Pleco Mysteriously Died? Any Ideas

[bcarey]

Hi

i have a rio 180 tank with 2 parrots small to medium size and one plec a bit bigger then the 2 parrots

tonight i noticed the plec had died and his stomach was sucked in,

i was just going to do a test on water but cant find my instructions manual with measurements on testing,

temperature of tank is on 26 degrees alot of brown algae also in tank

any ideas?

thanks
bil

 

[Dark Wolf]

Had you cycled your tank?

 

[stang1]

A sunken belly is either a sign of starvation or internal parasites.

 

[bcarey]

A sunken belly is either a sign of starvation or internal parasites.

tank has been set up for over 6 months its cycled im wondering whether its starvation like you said, i normally throw in one of those little algae wafers a day and the 2 parrots i feed once a day with about 4 big flakes each ??

what do ya think??

thanks
bil

 

[CPQ]

i think it really depends on the size of ur plec and whether he eats the algae in the tank!? my plec has a pretty constant supply of something vegetabley like cucumber of lettuce for him and the other fish to graze on throughout the day and then I'll drop in a few little sinking pellets every few days for the bottom-feeders to share between themselves!

If he's a big plec I wouldn't imagine that a wafer a day would be enough. Although it might just be that I overfeed mine! lol

 

[stang1]

As CPQ suggested, one wafer may not have been enough if he was quite big. Did you ever see him eating?
A lot of people find that it's easier to feed their Plecos at night, mainly because they are nocturnal and also because the other fish have settled down by then.
Vegetables are also a good part of some Plecos diet as it gives them a bit of variety and plenty of nutrition.