Sore on the inside of mouth

[Scales]

1. A good general description of the symptoms.
My 3" Blue Phantom Pleco has a sore inside his mouth which is bright red and is protruding a little. Besides that he seems very healthy, I noticed the sore yesterday.


2. Size of tank and other tankmates.
I got this pleco 3 weeks ago and he has been in a 20 gallon bare bottom quarantine tank with a power filter, an artificial cave and a small piece of wood. There are no other fish in the tank.

3. Water parameters.

PH 7.4
don't test for the others, I do frequent water changes and keep the tank clean.


4. Filtration and water change regime.

I have a power filter, and change 20% of the water every other day. I use 50% RO water and 50% aged tap.


5. Diet.

I have been feeding a beef heart mix which I feed my discus and algae wafers.

6. Temperature of tank water

Temp 84 deg


7. Treatments Used already

I started using Melafix and 1 tbl spoon of salt per 5 gallons yesterday.


8. A Pic

 

[Mol_PMB]

My first step would be to test the water as that is a common source of problems. You do have a test kit, don't you?

But my suspicion is the feeding regime. Surely an L128 is primarily a veggie / aufwuchs eater? Feeding beef heart could be the problem - you would be better off swapping that for courgette.

Stop adding the salt too. Catfish don't like salt.

I hope the fish gets better. L128s are lovely fish.



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[zeebo]

i agree, no salt, and more raw veggies. my L128s loved the skin on the zucchini, but also loved raw sweet red bell peppers, deshelled peas, spinach ,all the soft raw veggies . Good luck and hth .

 

[Mol_PMB]

Agree. Mine eats all those
Also, with your pH of 7.4, what is your water hardness? Hard water might possibly contribute too.


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[Scales]

Thank you for all your advise, the sore looks slightly better today. I stopped adding salt with the WC's and started feeding blanched zucchini, I am going to also try the other veggies that were mentioned. I forgot to mention this in my earlier post but I gave him a 5 day deworming treatment where I only fed deworming flakes, this ended a couple of days before I noticed the sore for the first time. I think this may have played a factor with the sore.

I know this is bad and hate to admit it, but most of my test kits are expired, I haven't tested the water except for ph in a while. My display tanks are discus tanks where I do large waters changes on a regular basis and keep the tanks very clean. I have been doing this for many years and very rarely have health problems. I really should get new test kits though I am going to purchase some new ones when I get a chance.

 

[bigbird]

agree no salt as well, you might burn the lips. I would feed him more veggies and less beef. It could also be a heater burn. I am sure there is some product thatwe use for grown ups that can also be used for fish. anyway, place him in a Quarantine tank on his/her own. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Scales]

Wanted to give an update, the pleco is doing great, almost completely healed. I'm pretty sure the deworming flakes caused the sore. I've added veggies to his diet and he especially loves the zucchini, thanks for all your great advice.

 

[Mol_PMB]

Good news


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[Irene0100]

good news, no need to blanch the zuchinni, just add it raw with a weight, like a teaspoon through it.