Pleco Dying!

[MollyFresh]

My Pleco is like 2 or so inches long and I just got him like 1-2 weeks ago. I dont feed him anything because i didnt think i had too. He breaths and moves but he cant suck at all. He tries but can't latch onto anything and just floats at the surface. What do i do?

 

[MollyFresh]

its also very bloated!

 

[Raf485]

Questions that need to be asked are;

How mature is the tank.

What is the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/Ph levels.

I am no expert but you def have to give something for the plec to consume. Either wafers or fresh veg.

I am sure someone with more knowledge will help out, but help them by answering the couple of questions i asked.

 

[MollyFresh]

Nevermind he just died. I think he was sick. now im scared to get other fish. I might redo the whole tank, cycling and all... take back all my fish and get a bunch of plecos to redeem myself. Feed em everything. What u think? Im so mad.

 

[Louiseness]

I wouldn't assume an illness without any good reason, it;s entirely likely he could have died because he didn't get fed for 2 weeks. 2 Inches is pretty juvenile and it wouldn't take long for a baby plec to become weak and waste away.

 

[MollyFresh]

it ended up laying eggs, must have died in labor?

 

[henriko]

the thing with plecs,they are vegetarian,and altho they live on the algae growth they also clean the crap out of your tank,but you still have to put things in for them to munch on,ie.....algae wafers,cucumber,lettuce leaves,half a tomatoe,anything as long as after a couple of hrs remove it

 

[snazy]

He probably died of starvation if you never fed him. How long did you have it for?

 

[Zikofski]

RIP pleco, but yes i am sure unless your tank glass was green then i guess he did die from starvation, and no i wouldn't recommend getting rid of your other fish unless you dont want them,

are you 100% sure they are eggs? if they are then do some research on how to keep pleco fry and that, and keep them then you have lots of plecos free or you can sell them on when they get older and get some money back

you got any pics you could post up?

 

[TomShootsPhoto]

My bristlenose catfish is an algae eater, but he dies without cucumbers and pellets. I give him a slice of cc (0.5 inch thick), 2 pellets every day. (+algea).
If I don't feed him, he becomes utterly aggressive.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

the thing with plecs,they are vegetarian,

This is not factual.

Plecos fall into basically four groups when it comes to feeding habits. First, Aufwuchs feeders (they scrape algal growth and the mico-organisms it contains from the bottom, from rocks and wood or in a tank also from the glass- these are Baryancistrus, Chaestostoma and most Ancistrus, as well as the genera Pseudancistrus, Guinancistrus, Lasiancistrus, Hopliancistrus, Zonancistrus and a few others. Second, omnivores which are sort of a tweener between Aufwuchs feeders and carnivores, these guys eat meat and veggies and include the genera Pekoltia, Hypancistrus, Ancistomus and Parancistrus. Third, the carnivores which as the name implies are meat eaters and would include fish such as Scobiancistrus, Spectracanthicus, Leporacanthicus and Pseudacanthicus. Finally, there are the wood eaters - the species Panaque, Panaqolus.

This may be more info than most want, but the point here is that is is important to know what pleco one is buying before doing so in oreder to know what the required diet for the fish may be. It is not so simple as saying plecos eat veggies.

 

[Cazgar]

I think in this case, any food would've been better than none.

 

[Cichlid Warrior]

I hardly think it was eggs, do you know what caused the death of your pleco?
What are your water levels and whats your tank size?
What fish does your tank contain?