My poor pleco...

[justrfb]

Good morning All,
 I am new to your forum so thank you for hearing me and possibly helping me.  I have a 55 gallon, fresh water, tropical tank with mostly tetras, some ghrommies (sp) and 2 plecos.  I established my tank in the summer of 98.  I am having issues with my pH and I think the one pleco is suffering from it.  My temp is up around 80 F, my pH is way high... above 7.8 (which is the limit of my test kit) no ammonia detected and my Pleco is discolored and not sticking to the wall which is his norm.  I made the mistake of listening to the young person at my LFS who sold my a buffering powder instead of pH down.  He told me the powder will bring my pH in check.  I also have a pool so I am familiar with pH and total alkalinity which is what this powder is doing I think...  raising my total alkalinity.  My questions are, 1) what do you think is up with my pleco and 2) could someone help with my water situation.  I get different answers every time I ask about total alkalinity and pH with reference to my aquarium.  Thank you so much for your time and help.

 Justrfb

 

[Dragonslair]

Hi Justrfb,
First of all let me welcome you to what is probably the best aquaria site on the web. You will meet THE BOSS, Davy I'm sure. This is one big happy family, and I hope you will enjoy yourself. By the way you don't tell us where you're from? Is it anywhere in the N.E. of England?? :laugh:
I will let my more experienced colleagues help answer your enquiry regarding your Pleco and PH.
For the moment...WELCOME..... :laugh:

 

[justrfb]

Sorry . I am from the "other side of the pond". Northern New Jersey, USA. Thanks for the reply and I hope someone offers help soon because I think my pleco is in dire straights...

Justrfb

 

[William]

I have a pleco and it sometimes fades in colour - I don't know why!

Have you got bogwood in the tank ? They need it or else they die . Remember to soak it down in water for a few hours before adding so it doesn't stain your water.

Feed it some cucumber which is blanched (boiling water for a few minutes).

Good luck!

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Hi justrfb, welcome to the forum, sorry I've not been around today, my oldest kid went to Deep Sea world with brand parents so me the missus, Andrew and the dogs went to St.Andrews. I'll post some pic's later. Hey Mike glad you think I'm the boss, I always get a row when calling myself that :laugh:

Oh right back to the problem.

First thing you should have got was a high range pH test kit and a KH (carbonate hardness) test kit. Test both your tank and the tap water

You don't say what sort of pleco it is. My common plecos live quite happy in 6.0-8.0pH though the like the higher more.
We'll find out whats wrong first. If it's tap water or something in the tank. If it's the pH or KH then we'll tackle it. There are easy ways to lower your pH by easyier means than buffering, which is always a pain.

Anyway hi, pop back often for the banter :laugh:
Get the checks done, sounds like you'll the kits to regulary check your tank. Keep an eye on the fish, checking for signs of being stressed out.

 

[Macquatic]

Hi justrfb and welcome to the Friendliest Fish Forum on the net.
Read my quote at the bottom of the page. Try a water change with conditioned water for a start.Test the tank and tap water as Davy says. You also may have a piece of decor in your tank that's pushing the ph up, have you added anything different lately?
Get back with your test results and don't add any more "potions" to the tank. Mac.

 

[justrfb]

Hello Mac, Davy and All,
 Here is the latest...  My wife took a sample of water to our LFS yesterday when I was here at work and had it tested.  Everything was fine except for high pH (8.4 reading).  The store doesn't test for hardness because our whole area has hard water.  Doesn't make much sense to me but that is what they said.  Annemarie (my wife) did get me a high range pH test kit.  I will work on getting a hardness test kit today.  I bought a piece of wood yesterday after work at my LFS and it is soaking as we speak.  My Pleco (common) is still hanging in there...  He is still eating and moving so?...  We are bringing down the pH slowly, 0.2 in a 24 hour period.
 A new circumstance in the same problem...  Last night when we got home from my sisters house we walked in the door and I saw my new Gold Nugget Pleco (L18 right?) swimming upside down, in a circle, convulsing like mad and then he just stopped.  We were all shocked!  I really liked that little guy and he seemed to be doing just fine all along.  My LFS has a 48 hour replacement policy with a water sample so we will be able to get another I hope, if they still have any...  He seemed to be doing great and we walked in to see his last moments alive.  I wish it didn't happen.  Do you think it was shock or did my pH kill him (I hope not)?  Anyway, thank you all for the warm welcome and I will keep you posted.

 Justrfb

 

[Davy Reynolds]

When you get home from work I'm still intrested in the tap water readings and the KH to see how much work needs to be done.
Plus How is the Ph buffer working

 

[Macquatic]

Same here. Mac.

 

[cichlidmaster]

Justrfb,
Hi and as all have said "Welcome"

I believe the LO18 died as a result of the high Ph. I regularly bring in wild L018 as well as other exotic plecos. These have a hard time in a ph higher than 7.2-7.4.

The common pleco can handle a higher ph as Davy said. Remember plecos come from a acidic, soft water environment.

IMHO when you go to your LFS to get a replacement, see if you can find out what the ph of the water is in the tank the L018 are in.

Just a side note: When I brought my first order of wild L018 in, I had just under 50 of them. They were placed in holding tanks of aged tank water at a ph of 7.2 and 160ppm. I lost several each day for the first few days until I realized what the problem was. These were wild and coming shipped in their natural water. The ph even at 7.2 was way to high. I now keep several tanks, filtered with peat and some decaying plant matter to keep the ph down just for these fish. works great.

HTH

Larry

 

[Great Lakes]

Justrfb, Typically, the harder your water is, the more stable your ph levels. Good news is that your tank is large enough to hold stable levels once you get it there. The bogwood is good, and what kind of filtration are you using?

 

[Alien Anna]

Justrfb, Typically, the harder your water is, the more stable your ph levels.

Yeah, stable... Horribly, horribly stable

I've been doing 30% w/c with peat-filtered acid water every other day for weeks, in a vain attempt to get my Amazon tank to pH 6.5. But my damn water buffers [replace 'f' with 'g' ] it back up to 7.5 within an hour.

I should probably stop complaining, however. The other day, I was fighting to get it below pH 8.5 (it comes out of the tap at 9.0), and then 7.5 seemed an impossible barrier. Now I'm going for gold (pH 6.5).

BTW, my KH is down to 14 and my GH is down to 20. KH and GH were both off the scale until recently.

 

[Great Lakes]

KH-14, and PH-9.0?!?! Wow, now I know why the UK clan is always talking water quality. I come out of the tap at KH-10, and PH-7.6. And it usually holds there well. I have to work to bring it up for my Marine tank, but that seems easier than knocking it down.

 

[Alien Anna]

KH-14, and PH-9.0?!?! Wow, now I know why the UK clan is always talking water quality.  I come out of the tap at KH-10, and PH-7.6.

Hi Greatlakes,
yes, my tap water comes out at pH 9.0, KH >20, GH>21. It's a nightmare for Amazon fish. OTOH, I'll have no problems at all when I set up my African cichlid tank


The bad news (even for African cichlids) is that nitrates the other day were 75ppm - Out of the tap!

 

[Duncan]

Hi justrfb

Sorry to hear about your plecos, I had two hong kong plecos that died, I took it to be the stress of travelling, the water change I had to do, and my kids were fighting over the bags on the way home (I had to buy two - one each child in my car).

Hi Anna

This is my aquarium and tap water supply

Tap pH 7.2 KH 3 GH 6 NO3 (nitrates) 50
Tank pH 7.2 KH 3 GH 7 NO3 (nitrates) 50

Duncan