So I think my common pleco has broken his tail and I don't know what I should do. I guess I'll start from the beginning....
First a few weeks ago we upgraded to a bigger tank...from 29 gal to 120 gal. I found a good deal on Craig's list! Anyway, i found this large neat looking piece of wood at a fish store and put it in there. Well Mr. Pleco found a cave with 3 entry holes in the wood and got himself stuck sometime between last Sunday nights feeding and Monday afternoon. Monday after I got home from work, my husband and I couldn't find him. We looked all over but he is very good at hiding sometimes so we gave up and went on. Tuesday when I got home from work, my husband had found him in the cave. We thought he had just found himself a new place to hide so we left him alone. A few hours later after periodic checking on him we decided he was either dead or stuck. So we did some poking around and figured out he had gotten stuck. My husband had to poke around in there and push him back out with his fingers. Mr. Pleco came out all slimy and his fins looked all ragged and torn up. The worst part though was his tail was all bent and it was discolored (kinda cloudy white...similar coloring to when he has those "mood swings" and changes color). the bending starts pretty much right behind the second set of side fins (whatever you call those). he also wouldn't raise his dorsal fin so I had no idea how torn up it might be.
over the next few days, other than looking terrible, he seemed to be doing okay. swimming around some and whenever I would check on him he would be somewhere else in the tank sucking on something. still not raising his dorsal fin to let me see. the tail also remained discolored and sometimes looked better but that could have just been how he was positioned. then we had to go out of town yesterday morning and came back this evening. when we got home, he was just laying on the bottom on the rock substrate which is very unusual for him. he wasn't moving at all. his tail looked even worse (more white and looking like maybe it is starting to atrophy). his dorsal fin was partly raised so i finally got to see that it was pretty raggedy just like the rest of his fins.
With no movement I really thought he had died, so I nudged him a little and he did move, but not much though. Usually if I even get close to him, he swims away. But at least I knew he was alive. I got an algae wafer and dropped it right next him to see if he would eat. I knew if he wouldn't eat, then I might as well put him out of his misery. A few minutes later he moved over a little bit and got over the algae wafer so I think he is eating. He is not munching vigorously like usual, but he is on top of it. When he moved over, his tail just stayed where it was and bent more, it didn't turn with him and straighten out behind him like it should. I really think that his tail is broken and I'm afraid it my have atrophied. If it did, can he live with a tail that doesn't work? Is it better to put him out of his misery? If he's eating, then he has a desire to live so I hate to put him down but I also hate to see him suffer. I did some internet searches for a pleco with a broken tail and i read about someone whose plecos' tail was torn completely off and the pleco lived through it. No telling what his quality of life was though.
The rest of my fish are tetras and harlequin rasboras so they don't bother him at all. He had a pretty stress free life before this.
Any help anybody can give would be greatly appreciated! I will try to take some pictures of him tomorrow to share. the tank lights are already out for tonight. sorry for the long post but I thought the more information given the better. oh, and he's not very big...only about a year and a half old and 5" long.
First a few weeks ago we upgraded to a bigger tank...from 29 gal to 120 gal. I found a good deal on Craig's list! Anyway, i found this large neat looking piece of wood at a fish store and put it in there. Well Mr. Pleco found a cave with 3 entry holes in the wood and got himself stuck sometime between last Sunday nights feeding and Monday afternoon. Monday after I got home from work, my husband and I couldn't find him. We looked all over but he is very good at hiding sometimes so we gave up and went on. Tuesday when I got home from work, my husband had found him in the cave. We thought he had just found himself a new place to hide so we left him alone. A few hours later after periodic checking on him we decided he was either dead or stuck. So we did some poking around and figured out he had gotten stuck. My husband had to poke around in there and push him back out with his fingers. Mr. Pleco came out all slimy and his fins looked all ragged and torn up. The worst part though was his tail was all bent and it was discolored (kinda cloudy white...similar coloring to when he has those "mood swings" and changes color). the bending starts pretty much right behind the second set of side fins (whatever you call those). he also wouldn't raise his dorsal fin so I had no idea how torn up it might be.
over the next few days, other than looking terrible, he seemed to be doing okay. swimming around some and whenever I would check on him he would be somewhere else in the tank sucking on something. still not raising his dorsal fin to let me see. the tail also remained discolored and sometimes looked better but that could have just been how he was positioned. then we had to go out of town yesterday morning and came back this evening. when we got home, he was just laying on the bottom on the rock substrate which is very unusual for him. he wasn't moving at all. his tail looked even worse (more white and looking like maybe it is starting to atrophy). his dorsal fin was partly raised so i finally got to see that it was pretty raggedy just like the rest of his fins.
With no movement I really thought he had died, so I nudged him a little and he did move, but not much though. Usually if I even get close to him, he swims away. But at least I knew he was alive. I got an algae wafer and dropped it right next him to see if he would eat. I knew if he wouldn't eat, then I might as well put him out of his misery. A few minutes later he moved over a little bit and got over the algae wafer so I think he is eating. He is not munching vigorously like usual, but he is on top of it. When he moved over, his tail just stayed where it was and bent more, it didn't turn with him and straighten out behind him like it should. I really think that his tail is broken and I'm afraid it my have atrophied. If it did, can he live with a tail that doesn't work? Is it better to put him out of his misery? If he's eating, then he has a desire to live so I hate to put him down but I also hate to see him suffer. I did some internet searches for a pleco with a broken tail and i read about someone whose plecos' tail was torn completely off and the pleco lived through it. No telling what his quality of life was though.
The rest of my fish are tetras and harlequin rasboras so they don't bother him at all. He had a pretty stress free life before this.
Any help anybody can give would be greatly appreciated! I will try to take some pictures of him tomorrow to share. the tank lights are already out for tonight. sorry for the long post but I thought the more information given the better. oh, and he's not very big...only about a year and a half old and 5" long.