad) and if i come back in a week or two with better water after following their advice i would get the GNP for free

 

[Munroco]

Got to say thats a fantastic gesture by your LFS

 

[Lillefishy]

That's very good of your Lfs to replace him for you.
Btw do not flush fish down the toilet as in many countries it is illegal, it is here in the Uk, as any disease it might have could contaminate local waterways

 

[attibones]

I went there and they told me my water was pretty screwed up (i brought a sample for them to test because my test kit is bad) and if i come back in a week or two with better water after following their advice i would get the GNP for free

How long have you had the tank running?

How did they test the water? What were the actual results? If you're having water quality problems, adding a pleco is not going to be a good idea as they are so messy. They can really knock things off balance in a new aquarium.