Plec Help

[Robaidh]

Hi folks I posted up yesterday about my plec loosening colour the guys said do a swatter test but I don't have a kit to do it my pal does normally do it for me but he is away and unfortunately I don't live in a city but on the isle of Skye so shops are shut my plec seems to gain his colour then loses it for a we while but I have just noticed that his belly is pretty swollen what can I do short of doingwater tests? Thanks

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

What plec species?
How big is it (excluding tail fin)?
What other tankmates are with it?
What size tank (dimensions please, not volume)?
How often and how big (approx %) are your water changes?
Could you be overfeeding?
 
I would be inclined to do a big water change of 75-95% to rule out water quality, but first I would like to be confident you have no chance of "old tank syndrome" going on, in which case a sudden massive water change would kill the fish.
 
A photo uploaded to a photo hosting site such as Imageshack would really help others get a better idea of what is going on here, it sounds like something is stressing your catfish for it to change colours and a swollen stomach is not normal, but to suggest what is causing it right now would be a "shot in the dark."

 

[Robaidh]

Not sure what the name of plec is the name bull nose or bull dog rings a bell but that could b wrong I am just up loading a couple pictures to photo bucket it is a jewel trigon 190 so it's 70cm accords the back walls and I think it's 60 odd cm tall I have my plec in and I got a load of guppies yesterday to start a fish cycle ready for me to get Malawi chich lids he is roughly 3 inches long his colour seems fine just now I have been feeding him 1 algie gaffer a day. And the other fish just flake food I got the plec asone of my first fish a year or so ago and he has always been happy I decided to sell my fish to a friend as I wanted chichlids so my neighbour took my plec while I converted my tank and all that carry on and I got him back 3 days ago to help start the cycle

I also read about putting some blanched peas in so I have tried that I'm struggling to upload the pics how do I do it?

http/img585.imageshack.us/img585/6708/dsc0023au.jpg

http/img13.imageshack.us/img13/5639/dsc0024pk.jpg

http/img689.imageshack.us/img689/5420/dsc0025er.jpg

Can u see his bloated belly? Kinda hard to see

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I cannot see anything in those 3 photos that would make me panick about the health of the catfish.
 
I'm not going to try and identify which species this catfish is, but I can tell you I'm pretty confident it is not a "Bulldog" (Chaetostoma spp.) Pleco. I think you should post these same photos in a thread at PlanetCatfish in the http/www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13 section, to get the opinion of members including professional ichthyologists.
At the very least this will identify the genus so you will get a better idea of the food requirements of this fish, some need soft wood in their tank; others are mixed omnivores; others need a heavily biased veg/meat diet.
 
If you have been doing at least 15% (but ideally a lot closer to 50%) weekly water changes, I would still be inclined to do a 75-95% water change, to ensure water quality is not stressing the plec. Put aside a little of the current water to test when possible, but you really should get your own liquid test kit ASAP.
 
On a sidenote, relatively few Malawi cichlids are suitable for a Juwel Trigon 190 long term, you would have far more options from Lake Tanganyika. Both require very hard alkaline water and as such, you need to be able to test their water quickly, because such water at ~25C will be toxic at relatively low levels of ammonia or nitrite. 

 

[Robaidh]

Okay thanks for the help my tank is set at 25 degrees. I normally do a 20% swatter change for 3 weeks and on the 4th I do a 75% swatter change. What should I do and what temp should I put the swatter in I have heard in emergencies to put it in cold?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I would change ~75% of the water and gradually refill* over the next ~24 hours with similar temp dechlorinated water, adding some excess Seachem Prime (upto 5x standard dose, which is 25ml per 200 litres) to temporarily mop up any ammonia/nitrite for upto 24 hours, that you cannot test for at the moment. If you not have Seachem Prime, use the standard dose of your dechlorinator, only a select few can have this "ammo-lock" type property.
 
You need to be careful adding dramatically cooler water (although some fish are more tolerant than others), if I had no choice but to do this, I would literally trickle the new water into the flow of a powerhead or filter (rather than effectively tipping similar temp water anywhere in the tank).
 
* When I do ~75% changes on my ~280l 4-footer, I add 50-75l back promptly, then add ~25-50l back every 12 hours or so. But it does contain the odd more water chemistry sensitive species, like 21 Pareutropius mandevillei.

 

[Robaidh]

So if I drain 75% of the watter and then fill it back to just over half way and leave my air stone on and add the rest over the course of the day slowly will that work?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Without you saying either way, it sounds like you might have an internal (perhaps integrated) filter like my Rio240, when I gradually refill my ~280l tank it has two external filters that still run during the gradual refill.
 
If you have an integrated filter, definitely refill to a level where the filter can operate.

 

[Robaidh]

I had a fluval 205 but was told it was to small for my tank for when I get malawis so I sold it when I shut my tank down I have a internal one just now but a external one on the way

 

[Robaidh]

If I turn the heat up a little would that b an idea?

 

[snazy]

I decided to sell my fish to a friend as I wanted chichlids so my neighbour took my plec while I converted my tank and all that carry on and I got him back 3 days ago to help start the cycle
 

 
Are you cycling the tank with the pleco?
If you filter is new and you haven't kept the old media, then that's your problem. Unless you do daily large water changes until the tank cycles, then your pleco won't have much chance. Some plecos are very sensitive to ammonia and yours doesn't sound to be one of the hardy species.
 
I'd take the pleco back to your friend, then do a fishless cycle with ammonia on the tank. It will save the pleco's life and daily water changes. Afterwards you'd be able to add all your stock at once, rather than dragging it with 3-4 fish at a time.
 

 

[Robaidh]

He never had any problems at all before theirs been problem with other fish before and he has lived through it and never had any problems could he of picked something up from the other tank?

 

[snazy]

Just to make it clear, but are you cycling the tank with the pleco?
When there's ammonia, the fish's immune system goes to the bin and they can pick up anything because pathogens live in every tank. So he doesn't need to have been sick before you put him back into uncycled tank.
 
But yes, providing it isn't the current conditions causing the problem, it could be something from the other tank, or all the stress from moving around, especially if not acclimated between the different water conditions.