Hey all,
I wonder if you can help.
I woke up yesterday and my female bristlenose plec seemed dead in her little cave. I first noticed as her tail seemed quite pail. I lifted it up with her in it and she's wasn't suckered to the cave at all. Just kind of floating about inside it half hanging out as it's pretty small not attached (she's always half in half out!)
I could reach in and touch her tail and she didnt move about at all which I'm sure she did before. Even when I lift the cave out of the water with her in it there was no movement where she normally flaps about and refuses to drop out of the cave and she still isn't attached to the cave by her mouth.
She's almost 10 years old and I've had her since she was a baby. Her and her partner were breeding and had a batch of fry in the last few weeks and I'm sure I saw her tail moving in there the day before.
I tried to slide her out of the cave but as her pectoral fins would open as I pulled her backwards and were stopping her coming out.
By this time I was pretty certain she was dead. After trying for a couple of minutes pushing her fins in with a chopstick, in the end I had to pull semi hard to get her out of the cave which ripped her head off which was quite grusome. I'm so gutted. She was my favourite fish and has been in the tank since I first got fish.
I'm now second guessing myself that she was dead as I've since read about paralysed plecs. I couldn't really see in the cave to see if she was breathing at all, but she would have moved slightly surely??
Is there anything that completely paralyses a plec enough that they wouldn't move at all even if taken out of the water?
I wonder if you can help.
I woke up yesterday and my female bristlenose plec seemed dead in her little cave. I first noticed as her tail seemed quite pail. I lifted it up with her in it and she's wasn't suckered to the cave at all. Just kind of floating about inside it half hanging out as it's pretty small not attached (she's always half in half out!)
I could reach in and touch her tail and she didnt move about at all which I'm sure she did before. Even when I lift the cave out of the water with her in it there was no movement where she normally flaps about and refuses to drop out of the cave and she still isn't attached to the cave by her mouth.
She's almost 10 years old and I've had her since she was a baby. Her and her partner were breeding and had a batch of fry in the last few weeks and I'm sure I saw her tail moving in there the day before.
I tried to slide her out of the cave but as her pectoral fins would open as I pulled her backwards and were stopping her coming out.
By this time I was pretty certain she was dead. After trying for a couple of minutes pushing her fins in with a chopstick, in the end I had to pull semi hard to get her out of the cave which ripped her head off which was quite grusome. I'm so gutted. She was my favourite fish and has been in the tank since I first got fish.
I'm now second guessing myself that she was dead as I've since read about paralysed plecs. I couldn't really see in the cave to see if she was breathing at all, but she would have moved slightly surely??
Is there anything that completely paralyses a plec enough that they wouldn't move at all even if taken out of the water?
