Ballooned Pleco

[mikesbike]

Our Sailfin Pleco. (6 months old) In the last few days his belly has ballooned up to almost a third of his size. He has stopped eating and I havent seen him pass any food. I feed him alge wafers. Tank Temp is good and his skin is fine but he looks like he is about to burst. I think he is constipated big time. What can I do? Please help! Mike

 

[Davo86]

Hi mike
are his fins protruding at all?
have you been feeding any fresh foods? i.e. cucumber, peas etc? or just dried food?
what size is he and what is the tanksize it is in?

 

[mikesbike]

Hi mike
are his fins protruding at all?
have you been feeding any fresh foods? i.e. cucumber, peas etc? or just dried food?
what size is he and what is the tanksize it is in?

His fins are not protruding at all its just his belly that has ballooned.
He is in a 3 foot tank as he is young and only about 6 inchs long.
So far only algie wafers he has lived on and now and again a bit of cucumber. I think I should have been giving him more greens.

 

[Davo86]

do you have a bag of frozen peas handy?
if so take a few and put them in a cup of hot water until they sink, then deshell them and see if you can get your pleco to eat some, Peas are great for fish digestive problems.

have to say though that the plec is probably becoming stunted, which may be part of the problem, In the wild Sailfins reach lengths of around 22inches so keeping them in a tank of 36inches isn't the best

Also do you have any water parameters for the tank? if so we can check that it isn't an internal bacteria problem