Pleco Problems

[RadioHitandRun]

every alge eater i've ever put in my tank has died.

i started off with chinese alge eaters but they died. next i tried otocincles catfish but either they were eaten or died.

my latest atempt was a rubber lipped pleco but he passed

all my other fish are thriving. what the dileo?

 

[moeldner]

every alge eater i've ever put in my tank has died.

i started off with chinese alge eaters but they died. next i tried otocincles catfish but either they were eaten or died.

my latest atempt was a rubber lipped pleco but he passed

all my other fish are thriving. what the dileo?

What are you feeding them?
What substrate?
How are you acclimatising them?
How long are tehy lasting?
Do you add anything to your tank other than water conditioner?
What are your water stats (Ammonia, etc)?

 

[RadioHitandRun]

plecos are grazing the existing algae
standard gravel
floating back for 20 min. adding water every 5.
algae eaters lasted few months pleco only last week and a half
salt and leaf zone plant fetilizer
ammonia is at zero, nitrate is 20-40 no nitrite p.h. remains 7.8

 

[moeldner]

The salt may be the problem - plec's don't like it, (apparently it burns their skin), and I'm not sure if your other algae eaters will have liked it either.

Oto's prefer a tank that has been running about 6 months (i.e. well established).

Only other thing it may be is something in your gravel - how often do you do gravel vacuums? Your plec adn other algae eaters are will sit in/on the gravel regularly.

 

[dwarfgourami]

The salt may be the problem - plec's don't like it, (apparently it burns their skin), and I'm not sure if your other algae eaters will have liked it either.

Oto's prefer a tank that has been running about 6 months (i.e. well established).

Only other thing it may be is something in your gravel - how often do you do gravel vacuums? Your plec adn other algae eaters are will sit in/on the gravel regularly.

The salt could be a problem. Also, are you sure they are getting enough to eat? Your average tank is not going to contain enough algae to feed the average plec, and otos only eat certain algae. And plecs have different dietary requirements depending on species. You will almost certainly need to provide more food- algae wafers, courgette, cucumber, maybe a bit of bloodworm now and then.

 

[RadioHitandRun]

At the store i work at we add salt to our main system and the plecs are doin fine.

 

[voo]

what kind of salt have you been adding? Aquarium salt, marine salt, table/cooking salt?

 

[dwarfgourami]

At the store i work at we add salt to our main system and the plecs are doin fine.

Lots of plecs apparently are fine with salt- I'm less sure about otos. I suspect lack of food.

 

[KathyM]

I've used salt in my tank in the past (to aid a treatment with my angels), and the plecs were fine. It sounds to me like they're not getting fed properly - no plec should live on algae alone. They need feeding.

 

[teddyman5]

My 14 plecs (in 6 tanks ) go through 2 cucumbers and a courgette every week ( in addition to all other foods ).The oldest is 9 years old so it proves if you feed them properly they thrive.

 

[dabaers]

Here you go, these may help you:

http/www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46284

http/www.plecofanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11018

http/www.plecofanatics.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=74