My Plec Turned White

[jurme]

as the title said my plec is now white for the most part, he wasnt like that when i went to bed though. he seems to darken and lightin, never a steady colour for too long... is it sick?

 

[Im a beginner]

no ur pleco is spot on thats wat they do. ive a pleco and it would go patchy white and brown but its spot on so never worry

 

[tropic_john]

its usually caused by stress if its in a nw tank - and if its uncycled tank.


Is ythe tank cycled?

if so, this might be du to excitement, breeding etc..

 

[jurme]

the amonia levels are very high in my tank,this evening i'll be able to move some of the fish in there, all but the cichlids and pleco... hopefully this will help with amonia.

 

[tropic_john]

so you have an uncycled tank with ammonia in there. And your moving some fsh [bar the pleco and cichlids] into the other tank?

Is this tank cycled ?

 

[jurme]

no, however i'm not sure what else to do but to minimize the waste in the original tank. Solving a problem by creating a new one isn't really a solution i know... so i'm open to any other ideas

 

[skippy_49nz]

Change a bunch of water, 50% or even 75%. Leave the gravel and everything undisturbed and don't clean the filter. Test the water each day and change around 50% every second day. There are some ammonia absorbing products which can be purchased which will help to bring the levels down as well which you could use for a couple of weeks. I don't know the brands you would have but they will probably sound something like ammolock or nitrozorb or ammo chips or something similar. Slowly the levels should come back under control as everything matures and establishes.

 

[Darth]

There are some ammonia absorbing products which can be purchased which will help to bring the levels down as well which you could use for a couple of weeks. I don't know the brands you would have but they will probably sound something like ammolock or nitrozorb or ammo chips or something similar. Slowly the levels should come back under control as everything matures and establishes.

Don't these products turn the ammonia to ammonium? Isn't ammonium still bad is high levels?

 

[jurme]

There are some ammonia absorbing products which can be purchased which will help to bring the levels down as well which you could use for a couple of weeks. I don't know the brands you would have but they will probably sound something like ammolock or nitrozorb or ammo chips or something similar. Slowly the levels should come back under control as everything matures and establishes.

Don't these products turn the ammonia to ammonium? Isn't ammonium still bad is high levels?

thats what i heard, i dont plan to use any chemicals...

 

[Assaye]

OP, if you have high ammonia, the only sure-fire way of reducing the levels are by doing water changes. If you have high ammonia (or nitrites) you'll need to test the water twice a day and change as much water as necessary to bring the levels back to zero. It's hard work, but until the filter catches up, that's the only sure-fire way to get the levels down and keep your fish safe.

 

[jurme]

thanks for all the help,I've nearly got my amonia and nitrite levels back to zero. now to move on to another issue, what size tank might be acceptable for my pleco (12") as it grows?

 

[Anna Robinson]

There are some ammonia absorbing products which can be purchased which will help to bring the levels down as well which you could use for a couple of weeks. I don't know the brands you would have but they will probably sound something like ammolock or nitrozorb or ammo chips or something similar. Slowly the levels should come back under control as everything matures and establishes.

Don't these products turn the ammonia to ammonium? Isn't ammonium still bad is high levels?

The Ammo-Lock turns it to ammonium. Ammonium is much less toxic than ammonia. However, it isn't removed from the tank so there will be the issue of it turning to nitrite.

Nitra-Zorb is a complex resin that removes ammonia, nitrite and nitrate (exact details of how much of each it will remove are in the instructions. It will eventually 'fill up' and have to be recharged or replaced).

Ammo-Chips are zeolite. They remove ammonia. Like Nitra-Zorb, they will eventually fill up and need recharging or replacing.

 

[Wills]

Hi there glad to hear your water quality issues is improving. For your pleco (assuming it is a common) its ideal long term home when adult would be a 6 foot tank roughly 125 gallon but if you went for a deep 5ft I think you would get away with it somthing like a 5ftx2.5ft or a 6ftx18inch or a 6ftx2ft - quite a few branded tanks of these dimensions so you should be able to pick up a full second hand set up for £250ish if your lucky Hope they make it through fish in cycles are tough on the owner and the fish but you seem to be on top of it good luck!

Wills