1 Pleco death (ich)

[shuhu]

Hi (I didn't know what title to have)

.... I just bought 2 Plecos (yesterday night) and when I got home one of them was death, and I just noticed white spots so I guess it was due to ich, the problem is that the other one I got came on the same bag with the death one, so I'm gona replace the death one but I don't think the LPS will allow me to replace the other one, just in case it got contaminated (they only replace death animals)

I'm so mad because I saw them at the LPS and didn't see anything wrong and now I will possibly have to treat the other one and I have no quarentine tanks (just an empty betta bowl with no filters or air pump).

So... my question is, in case I don't convince the guys at the store to let me replace the possibly contaminated Pleco, is there a chance that it will not die if I treat it with a common medication for ich? I ask this because people say that the medication only works for the "swiming" ich but that nothing can be done for the ones already attached to the skin.

btw: This one still doesn't show any visual signs, and I inmedaitely placed it in the 5 gal bowl so that it would not contaminated my other fish.

 

[Bloo]

Oh dear it doesn't sound good
I would say it's fine to use ich meds with them though ask your lfs specifically which brand would be best suited. I would also advise that you hold off getting another plec until you've cured the current one. And I'm quite sure the LFS should understand that.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Well firstly your tanks were too small for plecs in the first place, plecs are not just plecs- there are thousands of species of them, the majority of which grow longer than your average 10gal so you should have realy researched them to begin with.
Now for the spots;
a. Are you positive they are desease spots and not just natural coloring?
b. how big are the spots i.e grain of sand sized or larger/smaller?

 

[shuhu]

they are common Plecs and yes I know they grow like 12 inches but I'm upgrading one of my tanks in a couple of months so they will get enough space then.

Like I said I isolated the possible infected one from the 10gal tank were I was going to put it, and no the spots are not natural, I think they could be like 0.5 milimeter in diameter like salt grains, not sure. and it had many

I only took like 15 mins to get to my home and they were closing so I will have to wait a couple of hours until they open again. Do you think it would be "fair" to demand (or politely ask) to get them both replaced... I just dealed with 2 sick fish (fungus) like 3 weeks ago and I would't like to deal with another one.

 

[Bloo]

Why don't you ask your money back (or get a credit note) and replace them when you have your bigger tank ?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Well whatever you do, don't use salt to treat the whitespot as plecs are intolrant of it and it will only worsen his condition, im not sure on what fish meds are available in Mexico, but if you can get hold of it, "Anti whitespot" by Interpet is good at treating whitespot .
Whitespot can take a while to treat and because of the parasite 5 stage growth cycle, it only has one visiable stage of the desease so even after it has seemingly disapeared i would continue treating for at least a week after the visable signs have disapeared to help prevent a second come back of the desease.
For most people it takes at least 2-3 weeks to totally get rid of and i advise you only buy any new fish you want another week after that just to be on the safe side

 

[shuhu]

I thought that what the death one had its "ich" not "white spot"

so, you are saying that it is possible for an infected fish to actually survive any of these diseases or parasites??? I just want to know the chances of a sick fish (with ich or white spot) to get well, otherwise I will definetly demand the LPS to replace the remaining Pleco

and yes, I have read about the use of salt with Plecos (it burns their skin, right?) its god to be reminded of these little details, too bad that ich can actually be treated with salt and higher temp.

Anyway.... I'm on my way to the LPS, hope they let me replace both Plecos and not just the death one

 

[smithrc]

ich - whitespot = same thing

 

[shuhu]

hi guys, thanks a lot for your help, fortunately I was able to return both Plecos, so I won't have to deal with any deseases for now and my other fish wont be at risk either ...

I will get the "new" ones in about a week, so at least that gives me more time to upgrade the current tank

smithrc:
btw, do you have any pics of your Plecs tank ??? I'm curious on how they look when they are fully growned