Pleco's not eating well

[Loopy]

Hi,

As I am not experienced in Pleco keeping, I can only list out what I observe.

Firstly I lost my L177 little nugget yesterday. It was slightly discoloured and its belly was sunken in. There were no spots, more like "faded jeans". I am really bummed out about it.

It seemed ok moving around the tank doing what Pleco's do. Then yesterday I noticed the discolouration and within 2 hours, tata nugget :(

I am sure the wealth of information present here has come across Pleco's not eating.

I put all the other Pleco's under quarantine in a breeding tank (the ones that stick to the side of the tank) and put a cucumber in the tank (last night) and X2 Algae Wafers, they seemed to have eaten the cucumber (as there are frays and chew marks) and a small bit of the algae wafer is left.

I am thinking that the other fish are getting to the Pleco food first. What can I do to make sure the Pleco's get their food? I have to be doing something wrong if in the breeding tank they ate.

Left now is the L27, L56, L200 and L333. The most worrying one is the L333 where the stomach is ever so slightly sunken.

Thanks,
Loopy

[lyh]

Bro you mentioned in the other thread that your main tank temp is at 25 degrees. Do you know the temp of the current tank?

[Loopy]

Bro you mentioned in the other thread that your main tank temp is at 25 degrees. Do you know the temp of the current tank?
Now my temperature is 29 degrees, I set it to that last night and this morning it hit 29 degrees.

It was 25 degrees. I raised it cause as you advised in the chit chat thread, my water may be too cold for Pleco's.

Though my other fish are loving it.

[Loopy]

Day 3

I put a Japanese Cucumber (JAPANESE!) into the quarantine tank and it was very very well eaten down to the small fishing weight I put in to weigh it down. So that is good news.

Just before I slept I dropped it in.

Before I left for work I put 2 Algae Wafers in.

The water temperature is 28 degrees now which still would need the chiller so the costly investment on the chiller is no wasted. Phew.

[lyh]

Glad to hear that they are eating. Do update us until you have decided to place them back into the main tank :D

[Loopy]

Day 4

I left Lettuce and Cucumber and both were chewed on.
(They seem to like the Japanese Cucumber better!:rolleyes:)

All the tummies are roundy and colour has returned to all of them.

I plan to release the L200 today as he is a big bully. That leaves the L333, L56 and L25.

Some good news is my L25 appears to be a 7 pointer, there is colour on the side 4 fin spikes. Hope it holds true.

Thanks for everyones help, and lyh :)

[peckio]

How abt your L333?
Is the tummy still sunken?

[lyh]

Bro I would advise you to feed them pellets or some other stuff that you will want to feed them in the main tank and accustom them to the food first then release back. Otherwise same problem might occur again ;)

[Loopy]

How abt your L333?
Is the tummy still sunken?
The L333 is very happy now and it is doing very well. In fact it comes out in the day time now even and swims around.

I purchased another L177 and it is very lively. I have not seen it eat but it goes around the tank chomping on stuff.

Bro I would advise you to feed them pellets or some other stuff that you will want to feed them in the main tank and accustom them to the food first then release back. Otherwise same problem might occur again ;)
I started feeding them cucumbers and simply drop it in at night before I sleep. I will take pictures of how I weigh it down.

Also I gave them potatoes a few times and that worked well. I have got every creative with my feeding to bring them back-from-the-dead!

I establised a feeding area for them and watched them swim to it late last night.

Since my tank filters close to 4000LPH I am not really concerned with the water and leaving the food there over night.

Tried a prawn last night and it was also eaten. Though I am not sure who as I was too tired to peer at the tank in the twilight conditions :rolleyes:

To Summarize
1.) About 4CM worth of cucumber cut lengthways weighted down
2.) Half a small Potato weighted down
3.) Peeled and Washed prawn weighted down

I alternate between 1.), 2.) and 3.). Why no Wafers? Because it is a community tank and it will go before the Plecos can get to it.

[soltari007]

Bro I don't want to be a bummer but look out for your L333, a hyperactive pleco is not a happy pleco.