# Pleco death



## Monsterpony (Feb 13, 2008)

1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 55 gallon
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? fresh
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? 5 years
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) 3- rasbora het
4- gold barb
4- neon tetra
5- black skirt tetra
1- guppy
2- dwarf frogs
1- 7" common pleco
2- danios
1- 5" bristlenose pleco
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? yes, 1 green wendtii
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? 76-77F
7. What make/model filter are you using? Regent power filter
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? no
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? some
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? 2/24, 50%
11. How often do you perform water changes? weekly
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? tropical fish flake 2 times per day, sinking shrimp pellets and algae wafers once a day, dehydrated brine shrimp and blood worms occasionally
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? 18 watt fluorescent, 12 hours
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? I fed the plecos after I turned out the light in my tank at 10pm. At 11pm the BN pleco was dead on the bottom of the tank with no previous sign of illness. Is there something that would have caused the plecos sudden death and what should I watch for in the remaining fish?
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. pH- 7.6, ammonia- 0, nitrite- 0, nitrate- 20 (tested just now)
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? strips (liquid kit is in the mail)
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank? early January, they behaved normally


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

sorry for your loss. 
this is probably not right.........however
did you have any wood for the bristlenose ?


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## Monsterpony (Feb 13, 2008)

Thanks Willow. Yes, I have two pieces of driftwood. Will wood cause problems in plecos? The water parameters were normal again this morning and the rest of the fish look normal as well.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

I just wondered about the wood because i know it is important
for them(can't remember at the moment why :roll: )
i can feel for you though because one of my bristlenoses died,
there was not a mark in sight,and as yourself had fed the night before.
This was last year.
hopefully someone may be able to shine some light on this,
my other plec is perfectly fine and is now around the 3in mark. :dunno:


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## Monsterpony (Feb 13, 2008)

Well, I just lined up to do a necropsy on her this afternoon so hopefully the fish vet will be able to give me more info.


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## Amphitrite (Sep 8, 2006)

What was it you fed the pleco the night before, and what age was the fish?


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## Monsterpony (Feb 13, 2008)

I fed her a small algae wafer and some sinking shrimp pellets (I can't say how many exactly as the barbs, neons and frogs also eat them). I don't know her age, but she was full grown and 5" long.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

will you let us know the results,i will be very intersted to know.


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## Monsterpony (Feb 13, 2008)

I just got back from the necropsy. I don't have all the results as the head pathologist had to leave before it was done, but I'll be talking to him tomorrow. The actual necropsy was very interesting, including for the pathologists because plecos are not commonly done. Unfortunately, fish start to liquify quickly once they die, so a lot of the organs were not readily analyzed plus the fact that pleco anatomy is different from most the fish they look at made it difficult. What they could see:
-intestines and stomach were normal and contained food so she was eating
-gills normal- no signs of a respiratory infection
-kidneys normal
-no signs of disease in the abdomen
-they couldn't identify the liver, heart or gallbladder
-there were bilateral areas of deep red tissue on either side of the oral cavity that the pathologist couldn't identify

So for right now, she probably didn't die from a mycobacteria infection or a hemorrhagic disease and was eating up until she died. I'll talk to the pathologist tomorrow to see if they have learned anything else.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

interesting stuff that ! 
well i'd like to hear tomorrow too if that's ok.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

I would still be interested in knowing what test results show in that tank using a liquid kit and before a water change, so the readings are accurate.


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