Pleco Dead!

[OzzieGirl]

Hi Everyone,

This is the first death in my tank for a very long time. I literally noticed him about an hour ago when I came into the room to find him not in a 'normal' position I can't understand what is wrong. Its horrible he was pretty big, about 3 inches long, and I've had him since he was a baby.

There are a couple of things that I could suggest but may just be getting paraniod. I managed to get a snail boom in my tank about 2-3 weeks ago, so not sure if this will have had a effect at all, but my clown doesn't seem to be eating them at all, either that, or there are just too many for him to keep up with! The only other thing that is different, is that one of my angels has a sort of fungus coming out by his fin, at the side. I havent thought much on it, because I have another angel and thought it was the result of one of their fights, but he has had it for about a week now, without little change. I did treat the water with a little blue stuff 2 days ago to see if this would help, but I don't reallt like adding things to my water. Either these things, or my tank was just too small for him!

Any ideas would help. Thanks

Steph

 

[WILDER]

Does the fungus look fluffy, I would do some water changes as salt and water changes can clear fungus up if it isn't to bad.

 

[sylvia]

I don't know what the medication you added was, but it could very well have been the cause of your pleco's death. At only 3 inches, he wasn't large at all, just a baby... so I wouldn't blame the tank size.

However, your signature says you have a 55 LITRE tank... is this correct?
55 litres is something like 15 gallons I believe -
with these fish in it?
2 Angels
3 X-Ray Tetras
1 Clown Loach
1 Spotty Pleco
1 neon (on his last legs,gettin old)

The angels will grow to have their dorsal outside the tank permanently. They are taller than your tank at adulthood and should not realy be kept in anything less than a 30 gallon - prefferably tall.
Clown loaches grow huge and like company - also unsuitable for this tank.
I don't know what species a 'spotty' pleco is but (I suppose this is the one that died), most plecos grow much, much, much too large for this size tank. Please don't replace him unless you can find a bristlenose or similarly-sized, small pleco.
Neons are shoaling fish.
X-Ray tetras also preffer to be kept in groups of 6 or more.

Lastly, if this is realy a 15 gallon, you should remove the clown loach and angels. Then increase the number of x-ray fish to 6. The neon would appreciate some company but, if he's dying, there may be little point in doing this.

 

[OzzieGirl]

Thanks for your kind, and extreemly helpful words sylvia

 

[Aquamick]

15 gallons is around 70litres, I think.

Sorry about the plec Ozzygirl