Common pleco ..seeking current?

[rcl]

I have a common pleco in a tank and I have noticed some peculiar activity. The tank is 10g with a hang on the side filter and it isn't completely mature yet. I saw him, a few times, go from his cave on the bottom of the tank and swim VERY FAST right to where the the water spills back into the tank, and then dart RIGHT BACK into his cave. At first I got really scared, I know fish gasping is a serious sign of bad water conditions. After a bti I realized that I had 3 dead snails and a dead clam in the tank (yuck) so I got rid of them and pulled a water change, but the pleco kept doing this weird behavior!!

I had the tank *very* full so that the hang on filter was not hardly making a splash, and I got scared that maybe this isn't providing enough water disruption to properly oxygenate the water. I took out some water, and the pleco STILL did this behavior. At this point the water readings aren't great, (1.0ppm ammonia, .25ppm nitrites) but they aren't any worse than they have been previously so I don't think this is bothering him.

What he's doing now is even stranger, it seems like he's been near the filter intake the entire day!! My hypothesis is that the water conditions aren't bothering him, but that he seeks to be in a stronger current than still water; but I hadn't ever heard that common plecos required a strong current?

Interested to see what others have to say,
Robert

 

[G_Sharky]

It's because your tank is not cycled yet and the bottom of tank is where most of the deadly toxins stays. My plec use to do the same thing and he stop doing it when my water condition was at the proper condition. I'm lucky cause pleco don't usually survives week and week of ammonia and nitrite poisoning. Just keep on doing water changes to drop your parameters to 0...

 

[sundog]

Fisrt you need to test your tank water and before you do the water changes add a dechlorinator otherwise the chlorines in tap water kill all the good bactria in your filter. If you haven't got an airstone working then lower the water level so that there is a current running through the tank this helps the fiter and there will be no still water to stagnate this will make your polution controll piontless.

Nick
PS if you need more advise drop me a line