I Don'T Want To Lose Another Pleco!

[stoneagedinosaur]

Evening all

Over the last couple of days I've noticed that my little bristlenose pleco appears to have a blocked 'poo tube'. Normally it produces inordinate amounts of poop that is a healthy green colour due to having lots of algae in the tank (50mg/L ammonia helping there! Cheers water board...) but no poo noticed for a couple of days.

Lost another pleco a couple of weeks ago - but that one had a red swelling around the whole anus area.

It seems quite perky, scuttling around the tank and eating plenty. Any ideas?

Sorry - no can do on the photo front - it HATES the camera and disappears whenever it comes out.

Nitrite 0.1 mg/L Ammonia less than 0.1 mg/L PH 8.2 Nitrate 50mg/L
Ave temperature 26-27[sup]o[/sup]

All other fish seem quite happy and healthy

 

[kiriyama]

What sort of food do you feed it ?

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Algae supplemented by cucumber and the occasional aquarian sinking pellets (the corys tend to get these first) and once a week Hikari Algae wafers

 

[kiriyama]

Just asking cos I have 2 juvi and very new to plecs , the only thing I have read on the threads is internal parasites causling long stringy poo (white or thread thin) and red anus , reason I wasa asking about food is mine like bloodworms for a treat but thought caused constipation. Hopefully one of the plec guys will be along soon.....

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Cheers

 

[three-fingers]

Nitrite 0.1 mg/L Ammonia less than 0.1 mg/L PH 8.2 Nitrate 50mg/L
Ave temperature 26-27[sup]o[/sup]

Nitrite and ammonia should both always red 0 and nothing above, there is no safe good level apart from 0ppm.

This suggests that either your test kit is faulty/out of date, or just rubbish. Which brand is is? Are they test strips?

Those reading suggest your tank may be going through a mini-cycle or just hasn't cycled properly at all yet.

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Using interpet Easy Test tablet kit. I think Nitrite spike is due to a touch of overfeeding as my Rasboras appetites have increased - but I haven't quite got it right yet

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank.

Red inflamed anus can be constipation, dropsy, internal parasites.

Improve the fish diet with frozen foods and veg.

For nwo try some peas.

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

This may be a daft question but... do you need to par boil veg to make it easier to digest?

Oh - it's a 165 Litre tank

 

[WILDER]

You blanch veg for a few minutes in boiling water.

Cook frozen peas for a few minutes, let cool down and pop out of shell. Mush into small pieces and add to the tank.