Need Help With Pleco Fins Splitting. =(

[alexshaw]

Hey so i got this gold spot pleco and have had him for about a month and a half i have brackish water which my fish love. I have mollies guppies sword tails and 2 silver sharks. couple weeks ago i noticed some white spot starting to form so i quickly treated it with wonder tonic. It did the trick nicely. My gold spot pleco's fins were starting to split  before the white spot turned up and they have not got any better. In fact theyre worse. The wonder tonic was suppose to treat everything and none of my other fish have split fins. I dont know what to do or how to treat it. Does anyone have some good advice on what it may be? Google has been no help at all.

 

[lrhodes]

If I'm not mistaken, plecos do not do well with salt... so they really do not belong in a brackish setup! And they are also considered scaleless fish, so most meds can really harm them.

 

[fluttermoth]

Can you give us some more details on your set up, please, alex?
 
How big is the tank, how long has it been set up and what filtration are you using?
 
Is the tank cycled and have you tested the water (if so, could you post the numbers)?
 
Exactly what fish are in the tank (species and how many of each)?

 

[alexshaw]

Ok so i should move him to my non brackish fry tank for the time being. i have a 60 litre tank for the time being will be upgrading to a 250 litre in about a week. Im using a rena 20 mechanical/chemical/biological filter. a 50w aqua one heater. I have two small silver sharks 1 male molly 1 female molly 1 female swordtail 1 male swordtail a male and female guppy a small bristle nose pleco and an upside down catfish. All the other fish are doing fine. its just my gold spot im worried about. Has been set up for about a month.

 

[alexshaw]

And my ph level 7.8 Still have other testing to do.

 

[alexshaw]

He seems to be healing up after moving him to non brackish fry tank. So fingers cross he recovers greatly. Also found out my mollys had been mistaking him for food when he flares up whilst sleeping as hes nocturnal and theyre not. So good to have him away from them. Thanks for advice.

 

[lrhodes]

Glad he is doing better. Just watch out for the tank size... I don't know about your species of pleco specifically. But they aren't meant for small tanks long term.

 

[alexshaw]

Yeah i know hrs only a little guy for now =) Im getting a 250 or more litre tank in 2 days so he will love it in there. =) Hes pretty non active at the moment. But i did read that they can be lazy most of the time. Hes swimmig and eating more since the healing and think he is having a bit of a growth spert.  So id say in a week he will be more active. Thanks for the advice =)