Ringlet Pleco - Skin missing?? HELP!

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Clare

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Apr 12, 2010
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When cleaning out the tank we found this....



Its deep, almost id say to his bone,

we have put him in a quantine tank with melafix, but no idea, everyone else in the tank is fine, wondering if the other males have bullied him... over terrority. (he was the only one not in a cave, but there's plenty...) maybe he is really a she and the boys have been a little hard with her.

any ideas...

worrying like crazy, hoping the group will re accept him or her when we put the poor thing back in with the others...


photo is in the gallery thingy, so if you go there and click on the photo it is alot bigger...
 
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Doodles

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Apr 8, 2009
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Does look like someone has had a go at it or its got caught somewhere. How many have you got? what size is the tank and how old are they all?
 
C

Clare

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it looks like its been held down and eaten, theres 5 or so in there 2ft tank, with lots and lots and lots of wood as they grow slow im not sure exactly, we had them over 6 months... so id guess they are approx 2 years maybe?
 
scatz

scatz

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it could be that its a female then and that a male has trapped her and rasped on her, a lot of females get grazed this way when they are trying to breed, hopefully its this and not males fighting.
good clean water (daily changes if possible) and some melafix should sort it out, so long as its not too deep and past treating.
I had a clown once with a very deep hole in its head, daily water changes sorted that out within a couple of weeks.
good luck
 
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Clare

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Apr 12, 2010
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scatz said:
it could be that its a female then and that a male has trapped her and rasped on her, a lot of females get grazed this way when they are trying to breed, hopefully its this and not males fighting.
good clean water (daily changes if possible) and some melafix should sort it out, so long as its not too deep and past treating.
I had a clown once with a very deep hole in its head, daily water changes sorted that out within a couple of weeks.
good luck
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so pop him or her back in with the group or keep him or her in quantine and then re add, i dont want him or her being rejected, do plecos do that? i know in other animals they can be...

yeah that was the plan, just paniced when saw him or her like it, we have some caves, the flower pots that pets at home sale there plants in so i guess someone could of trapped her? is it possible that they was tryin to get eggs out?

how old would you think they are?

if it is breeding behavior is it a good thing the boys are this rough with her or perfectly normal?
 
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Doodles

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I would keep him/her in qt for now:yes:

A lot of plecs do get that rough when breeding. Are any of them looking 'hairy' down the tail and lower body yet?
 
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Clare

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Doodles said:
I would keep him/her in qt for now:yes:

A lot of plecs do get that rough when breeding. Are any of them looking 'hairy' down the tail and lower body yet?
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pretty much yes, we brought aload because of the price and we like to buy groups of things, always feel sorry fish on their own in a tank, but yet we dont want fights, we had danios for years and they never fighted or argued once, choose gouramis and now had to seperate them lol

anyway two of the plecos are permantely caved, and theres a couple that normally just swim around or hide on the wood, the caved ones i wouldnt say are hairy but look like a wood saw edge when looking from above at the rear of their body's.

what condition food should be used to give them eggies :)

forgot to say there is no other plecs in there with them...
 
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Irene0100

Irene0100

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May 14, 2009
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oh dear poor thing. looks like fighting to me. yes keep in qt for a while, then when looks better add her back but watch carefully. I suspect they are a bit crowded and could do with a bigger tank.
 
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Clare

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what size is reconmended, the tank is built with lots and lots and lots of wood, so the entire thing is covered with wood, so its like a cube of tree root, not just the bottom...

she/he is in qt and what looks like very hairy when i got a closer look, at the weekend ill take them all out the main tank and see if we can get some photos of them to help solve the question of how many of each... :)

thanks
 
Irene0100

Irene0100

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while lots of wood is great, its still only two ft, and the wood takes up water volume so you may only have, I will take wild guess, 50 litres of actual water?
I personally would not put more than 3 adult plecs of the smaller species in a 3 ft tank.
as you have 5... I would have to do water changes daily perhaps to keep water in good nick. but each male needs at least a square foot of floor for territory IMHO so if you have 3 males amongst them I think you have potential for fighting.
 
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Clare

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Irene0100 said:
while lots of wood is great, its still only two ft, and the wood takes up water volume so you may only have, I will take wild guess, 50 litres of actual water?
I personally would not put more than 3 adult plecs of the smaller species in a 3 ft tank.
as you have 5... I would have to do water changes daily perhaps to keep water in good nick. but each male needs at least a square foot of floor for territory IMHO so if you have 3 males amongst them I think you have potential for fighting.
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so is the best way:
1. Buy them a bigger tank... so all 5 can be together
2. Try to find pairs and put them in their own tanks

Do plecs like to live in heards or just pairs?

thanks
 
Irene0100

Irene0100

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now thats a good question and you will get different answers from different people, and sometimes it depends on the individual fish.
I keep, and breed, LDA01 which is a similar type of fish. I have 3 adults (2m 1f) - I cannot keep the two males in same tank , even a 4 ft tank, once they reached adult. So I keep a breeding pair in one tank and a lonely grumpy male in the community tank.
But other small plecs like L134 can be ok in a group, I have 6 in a tank, who live peacefully togther -but dont want to breed. I did get an extra male - and he went straight for the alpha male, who was much bigger than him, and would have fought to the death if I had not swiftly moved him. (he is with a new owner now).
I also have some hypancistrus, 4 L270 in a 4 ft tank who breed (2m and 2f Ithink!)
as well As L46 who are just about old enough to breed but not performing yet. I did have 9 in a 3x2 ft tank but they started some fighting recently so I have now splt into two groups now.
 
C

Clare

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thegeeman said:
I will shut up then:D

Probably due to fighting but I will let the others tell you more :hi:

Cheers

thegeeman
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Sadly he died whilst in the QT tank, guess his open wounds and the stress was too much him...

will deffiently take the remaining plecs out the weekend and photograph them.

thankyou to all those who helped, although watch this space i will be posting photos soon so i can sort them out, i hope i have 2 females & 2 males :dk:

thanks once again
 
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