Pleco Not Doing Well

[smmetz]

My 3 year old common pleco, 10" is not doing well. He seemed fine yesterday. Today he is floating, drifting around, and every couple minuts he is darting or thrashing around the tank for a couple seconds. The tank is well maintained, no water problems. No injuries or obvious signs of disease, looks physically normal to me. He is in a 55 gallon, I know, too small, my first fish and first mistake when I was sold him for a 10 gallon.

Any suggestions? he is looking just about dead! Does not look bloated. I have 2 kinds of anti-biotics for the tank, have dont put any meds in though. My son is crying about the poor fish that we have all become attatched to.

 

[smmetz]

He might be slightly bloated, so giving him a 10 minute epsom salt bath now, 1 tablespoon per gallon. I never felt the fish like that before, but seems to have a harder spot in the belly, an inch or 2 up from the poop shoot. He is hardly moving. Very strange.

 

[smmetz]

Well, put him back in main tank after 5+ minutes in salt bath, with a couple minuts of gentle massaging in case anything needs help getting unblocked. I think the fish is dead already though. So strange that we didnt notice anything yesterday, although he normally is not very active for a good part of the day - which would make it harder to notice a problem I guess.

 

[WILDER]

Darting around can be bad water quality, toxins in the tank, parasites, dying fish, lack of 02, overdose of meds, stray voltage in a tank.
Just want to rule parasites added any new fish to the tank lately.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Can you post your water stats please.
Plus antibiotics can wipe the beneifcial bacteria out in your filter.