PlasticGalaxy
Fish Gatherer
(Please see all notes and speculation marked with the * at the end of this post)
Today is a sad day! My common pleco (affectionately named Baby for his very tiny size*) has died. This afternoon I found him a completely ghostly white, sat at the back of the tank at the bottom.
Two days ago I moved him from the 54L guppy tank (his temporary holding place) back to the 170L.*
Upon inspecting him, I found no visible injuries except for a few nibbles taken from his tailfin (which I'm assuming was down to my red tail shark or similar fish). I believe he may have died in the night, as I hadn't seen him swimming around when I got up this morning. Hopefully he didn't suffer.
No other fish have died: everyone is acting normal as always and all of my vibrant fish still have their colours on as bright as ever. I have a few ideas as to why he may have died.*
*When I got him from the LFS in January, he was the same size as he is now. He was only three inches long, and I believe he may have either been the runt or had already suffered from stunted growth due to being in a small tank in the shop.
*A few days ago, I decided to remove him from the 54L and return him to the 170L. I properly acclimated him as I do with all my other fish to avoid shocking him, and he had been alright up until now. All of the fish who had been in the 170L previously are perfectly fine and seem happier than before the substrate was replaced with sand.
*Yesterday I cleaned the filter for the tank, which may have caused shock. However, again, none of the other fish suffered or appeared stressed because of this, and I would find it hard to believe that a pleco would be wiped out by this when all of my tetras remained perfectly happy.
Maybe it was a combination of all these things, not sure. Let me know what you think.
What should I do now? I'm left with a bit of a sad feeling and a pleco buried in the garden.
Ammonia is at 0.00ppm,
Nitrite is at 0.25ppm.
At least it was water change day, I guess.
Today is a sad day! My common pleco (affectionately named Baby for his very tiny size*) has died. This afternoon I found him a completely ghostly white, sat at the back of the tank at the bottom.
Two days ago I moved him from the 54L guppy tank (his temporary holding place) back to the 170L.*
Upon inspecting him, I found no visible injuries except for a few nibbles taken from his tailfin (which I'm assuming was down to my red tail shark or similar fish). I believe he may have died in the night, as I hadn't seen him swimming around when I got up this morning. Hopefully he didn't suffer.
No other fish have died: everyone is acting normal as always and all of my vibrant fish still have their colours on as bright as ever. I have a few ideas as to why he may have died.*
*When I got him from the LFS in January, he was the same size as he is now. He was only three inches long, and I believe he may have either been the runt or had already suffered from stunted growth due to being in a small tank in the shop.
*A few days ago, I decided to remove him from the 54L and return him to the 170L. I properly acclimated him as I do with all my other fish to avoid shocking him, and he had been alright up until now. All of the fish who had been in the 170L previously are perfectly fine and seem happier than before the substrate was replaced with sand.
*Yesterday I cleaned the filter for the tank, which may have caused shock. However, again, none of the other fish suffered or appeared stressed because of this, and I would find it hard to believe that a pleco would be wiped out by this when all of my tetras remained perfectly happy.
Maybe it was a combination of all these things, not sure. Let me know what you think.
What should I do now? I'm left with a bit of a sad feeling and a pleco buried in the garden.
Ammonia is at 0.00ppm,
Nitrite is at 0.25ppm.
At least it was water change day, I guess.