Common Pleco White Leisons

[world_wide_wilson]

My large common pleco was losing his tail fin, see http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...il+fin+problems. I used melafix and removed a few of the fish that I thought could be causing problems, and it doesn't seem to have got much worse, though definitely no better.

He now has large white leisons forming on his body, I've attached 2 pictures of these. Can anyone suggest what these might be and what would be a good cure?

Thanks a lot for any help.

View attachment 56255 View attachment 56256

 

[WILDER]

Any pink or red tinging to the patches.
Does your heater have a guard on it.
Any excess mucas on gills or body of the fish.
Does the plec flick and rub itself on things in the tank.

Can you post water stats please.
Melafix is only good once fins are healing, if its bacterial gillrot you need a bacterial med, then use the melafix once you see the fins are healing to stop infection.

What your tap nitrate reading.
When did you last squeeze a sponge in old tank water.
How often do you do a gravel vac and water change.

 

[world_wide_wilson]

No pink or red tinging to the patches and no mucas on gills or body. They look 'dry', not furry or oozing pus.
He's not flicking or rubbing on anything, in fact he's acting quite normally, coming for food etc.
There's no guard on the heater but they're not heater burns, there are a couple of them and there are others starting to form.

ammonia and nitrite 0
nitrate 60ish (yes, I'm working to get it down), tap nitrate 5
pH 7.6, higher than normal, possibly cos of the melafix and some antifungus stuff I added earlier?
temp 25c

I do a gravel vac and water change almost every week, sometime I miss a week.

Sorry, I didn't get the 'When did you last squeeze a sponge in old tank water' question? I often use a sponge to clean the inside of the glass but it's always the same one and I don't use it for anything else. Why?

I'm concerned that this came on quite quickly, there was nothing there on Friday when I left.

Thanks for the help.

 

[WILDER]

Do you remove ornaments when doing a gravel vac as waste can soon build up undemeath them.
Check filter sponges to see if they are really mucked up. Just rinse and squeeze one sponge in old tank water. You do the other sponge a few weeks later.
If your tap nitrate reading only 5 your tank nitrate reading should be about the same or a little higher.

Is it possible to issolate him as I would try a bacterial med.
I would also advise buying a heater guard.

 

[world_wide_wilson]

Ah, now I see what you mean about that sponges. Yes, I always rinse out the filter sponges. Normally I do all of them, I know you're not supposed to but I've never had any prob with high ammonia/nitrite.

I can't really isolate him cos he's about 14 inches long and wouldn't fit in my small tank!

Do you think this could be columnaris?

 

[WILDER]

Its sound bacerial if he's not flicking and rubbing.
It dosn't look like typical columnaris.
Columnaris has many disguisers.

 

[world_wide_wilson]

Ok, I'll go get some antibacterial tomorrow morning, any brand you recommend, otherwise I'll get something general...

Thanks so much for the help

 

[WILDER]

Uk. Anti internal bacteria med by interpet.
United states maracyn one and two to cover all bases.

 

[world_wide_wilson]

Do you think that the tail fin wasting away was also due to internal bacteria?

 

[WILDER]

Fish can get secondary bacterial infections like finrot.