# What just happened (dead pleco)



## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

:shock: So my neighbor who's totally entertained by my common pleco was sitting here watching him for ever earlier gazing around the DW, he was all fine, nothing in behavior or looks wrong at all...I was just fixing to leave the office and he's drifting up top.....Odd....

So I thought maybe he's going after the lil portion scum built up up top.....naw...dude ain't moving when I touch him with the net, nothing, dead, completely fully dead:shock:

How on earth can a fish go from fully happy & healthy looking one min to BAM dead floater next second????????

I even tested the water right away for any NO's, Ammonia - Nadda....

And guess what - Its happened on the 55g AGAIN.....What the.....either there's something undetectable that's wrong with this tank or its cursed....first all my Cardinals on ick attack and now him????

Do fish have heart attacks?


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

common plecos are massively bred and inbreeding occurs often with them which maakes for genetic issues i suspect this is the case here


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

I just really feel by now this 55g is cursed...i seen more dead fish in it in few weeks then all tanks ever total over the years, something ain't right there and i can't figure it out


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## molliefan09 (Sep 21, 2009)

you must consider the source of which you got the fish. we all know you take great care of your fish and aquariums so it must be something from the source


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

dont know kid i mean heck you do it all right so you know its not you.....either source or some sort of accident that you are not around for or seeing...


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## stephanieleah (Oct 31, 2009)

I'm sorry you lost your fish, girl. That really sucks.


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## kevincao (Jan 7, 2010)

are you still treating your tank with copper? anyway, i would suggest you check all the treatments you've made lately, if there is anything that contains salt, (aquarium salt...) it might be the problem, plecos can't take aquarium salt, or any type of salt, although i do know small amount shouldn't matter, but it is best to not have salt in pleco's aquarium at all.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Actually the Cardinals where from 1 LFS and the pleco from Petsmart
All the 45g are stocked from the other LFS (who's also doing the custom order for me now).

Yea I can blame Petsmart, they prop deserve it anyway....but I just GOT TO be sure this tank doesn't having anything un-testable/ invisible in it that caused all this ick and hardcore algae and death. I mean what the heck, so many tanks and all goes fine and this ONE tank just makes me question all I am doing ALL THE TIME, like it just doesn't stop with bad news coming from THAT tank :-(


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

kevincao said:


> are you still treating your tank with copper? anyway, i would suggest you check all the treatments you've made lately, if there is anything that contains salt, (aquarium salt...) it might be the problem, plecos can't take aquarium salt, or any type of salt, although i do know small amount shouldn't matter, but it is best to not have salt in pleco's aquarium at all.


:-? I think you've got me confused with someone else, I hadn't done no copper treatment nor any salt treatments in any my tanks, that would be fatal to the inmates;-)


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## kevincao (Jan 7, 2010)

oh, i must have, hmm sorry about that. wish i could help with your problem


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## Hawkian (Oct 29, 2009)

Aww... sorry to hear that Angel!

You sure you trust that neighbour? * Just kidding of course *

So... what fish do you have left alive in that tank? Based on your profile there, that would be 2 CAE am I wrong? What about moving them to another tank and starting that one over? It's been nothing but problems for you since Day 1 right? Why not soak the plants, take everything out and start fresh? I dunno... I've just been reading about your troubles with this tank for a while and never know what to say... maybe this one needs an overhaul... from scratch? If I were in your shoes... that's what I'd do 'cause I'd sure be disheartened by that tank. 

Sorry... I guess I'm not much help eh?


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Well she brought me over a Bible as a gift...think that had anything to do with the pleco flopping upside down in seconds?

All CAE and Serpae Tetra's (from the 45g) are going back to the store next Tue. Have 2 Kissing Gourami in there too, that I'd LIKE to keep.


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

if i were you and had all those probs with the 55 that you always seem to have i would drain it completely washeverything with bleach and let it completely dry out then rinse everything then try it all over i mean no seeding from another tank or anything just start from ground zero that will ensure its all gunna be gone


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Will it? If the tank is doomed?
If something untestable was in there, I'd think the Kissing Gourami are the 1st to be affected over the pleco thou.....
The ick I can see/ understand to some extent. The algae break out after that - Instable new tank and meds not gotten along I donno (know to lil about meds) the pleco I'd not wanna start guessing what the heck happened there... 

Trust me I am very frustrated and sad over this, but break down the whole tank? And where do I put the Gourami's then? And a crap load of plants? I mean seriously not kidding, where would I put all this stuff for few weeks? Ya'll know I ain't letting no empty tank sit here, they're all going 

Oh I got so may words in my mind for this tank, non of which I'll post here thou


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## PRichs87 (Dec 30, 2009)

angel, any rocks in your tank from outside that would possibly have metal in them? or anything like that.... just a thought, im sure you out of all of us wouldnt make a rookie mistake like that tho!


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## stephanieleah (Oct 31, 2009)

there must be something that a pleco would be more sensitive to that the kissing gourami's aren't (salt?). of course, trying to figure it all out seems like a total waste of energy because there are SO many factors at work here. i like money mitch's idea...why not start from scratch. maybe burn some sage before refilling the tank : )


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

I dunno...those various problems sound pretty unrelated to me, so I'd probably just chalk it up to bad luck rather than a cursed tank. A seemingly healthy pleco dying out of nowhere is pretty strange but not completely unheard of. I usually wait at least a couple of weeks after a fish death before replacing it and following this procedure, I've never had a new fish die of the same thing that the old ones did (at least not soon enough to attribute it to a contaminated tank).


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Nop, no rocks. Only regular tank gravel, plants and 2 DW's that I had for lord know how many yrs in other tanks now.
No salt used EVER in any my tanks.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

iamntbatman said:


> I dunno...those various problems sound pretty unrelated to me, so I'd probably just chalk it up to bad luck rather than a cursed tank. A seemingly healthy pleco dying out of nowhere is pretty strange but not completely unheard of. I usually wait at least a couple of weeks after a fish death before replacing it and following this procedure, I've never had a new fish die of the same thing that the old ones did (at least not soon enough to attribute it to a contaminated tank).


See that's what I mean...The ick death of the Cardinals, very unfortunate but not to uncommon in new tanks/ sick fish yaddy ya.
Algae hardcore break out - Wasn't cool at all, but also not too uncommon in new set up's, add to it influence by meds maybe.
The pleco....behind me what happened there...I seen no external signs of nothing, but Lord knows if something was wrong inside (birth defects?) def seen no ick signs on him.

So yea each of these 3 instances annoy the heck outta me yes, but take apart the whole tank cause of it and scrub everything back down, set up new filter media....isn't that taking it to the extreme over 3 instances that IMO (and pls correct me if you see anything I don't) have nothing in common with one another.:roll:
Plants & Snails are thriving extremely well there if that counts for anything....


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## LisaC144 (Oct 22, 2009)

The ick meds might have been too much for him to handle. Perhaps it slowly affected him that way?


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

No Lisa, the ick happened early Nov (1st week) and the tank was medicated about 3 days by then all Cardinals were dead, I added carbon to the filter and have 2 large w/c after that. Thereafter normal weekly w/c. These meds are long gone from the tank when he moved in.


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

So sorry to hear about your pleco. They are such cool fish aren't they? 

I hope you figure out what's going on with your tank.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

I doubt I will...IMO all 3 instances (Ick, Algae, Pleco death) are not related to 1 another....just a very unfortunate tank I guess....


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