Pleco with blisters?

[Ravengt360]

I am closely monitoring my pleco and I am trying to diagnose and treat what looks like bloody bloster on the belly of my pleco. It had these once before and they clear up with 20% water changes daily, stress zyme, increased water temp, and a good bacteria ball. I would like to know what these bloody blisters are to prevent them. It is still eating and acting normal. Over several days, it progressed from.reddish spots on the belly to smaller, multiple blisters to decreasing in count but getting larger and more buoyant looking.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

This is a new one for me and that is saying something.

Blurk. sorry but that's gross

It's not a normal fish disease and I would guess it is either a bacterial infection or some sort of parasite that has infected the fish in the wild. The fish has then been brought into captivity and the parasite is living happily on and in the fish.

-------------------
Can you post some more pictures of the fish and the entire aquarium?

What is a good bacterial ball?

What species of catfish is it?
How long have you had it for?
Any idea if it's wild caught?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do water changes?

What sort of filter is in/ on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

What other fish are in the tank?
What are you feeding the fish?
How often do you feed the fish?
Is there driftwood, algae and live plants in the tank?

-------------------
I would do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. See if it helps. If not then antibacterial medication. But try to get a broad spectrum liquid based medication first (something like Waterlife Myxazin or Triple Sulpha), rather than antibiotics. If you have to use antibiotics, try to use them in a bare tank so the medication can work on the fish rather than being wasted on everything else in the tank.

 

[Ravengt360]

What species of catfish is it? High fon pleco purchased from Petsmart

How long have you had it for?almost 1 year

Any idea if it's wild caught? Not sure

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change? I test water daily and usually a 30% warer change monthly. When this started, all indiciators were /prefered normal range for plecos but I am doing a 10% change daily.

Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do water changes? Black gravel vacuumed weekly.

What sort of filter is in/ on the tank? PF L filter
How often and how do you clean the filter? Everything the indicator shows red. About every 3 weeks.

What other fish are in the tank? None. Just the pleco

What are you feeding the fish? Already thin. Haven't changed brands. New bag opened about 2 months ago.
How often do you feed the fish? 2x daily. 1 thin per feeding
Is there driftwood, algae and live plants in the tank? Live plants. Been in the tank 6 months. The ferns died about 3 months ago. I don't remember the other kind. It begins with an A

 

[Ravengt360]

Hi and welcome to the forum

This is a new one for me and that is saying something.

Blurk. sorry but that's gross

It's not a normal fish disease and I would guess it is either a bacterial infection or some sort of parasite that has infected the fish in the wild. The fish has then been brought into captivity and the parasite is living happily on and in the fish.

-------------------
Can you post some more pictures of the fish and the entire aquarium?

What is a good bacterial ball?

What species of catfish is it?
How long have you had it for?
Any idea if it's wild caught?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do water changes?

What sort of filter is in/ on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

What other fish are in the tank?
What are you feeding the fish?
How often do you feed the fish?
Is there driftwood, algae and live plants in the tank?

-------------------
I would do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. See if it helps. If not then antibacterial medication. But try to get a broad spectrum liquid based medication first (something like Waterlife Myxazin or Triple Sulpha), rather than antibiotics. If you have to use antibiotics, try to use them in a bare tank so the medication can work on the fish rather than being wasted on everything else in the tank.

And thank you for your thorough reply.

 

[Colin_T]

What sort of filter is in/ on the tank? PF L filter
How often and how do you clean the filter? Everything the indicator shows red. About every 3 weeks.

What brand of filter is it?
I don't know what a PF L is.

How do you go about cleaning the filter?
Do you replace filter media/ materials or something else?

-------------------

Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do water changes? Black gravel vacuumed weekly.

Do you just suck the gunk off the top of the gravel or do you push a gravel cleaner into the gravel, let the gravel circulate in the gravel cleaner and then drop down, before doing another bit of gravel?

-------------------
Do a 75% water change each day for a week then do it once a week or once a fortnight after that. Preferably once a week. Small water changes don't do much and doing them monthly means there is a long time for gunk to build up and make fish sick.

If you do a 25% water change, you leave 75% of the bad stuff behind.
If you do a 50% water change, you leave 50% of the bad stuff behind.
If you do a 75% water change, you leave 25% of the bad stuff behind.

Just make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

-------------------

What are you feeding the fish? Already thin. Haven't changed brands. New bag opened about 2 months ago.

Do you have a brand name on the fish food?

I would vary the diet and include pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, carrot, dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale or silverbeet. Peel the skin off them and boil the food for a 30-60 seconds to soften it up. Remove uneaten food after a couple of hours.
Make sure any fruit/ veges are free of chemicals and rinse them well under tap water before using them in the tnak.

Add frozen foods like brineshrimp, bloodworms, mysis shrimp and marine mix (prawn fish & squid blended up).

Make sure you have some driftwood in the tank. Most suckermouth catfish chew on driftwood and the fibre helps their digestion. You don't need a big bit of driftwood but any would help.