New pleco is sick

[SarahBravo]

About a week ago I got an L200 and a Hypancistrus sp. L136/262 (thanks Bunji!). The L200 is about 4 - 4.5" long nose to tail and the L136 about 3.5". They are both in quarantine with 3 swordies and 2 chequerboard cichlids. The L200 is a bit skittish but is moving about and is ok. The L136 is stiff, hardly moving, occasionally ends up on it's side or back when knocked over by a swordy, isn't even bothering to hide any more. I've done a water change, all the water stats are okay. I noticed two very small patches on fungus on it, both only a couple of mm across and I've added some melafix.

Any advice on what it could be, and/or treatment? It's currently in a 60 litre, with bodwood and slate to hide under, dark substrate and lights are mostly off.

 

[Bloo]

If they are white - ish type spot kinda fuzzy looking (obviously not wool-like) just behind the head or on the sides of the dorsal fin, they might very well *not* be fungus. It's quite common for some plecs to display these patches when they are feeling uncomfortable or frightened.
Some of my plecs (usually pitch black) display these patches within seconds of a bright light suddenly coming on (tank light or room light).

What exactly are your stats:

Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and PH ?

 

[SarahBravo]

Ammonia and Nitrite are 0, nitrate is 15 - 20, Ph is 8.5. They were acclimated over about 4 hours. Ph at the lfs is 7.

 

[Bloo]

Ahh it might very well be the high pH of 8.5
Yes they can be acclimatised over time and adjust to a higher PH, but 8.5 is really very very high.

My own tanks vary from 7.4 - 8.4 (depending on wood or CO2 added etc.) but my plecs do not do well in the higher pH at all

My plec tanks are now around 7.8 and 7.4.

 

[SarahBravo]

Oh euphymisms!!!!! So guess it's either an RO unit or take 'em back? I do have some PH down but have never used it on advice from here.

 

[Bloo]

hang around for some more advice before doing anything just yet. Hopefully you will get some replies today.

However any chance of a pic of those white patches ? If they are what I think they are, they are not fungus but more stress related and not directly treatable - other than removing the stress factor.

The only thing I found effective enough to reduce my PH is by CO2 - and that brought it down from 8.4 to around 7.4 - but you'd have to be very careful that this change isn't too drastic too soon either - and that's to say you want to sit with the added hassle of making up CO2 mixtures every few weeks.
However still a far easier and less costly route than RO - which is very expensive and very time consuming....

Fingers crossed and good luck !