# Chocolate Albino Pleco... Sick?



## The Trans Am Kid (Jun 25, 2007)

Today I did a 50% water change in my 20 gallon. I have 1 chocolate albino pleco, 2 female fancy guppies, and 11 6-week old guppies. I lost my bristlenose albino pleco about two weeks ago for some unknown reason. Now this guy looks sick and isn't moving much. I hope I am not over reacting but I just don't want to loose another pleco. My parameters look perfectly fine. Here they are:

1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 20
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? Freshwater
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? 3 months
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) Guppy (2 female, 11 6-week old fry)
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? No
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? 76 degrees
7. What make/model filter are you using? Whisper 20 Power Filter, Whisper 20 Bio-Bag Filter Cartridge
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? No
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? No
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? Today 50%
11. How often do you perform water changes? Weekly
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? Daily
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? 24’’ Flourescent Full hood w/ bulb 10am - Midnight
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? Chocolate Albino Pleco not movie much and acting odd.(not breathing much or at all really)
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. PH:7.6 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? API Freshwater Mater Test Kit
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank? 2 week ago and behaved well

I know plecos don't move much in the day but he is acting really odd.


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Your results are very odd. Since the tank has been set up for 3 months it has certainly started, if not finished cycling. but you have no reading for nitrate. You have no live plants so i can't understand why this could be. You're using a reliable test kit so is it possible it is out of date?

Plecs often aren't very active but it's a concern that he isn't breathing at all. is he more active at ngiht when the lights are out? is he eating alright?


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## herefishy (Dec 14, 2006)

Most exotic plecs need wood in their diet. Are you providing some gnaw material?


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## okiemavis (Nov 10, 2007)

You've gotta shake those nitrate tests like CRAZY to get an accurate result. When the directions say to shake the bottle for 1 minute, they aren't exaggerating. Why don't you retest and see what you come up with?


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## The Trans Am Kid (Jun 25, 2007)

Well, he died over night. I don't understand. The results are fine. Both of my smaller tanks seem to have large emounts of algae. Can anyone help me? I don't want to loose anymore fish. My 45 gallon tank never has any algae or anything but my 10 and 20 always have algae. And I clean them all the time. I have well water. Could there be some kind of hidden iron or somekind of chemical that is giving me trouble? Here are all 3 of my tanks. Only my 10 and 20 gallons are giving me trouble though.

1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 20
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? Freshwater
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? 1.5 months
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) Guppy (2 female, 11 babies)
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? No
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? 74 degrees
7. What make/model filter are you using? Whisper 20 Power Filter, Whisper 20 Bio-Bag Filter Cartridge
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? No
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? No
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? 2 days ago 50%
11. How often do you perform water changes? Weekly
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? Daily
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? 24’’ Flourescent Full hood w/ bulb 10am - Midnight
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? Excesive algae 
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. PH:7.6 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? API Freshwater Mater Test Kit
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank? One week ago and behaved well


1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 10
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? Freshwater
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? ?
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) 3 Ottos
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? No
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? 74 degrees
7. What make/model filter are you using? Whisper 10 Power Filter, Whisper 10 Bio-Bag Filter Cartridge
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? No
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? No
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? Two days ago 25%
11. How often do you perform water changes? Weekly
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? Daily
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? 12’’ ? Flourescent Full hood w/ bulb 10am - Midnight
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? Excessive Algae
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. PH:7.6 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? API Freshwater Mater Test Kit
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank? One week ago and behaved well


1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 45
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? Freshwater
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? 3 years
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) 
5 Black Skirt Tetra
1 Large Goldfish
1 Small Goldfish
2 Red Tetra
2 Common Pleco
3 Synodontis
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? No
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? 74 Degrees
7. What make/model filter are you using? Aquaclear 70
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? No
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? No
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? 1 week ago 25%
11. How often do you perform water changes? 2 times a month
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? 1 a day
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? Some old flourecent light. 10am - Midnight
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? None
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. PH:7.6 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? API Freshwater Master Test Kit
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank? 4 months ago


Please help! Thanks


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## Chelsea (May 31, 2008)

*pleco info*

Hello, im sorry to hear about your fish dying :[ 
One problem may be your tank size. 20 gallons is not nearly big enough for either of those types of plecos. They need room to mature and to be happy. Another question I have is have you been feeding them? Their diet dosen't only consist of algae. They eat fruits and veggies, along with wafers, which you can buy at a local petstore. You can get clips to hold the fruit and veggies you put in the tank, and some poeple even use forks, they just stick the food on the fork and sink it. I personally do not use forks I use clips, as they seem a tad bit safer to me. My plecos and algae eater really enjoy cucumbers and watermelon. You can try just about fruit or veggie and see what they prefer. Some veggies like carrots can be cooked and then put in, just because its softer and easier for them to eat. Some Plecos are carnivores so they require meat. But your 2 plecos were not. Just make sure you do some research when you get another pleco to see whether they eat meat or not ( most plecos do not ). Did your pleco before he died swim up to the top of the tank-- upside down and look like he was gulping air. This could be a sign of not enough oxygen in the tank. Did he swim up to top-- upside down-- when you put food in for you other fish..and try and eat the food. That is a sign he was starving and as a last resort trying to get the flake food at the top. When you buy plecos, look at their stomaches, and see if it is flat or rounded if so that means the pleco is getting enough to eat, if the stomach curves in the pleco isn't getting enough food. I hope that helped some..I tryed. If you have more questions I'd be happy to try and help you. 

Chelsea


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