Plecs nipped fins

[Yasmin]

Have an Albino Longfin Bristlenose Pleco, female and she is stunning, she’s about 5 inches long. Pretty sure when we got her her fins weren’t quite what they are now. She always used to stay in one place when the light was on and roam around of the night (light off) as usual.
We started putting in Algae Wafers when the light was off as she was very lazy and thought she wasn’t eating. Anyway she loves them but so do the other fish, she just sucks on it as normal but the other fish try to get it too. Baring in mind we started to notice her fins looked split/nipped.
We did have Congo tetra in the tank and noticed they actually latched on to her fins and wouldn’t let go until she swam on and we instantly put them in a floating tank and took them back the next day. They were also becoming quite crazy chasing around and what seemed to be annoying the other fish.
None of the other fish really pay much attention apart from the ones who want the Algae!! They poke at her but that’s about it. Just worried about her fins not looking the same and if they will ever grow back?
I can’t upload a picture as it’s to large.

 

[Guppylover3x]

Have an Albino Longfin Bristlenose Pleco, female and she is stunning, she’s about 5 inches long. Pretty sure when we got her her fins weren’t quite what they are now. She always used to stay in one place when the light was on and roam around of the night (light off) as usual.
We started putting in Algae Wafers when the light was off as she was very lazy and thought she wasn’t eating. Anyway she loves them but so do the other fish, she just sucks on it as normal but the other fish try to get it too. Baring in mind we started to notice her fins looked split/nipped.
We did have Congo tetra in the tank and noticed they actually latched on to her fins and wouldn’t let go until she swam on and we instantly put them in a floating tank and took them back the next day. They were also becoming quite crazy chasing around and what seemed to be annoying the other fish.
None of the other fish really pay much attention apart from the ones who want the Algae!! They poke at her but that’s about it. Just worried about her fins not looking the same and if they will ever grow back?
I can’t upload a picture as it’s to large.

Hi and welcome to the forum

I’m sorry to hear of your difficulties. Is your tank cycled? If so, I doubt it’s a water quality issue. Is there any chance you could isolate this fish until her fins grow back? Usually they do grow back with pristine water conditions and if the fish isn’t too stressed.

If they don’t grow back (sometimes this can occur if the fins are badly damaged) they usually repair anyway. It would be helpful if you could post a picture. Set your camera to its lowest resolution, this should then allow you to upload the image.

If your tank is cycled you could take some of your established filter media and place it into the filter of the new tank. Just until she’s well enough to go back in with the others.

Best of luck.

 

[Colin_T]

As long as the water quality is good, the fins will heal up fine without any help from you. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week to help reduce any disease organisms and nutrients in the water, and the fins should heal pretty quickly.

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As mentioned by Guppylover, set your camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more pictures. Check them on your computer and find a couple that clearly show the issue, then post them on here. Remember to turn the camera's resolution back up afterwards otherwise all your pictures will be smaller.

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Bristlenose are nocturnal so spend most of the day hiding in logs or caves and coming out after dark to feed.

Make sure you have some driftwood in the tank for the bristlenose to graze on, they need it to help their digestion. Increase the lighting time on the tank to encourage green algae to grow on the glass. The fish can graze on that.

If you wait until the lights have been off for an hour, most of the diurnal fishes will be asleep and the catfish can have her algae wafer without the others trying to steal it from her.

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Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

 

[Guppylover3x]

I forgot to add, the forum runs a tank of the month contest every month and welcomes new members. At the end of the contest members can vote which tank they think is best.

It may be worth posting some pictures of your tank, the next contest begins at the beginning of May. You can’t win if you don’t enter.

The winner will get their own little neat TOTM banner at the side of their avatar as you can see near my username.