Pleco With Hole In Head

[thisguyek]

I woke up last week to notice a white spot towards the back of my pleco's head. It was aprox an 1/8 of an inch in diameter. At first i thought it injured itself and didnt think much of it. As the days went on, it didnt change in size or appearance, so i left it be. Well as of yesterday i noticed it was 'raised' almost like a scab for lack of a better description. It almost looked like evaporated salt build up you get on the hood from time to time. This morning it was out and about briefly and i noticed that the scab was gone and all that was left was a large hole! still about an 1/8 of an inch in diameter....

Is this something that comes about from age? I'm not sure what kind of pleco it is... i got it 5 yrs ago from walmart...

There is no doubt about it that its a hole! picture an empty eye socket and thats about what it looks like! I'm just curious if there is anything i can do to help it out... or what it's life expectancy is now...

any help is wanted and appreciated! thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

It sounds like some sort of abcess that has burst to me. All you can really do is make sure your water quality is kept up (so, lots of water changes making sure you hoover the gravel) and keep an eye on it in case it becomes infected. If it does, a course of anti-bacterial medicine might be needed; but good, clean water sorts out most things.

Hope he's ok

 

[starscream]

If its what I think it is then it might be whole in the head disease,it normaly happens on ciclids or oscars. keep an eye on your fish and if u have an undergravel filter turn it of f till he starts getting better.