Goodness Gracious I've Inherited A Monster!

[AmeliaE]

Hi there!

It's wonderful to be here. I have a bit of a crisis on my hands:

I've spent the last couple of hours researching, and decided that my best bet would be the forums.

My friend has recently passed away, and I have acquired his fish. A seven-year-old commom pleco is my main concern at the moment. I have never cared for fish before, and don't know where to begin. I've had them for about a month now. Caesar looks like he has fuzz or debris of some sort on him. It's not white! Do plecos get this sort of thing? I've just noticed today, it seems to be the same color as his scales. He seems in great spirits though.

I'll have many, many, questions. I feel like a new parent.

 

[mislisa]

First off, i'd suggest you take a look here and read up on the various points of fish keeping.

Welcome to the community, by the way! Fish keeping can be a very rewarding pastime, i know i love it!

As for the pleco, i'm afraid i'm not very experienced with them, so i'd wait for someone else to pop by... you will always get a better answer if you can get a picture though.

Just curious, but what size tank do you have, and what are the other fish?

 

[snake007]

My pleco sometimes get these white patches, I was told it was due to stress.
What tank size do you have?

 

[Hermithall]

Hi Amelia, sorry for the loss of your friend, my condolences. Sounds like your plec could be in a spot of trouble, but they are resilient so I'm sure you can get him back on track soon.

As an immediate action in case there is a problem with water conditions, I would recommend you perform a decent water change of at least 50%. The fresh water should be temperature matched and de-chlorinated before adding it to your tank. Weekly water changes of 20 to 50% from then on are an integral part of fish keeping and it goes a very, very long way towards keeping your fish healthy.

In order to establish what could be the cause of any potentially drastic problems/issues with your tank, please provide as much info as possible to the forum readers. What are the circumstances of inheriting the fish - did you have to empty/move the tank and such likes? There may be a problem with your beneficial filter bacteria colonies, if for example the filter media dried out at any point, or if the tank was re-filled with chlorinated water. Perhaps your tank just needs some help to cycle again and re-establish itself - and people here can give you lots of advice on that.

Unless you already have one, invest in a freshwater aquarium test kit and please post the readings for ammonia and nitrite on here. Info on tank size and stocking would be helpful too.

In the meantime remember, water changing is your most powerful weapon against many aquarium ills, give 'em a 50+% change asap

 

[AmeliaE]

Thank you for the info and the condolences.

I don't have much time on the forum today. As for the water changes- I am terribly inexperienced- do I take half of the water out, and then immediatley add new water back in. I have heard that leaving water sit for 48 hours makes it "safe," for the tank- no conditioners needed. Is that true? Eric, their previous owner, never used conditioners. He just allowed the water to sit out. The tank is 15 gallons, and everyone was moved into containers, and up three flights of stairs, into my apartment - roughly one month ago.

The "fuzz," was more of a color change. I didn't know that plecos could change color. How neat!

The other fish in the tank are : 1-White Skirted Tetra
2- Neon tetras? (small, very small, with a fabulous neon blue stripe)

Is there a way to tell if the tank is too small? I mean, will me pleco become aggressive or something? I will buy that test kit on payday!

 

[fluttermoth]

Leaving water to stand does get rid of chlorine, but many water companies now use chloramine, which doesn't gas off so readily. A good water conditioner also neutralises heavy metals and doesn't cost much, so it is well worth buying.

The way to tell if the tank is too small is to look up the eventual, adult size of the fish. When you consider that plecs grow to around 12 to 18 inches long, possibly nearer two feet in some cases, you can see that your tank is too small for him.

Please don't think I'm blaming you, by the way, I know this situation is not of your making! Your friend Eric sounds like an 'old school' fishkeeper; things were done very differently in those days, and people had no idea of the real potential size of the fish they kept. I have books from the 1970s that say plecs only grow to six inches long!

He won't become aggressive, but he won't be able to grow properly, and the small volume of water, and the fact that the filter will also be quite small,means that he may get sick from poor water.

Of course, it may be that your fish has become stunted from being kept in too small a tank for all this time, but even stunted fish often put on a spurt of growth when moved to a larger tank.

 

[AmeliaE]

You've convinced me! I am going to the pet store tomorrow, as long as the roads aren't too slick.

As soon as I can, I will purchase a bigger tank as well. In the mean while, I'll get on top of those water changes.

So do I take out the water (25-50%) and replace it immediately with new, pre-treated water?


Eric was pretty old-school. Your comments made me laugh I can picture that '70s book, with tiny illustrations of plecos.

I want Caesar to grow big and happy! Now that he's roughly mid-aged, the great treatment has got to start.

In your opinion, would a 20 gallon tank still be too small?



P.S. If I have more questions, should I continue posting in this thread? I want to follow proper forum etiquette

P.S. Silly question, being that these fish have never been subjected to water conditioners, would they be harmed by the first dose?

 

[Man of fish]

If you have a question related to this thread you post in this thread. If your question is non-related you create a new thread. I doubt they'd be harmed. Yes 20 gal would be too small. I'd go for a 37-55 gallon for a common pleco. But that's just IMO wait for others to suggest.

 

[snake007]

75 Minimum for a common, a 2ft pleco hardly has enough room to move around in a 55

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Agreed. A common pleco gets HUGE. It needs a BIG tank. A 4 foot 75 Gallon tank would be the absolute smallest tank that I would consider big enough.

 

[Gilli]

Plecs can change colour to blend in more with the substrate

 

[OldMan47]

A common sailfin pleco will require at least a 55 gallon tank when full grown and I don't even keep that kind in my 120 gallon tank. You might want to check with your pet shop about the possibility of taking in your pleco and selling you one of the types that won't get so big. A bristlenose only grows slowly to about 6 inches and is every bit as nice a fish in the tank.

 

[Hermithall]

I'm doubting this is a common plec, or hoping not anyway, because at 7 years old it would be a very mature specimen having been housed in a 15 gallon tank it's whole life, which doesn't compute!
How big is the plec now Amelia? There are a gazillion species of pleco and many of them stay very small. Photo would be good

 

[Neomeris]

I suggest you get at least four more neon tetras. Her's how you tell what kind of tetra they are: if the red stripe under the blue stripe covers he bottom half of the body the fish is a cardinal tetra. In the stripe covers just half of the bottom half of the body it's a neon tetra. Welcome to the forum, and I'm sorry about the loss of your friend.

 

[AmeliaE]

Thank you for the wonderful advice, and condolences! I am researching buying a tank on Kijiji. I don't have very much money, so I thought this would be a good place to look.

What are some things, besides water changes, I can do in the mean time? I want to make everyone as comfy as I can, while I'm awaiting my pay cheque.