My New Clown Pleco!

[emmettbaby]

Yesterday I bought a clown pleco from a fish store. I checked him over very well before I left the store since the store is like 30 minutes away from me. He looked great and is about 3 inches long. Nice and active, was very hard to catch in the tank, found him under a piece of wood in the store. Last night I put him in my 10 gallon that has 4 trilineatus cories and 5 scissortail rasboras (don't worry about space I'm upgrading to a 55 gallon soon!)

When I put him in the tank, he went strait to the sand. He eventually found the fake cave I have in there. I turned out the lights and a few hours later I came back to the tank and turned the lights on. He was on the tank wall behind my HOB filter. I noticed the tip on his left fin was very red and appeared to have some of it missing. I was wondering if maybe another fish in the tank had done this or if he may have injured himself while digging under the cave?

I also need to know what I should do to treat it. I was thinking of using Melafix but am not sure if that is the most effective treatment.

And I need to find a place that sells the wood (bogwood?) he needs to eat because I'm just feeding wafers right now.

 

[rdp50734]

It is possible another fish has done it, or its caught it on something in the tank. I personally have never used anything to treat fin nips. I just do frequent water changes and ensure good water! They usually heal themselves in a week or two depending on how bad the nip is! lfs should sell bogwood if not try ebay!

 

[emmettbaby]

okay thank you. I'll do a water change today and just let him be for a while. the wood I looked at said it was Malaysian wood. Is that the same thing as bogwood?

 

[rdp50734]

I have no idea I have bogwood, sumatran and mopani I thing they just look different with a different texture, I don't know how it affects the plecs dietry needs. Hopefully someone else can answer that!

 

[plecostomus-mad]

pleco's dont eat wood as there staple diet, it helps them digest food and they get some fiber out of it....they must have wood, thats a fact algae wafers are great for plecos and most will except pellets too. another thing you can feed nearly every pleco, including the clowns are fresh veg. my 2 clown pleco's love potato's