yes there are other fish in the tank, some tiger barbs and tetras, not added any new fish for a few months and had no sudden deaths. the plec is about a year old and about 3 1/2 inches long but has lots of bristles, this seems to have appeared very quickly as last night it was on my bogwood and i didnt notice anything unusual but today it was on the glass above my filter and i noticed the bloating then. i feed them on catfish wafers and always have so ive not changed their diet.
ive also just done a water test and all tests have come back with normal readings, my ph is at around 7.2. i cant get a pic at the moment as its under the bogwood and wont come out, i'll try later. ive also just noticed that while its under the wood there is another smaller bn right next to it on the wood