Posted by PHSplendens on December 17, 2002 at 03:27:04:
In Reply to: pleco wound posted by skeemjl on December 16, 2002 at 20:00:49:
:I hope that you can help. We have a common pleco, about 8” long, who we discovered was living in our koi pond (we moved into this house this summer and couldn’t see what was in the pond until after several cleanings). After doing a bit of research, it became clear that we should bring the pleco inside for the winter. So, we bought a 10 gallon aquarium and moved him inside. All seemed well for about 2 weeks. However, we returned from a 2-day vacation to find that he had a large (1/2 inch), tear-shaped ulcer on his chest, between his front fins. At first, there was just a scrape-looking outline. The next day, the center was gone, exposing a large sore. The sore hasn’t changed much since then.
:Nevertheless, it gets worse. Yesterday, it became clear that the pleco had ick. He also seems to have pieces of gauzy white film floating above his head.
:We had our water tested at the pet store and found that the ammonia level was off the charts. We have changed out half of the water. To treat the ick, we are slowly increasing the tank temperature by 2 degrees per day to 80 degrees, and are using half the recommended dose of ick treatment (ick clear, by jungle labs).
:We’re very concerned about this pleco, and arrived in this situation “by accident.” We feel completely ill-prepared for this, but don’t want this fish to suffer or die. Will you please let us know what the sore might be and whether we’re doing the right things to help him? The only other creature in the aquarium is a small African frog. Thank you,
:Jennifer
Since your ammonia levels were off the chart then the ulcer was caused by the ammonia levels being so high, and the gauzy white film is more than likely a fungus. ICK is also caused by poor water quality. An 8 inch pleco is just way too big to keep in a 10-gallon tank, and if he's a common pleco as I suspect, he will need at the very least a 55-gallon tank. Not only will the toxins become unmanageable in that small a tank, but his growth will become stunted, which in turn will make him highly susceptible to disease and in the end he will die an early death. No matter how hard you try to help him, he will die in that 10-gallon tank. Right now he needs pristine water conditions to help him get over the ICK, fungus, and ammonia burn, and daily water changes will be necessary. Adding most medications to the water will only make it worse since it will kill any nitrifying bacteria that did have a chance to start growing. Both ICK and the fungus can be cured with Aquari-Sol, and it won't kill your beneficial bacteria, and you can add Melafix to help speed up healing of the ammonia burn. Please do your pleco a favor and get him a much larger tank before the toxins do him in.
PHSplendens
