Ich on my Bristlenose pleco?

[Kevin]

Hi - typical newbie post but grateful for any advise on whether I should be worried about these white marks on my bristlenose plecko. He's an elusive type and it was only when he landed on a plant at the front of the tank the other day that I spotted these white patches on his skin. It hasn't put him off his food and none of the other fish seem to have it - they're a mixture of basic community fish (danios, X Ray Tetras, Khuli Loaches, a barb, a siamese algae eater and guppy).

If it is an infection then any suggestions on how to cure it would be appreciated. I've seen a variety of posts on various sites about curing ich on plecos that verge between don't do anything other than raise the tank temperature (its currently 23 degrees), add salt at various concentrations, or add medication at half strength.

The bristlenose is far and away my favourite fish in the tank so I would be prepared to base any treatment on his needs.

Thanks in advance.

 

[foti]

Hi sorry to hear
You should list your Tanks water test readings and your water change time table % and filtration temps of water as well

I don't think it's ich I think it looks like fungus maybe caused by high amonia?

Ether way I would raise the temp a little and I would add a little salt and ild do water changes every day 20%

Most people would say DON'T use salt but ? A little goes a far way

Great pic hope someone can ID exactly what it is and if you could list your set up &water tests we can advise how to prevent in future

Good luck

 

[Brengun]

Agree with Foti, and btw, nice photo!

 

[Kevin]

Thanks both

Strangely enough when I looked at him today I couldn't see it anymore. Whether it was a stress thing or an infection I don't know but better safe than sorry so happy to follow your advise. Grateful for a few steers.

I only have a nitrate test kit - guy in my local shop talked me out of the rest - but that's about 25 mg/l. I've never got it lower than this no matter how much I try so wonder whether the kit itself is a little dodgy. I can pick up some other tests at the weekend if you have suggestions on what to get. The tank is 160 litres and I change about 20% per week. I'm using prime water conditioner, having recently switched from AquaSafe. I've been dosing for the added water like it says on the bottle (which at 35 litres a go I reckon is about 1ml) but followed some advise elsewhere and dosed this change for the whole tank. Do you have any views on this as I always feel a little uncertain tipping that stinky mix in with my fish!

The tank is running on an Eheim 2215 filter which gets a monthly clean out at present.

My rather iffy Reef thermometer reckons it's 23.5 but seeing as it previously said 23.5 degrees and I've just cranked up my heaters I'm not sure I believe it. Any suggestions of a better thermometer? I've got 2x100W Rena heaters set to about 23 degrees - how high should these go and how quickly?

In terms of salt - any suggestions of what type, how much and for how long? Again, I've seen conflicting views and want to avoid pickling my pleco!

Thanks again, sorry for all the questions but I'm quite new to this.

 

[Brengun]

Any bn I have ever had was in water temp 26C or higher mainly because we have quite warm summers. Even my royal whiptails bred in 26C so it can't be too bad for a universal temp.

Add a seachem purigen bag to the canister and stand it vertically side ways in there so as not to block the rotor current. Don't clean the canister unless you have quite reduced flow.
I am lucky to get to cleaning mine every 6 months and some I am pretty sure I have forgotten for over a year lol. The canister is your basic bacteria work horse so I don't fiddle with it much. A clean entails cleaning the pipes with a tube brush and a flush rinse thru using the tanks water change water.

Get a good sized Eheim pickup internal filter. They are marvellous. Put it near the canister intake so it takes some of the debris up and saves the canister copping it all.
Once a week while water changing pop the top and slide the filter body off. You dont have to turn it off to clean. Just rinse the sponge in wc water and slide the body back on.

If I use a test kit I buy the API master test kit. It is quite easy to use and you can buy individual refills separate as you run out of one.

I am quite liberal with seachem prime and usually only treat the new water before I add it to the tank, not really the whole tank with old water in it. Saves on how much I need to use then.

If you want even more current just add a cheapo wavemaker or power head. Put it also near the canister intake so it pulls the debris away and sends it across to the internal filter to pick up.

Most accurate thermometers seem to be the normal glass aquarium ones. Not fancy but accurate at least.

 

[Nat's Fish]

Great post Brenda. Helped me too. Thanks
Last week I ordered a couple of medium/large sponge filters for each tank for the same principal & will just plug the airpump lines into them to save me buying anything else.
It makes sense to help the canister out as well hey.
As for thermometers I've tried to them all. As frustrating as it is I put 10 together & pick out all of the ones that have the same temp. It's amazing how many are 2-3 degrees or more out I love to buy a 100% accurate thermometer but can't find one

 

[Kevin]

Thanks

The temperature in the UK at the moment is a long way off 26 degrees! I turned the heaters up to 24 this morning and will put them up again tonight. I've looked for a good glass thermometer because I don't trust electronic ones but the scale on them was always too small for me to read and my eyesight's not that bad. I'll have another look though as an easy read inaccurate thermometer is almost worse than none at all.

I don't know if it's because I have plant substrate in the tank or maybe because I don't have an internal filter but I find after 4 weeks the fine mesh filter in my Eheim is pretty much shot. By this point the initial filter medium and thick mesh look like they could do with rinse too - they certainly turn the water black. All they get is quick wash in tank water. The biological substrate gets little more than quick swirl in little tank water and I maybe replace a handful for fresh. I do find this increases the flow but if its killing off my friendly bacteria then that'd be a problem.

I'll have a look at the purigen tonight. The only place I can think it would sit upright would be in the biological layer. Is this right? I'll obviously need to scale this back to fit it in.

 

[Brengun]

I forgot to add I threw the fine wool filters out and only use one or two sponges in the canister. My air sponge filters are quite able to remove the finer particles from the water so the canister has no need to do it.

I have a sponge filter per every foot of tank length and they can be hidden moreorless by a bit of driftwood with anubias plant or a few caves stacked and a bit of slate. The sponge filters only get a rinse when they feel quite heavy in the water, meaning they are full of dust particles.

 

[zeebo]

firstly, good luck with your beauty, and second, did you say the guy at your lfs talked you OUT of buying something ? ? Well that's a new one :lol:

Agree with Brenda, get a good API Master test kit :yes: