Fish Started Attacking Plec

[jonboy1759]

hi! Over the past 3 days, 3 of my fish have died not sure as to why but upon closer inspection i found what i believe to be white spot on a couple of them so off i went down to the fish shop and explained my predicement to the guy and he told me to change 25% of my water and clean out filter then treat with stress zyme & protozin he also advised me to check my amonia and nitrate levels which read absolutly fine according to the colour charts that came with the test kit. I have done all this, and the fish are swimming around quite happy. So there i am watching them for a while, when i notice that one of the small guppys & a molly that i have- have taken to nipping at my plec and it looks like they are causing it some damage the molly in particular keeps going for the eyes whilst the guppy goes to the body the plecs skin looks like it is going quite rough now when i first got the plec he was all over the tank making himself quite visable now he trys to hide away round the back of the filter if anyone could help me in resolving this matter i would be extremely grateful as i am quite keen on my plec and do not want to find him dead.
thanks in advance.

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank, plus full stocklist of fish, sure the livebearers are not pecking at the parasites as i've know mine to do this on a guppy who had gill flukes, i would issolate him for now if it's possible.

 

[jonboy1759]

How many gallons is the tank, plus full stocklist of fish, sure the livebearers are not pecking at the parasites as i've know mine to do this on a guppy who had gill flukes, i would issolate him for now if it's possible.

the tank is about 40 litres (not sure what it is in gallons) The fish i have are: 1 plec, 4 guppys, 2 penguin tetras, 2 scissor tails, 3 mollies.
i haven't got anything to issolate him in to... really don't know what to do now

 

[WILDER]

You are overstocked for that size tank, do you have a container like a icecream box, you can float in the tank and put him in there.

 

[jonboy1759]

i can't think of anything i have got to use.. i have a breeding chamber not been used or anything before, but would this do to seperate it from the others for now, untill i can get something else sorted?

also.. i am shocked that my tank is overstocked.. i didn't think i had very many, especially as they are all small fish - how many fish would you say i should have?

as you can see, i am new to all this and i feel really bad now, that i have done something wrong

 

[WILDER]

Yes put it in the chamber, i will leave you a link to one inch rule, also do you no the name of the plec, your tank is just over an 8gal.

http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/beginner.../a/fishcalc.htm

 

[jonboy1759]

thank you so much for your help with this... i just went to do what you said, and have found my poor little plec has died I am gutted. I only looked at it a few minutes before i could tell it wasn't well, but i didn't expect that.

am i looking at losing the rest of my fish now do you think, or now i have done all what my fish shop told me to do, do you think its not too late for things to get better?

i am going to be paranoid now and i will be guttted if i lose all my fish

 

[WILDER]

Plecs are funny with meds and high temp, put your temp up to 30 add some salt, half a teaspoon to the gal, sorry for the plec bless him, R.I.P.

http/cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

 

[jonboy1759]

thanks ever so much for all your help wilder, it is much appreciated.

The salt thing you mentioned - is that an alternative to the medicine i have treated my fish with, as i read somewhere that you could use medicine OR salt for treating whitespot? I have started to use the medication for whitespot now.. have i got to do the salt too?

thanks

 

[WILDER]

You can add salt with the med as well, as long as you don't have any scaless fish in the tank,parasites don't like salt.Good luck.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The tetras will be intolerant of the salt and it will probably finish them off you put a full dose in the tank, you need to buy your own test kits for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites as you will in the dark until you know exactly what is going on in your water quality- lfs staff have a habit of telling you your water quality is "fine" when actually your tank is on the verge of meltdown, better to be safe than sorry and own your own test kits i say .

40litres is roughly about 8gals i believe, too small for mollys as they can grow to 4inchs+ and are very active fish, its fine for the guppys although you don't have space for the tetras as they need at least 10gals minimum- every gallon counts. If you want to know some more suitable fish, keep the guppys(as long as your are 1male and 3females, if you have more than one male replace him with a female) and get a pair of oto's or 4 pygmy corys or even a group of 4 ghost shrimp. Unfortunatly though there are no plecs that can go in a 40litre tank.

Are you positive you are treating whitespot? Whitespot should appear as very small white dots on the fish and no bigger than sand grains like this;

whitespot infested fish pic

http/www.fishpalace.org/ich_bobjohnson.jpg