Suspect L200 developed taste for slime coat

[Jsk8tes]

Hi,

New here. I've had my L200 for 7 years. He was sold as a "Lemon Spotted Pleco" so I hope this ID is right. Let me apologize ahead of time for the long post but ultimately my question is this:

Will a "time-out" in a 10gallon w/no other fish help break the habit of a pleco suspected of going after slime coat?

My pleco received a varied diet up until my husband had cancer surgery in October 2012. It was a long recovery and caretaking. I knew it would be so in preparation, I broke down two other tanks but decided to keep the 55gallon that got me back into the hobby. Established tank about 10yrs.

During my husbands recovery, my pleco got whatever dropped, mostly just flakes, algae wafers, shrimp pellets and occasional frozen brine, bloodworms and vegemix. No fresh veggies. He had to miss that, but it was the last thing on my mind at the time.

By April (about 6mos total) my husband is doing great. Still is!!! Things getting back to normal for the family but issues brewed in the tank. I resumed the varied diet and weekly water changes but started losing rainbow fish, and then the Lemon tetras.

I tested, and nitrates were 40, GH was 180+, KH was 50, PH=6.0 but thankfully no ammonia. Made immediate steps and got nitrates down, then worked on PH slowly. It's now 6.8. GH is 120 and KH is 80.

By May, I had no rainbows and the Lemon tetras started dropping one by one. No white poop, no thinning or flat fins, just isolating and dying. Thinking Ich, I raised temp and added salt. No meds. But after treatment, Gourami sides looked mottled and part of his tail, like a chunk was missing. I suspected the Rainbow Shark was getting territorial so I changed the tank around a bit, added some plants. But days later, Gourami just died.

Now all that's left are the rainbow and the pleco. I never saw my pleco go after anyone, just the rainbow darting out to chase others from his cave, except for the pleco. He always appears "wary" with healthy respect to my pleco, swims away when it approaches. But the other day, my pleco appeared to be "hunting" for the rainbow.

Since I'm not sure who the culprit is, my plan is to rehome the rainbow and go with peaceful community fish. But I don't want to lose these fish if my L200 is going to suck them dry.

Thanks for reading and for your patience.

Jennifer

 

[zeebo]

hi , hummm, well i am not familiar with rainbow sharks, i do know I have never seen my blue phantoms going after other fish or their slim coats.

A few things to mention, plecs do not like salt , it is rarley if ever added to a tank with plecs, even to medicate.

I am so glad to hear your husbands recovery and I do know the time and emotion involved when caring for someone you love who is going through it, you go through it wtih them , not to mention all the care that is involved.

If you do not see ich on any fish , don't treat for it. They could have died from the high nitrates or from something else.

I know you said you were busy wtih other things and could not feed the green phantom raw veggies. Are you able now ? Also, a low to 0 protien diet is best for them as their digestive system can not handle the protiens and it can develop bloat. So cancel the bloodworms, and check the ingredients on the wafers to be sure there are no fishmeal of any type in them.

Personally speaking, now that you are getting the nitrates dpwn, I would not worry as I suspect that is what killed them.

Another possibility to the loss could be wc's. If the ph or temp is more than a few degrees off it could be deadly. Suggest you test the tap water and try to match the new water ph and temp . Do you use Prime or what do you use as a de-clorinator when doing wc's ? If you cant match the ph , do smaller wc's- much smaller.

I know this did not ans you main question reguarding the L200 sucking the slime coat off the others, but hopefull the mods can chime in. I have just never seen it with my blue phantoms. Good luck and best wishes to your husband.

 

[Jsk8tes]

hi , hummm, well i am not familiar with rainbow sharks, i do know I have never seen my blue phantoms going after other fish or their slim coats.

Good to hear that. I don't want to move him

A few things to mention, plecs do not like salt , it is rarley if ever added to a tank with plecs, even to medicate.

I am so glad to hear your husbands recovery and I do know the time and emotion involved when caring for someone you love who is going through it, you go through it wtih them , not to mention all the care that is involved.

If you do not see ich on any fish , don't treat for it. They could have died from the high nitrates or from something else.

I didn't know that! It was done in haste, i admit, but thought it would help. I've never had to medicate before and LFS said it would be ok to try. I added the salt for three days then did a big wc.

I know you said you were busy wtih other things and could not feed the green phantom raw veggies. Are you able now ? Also, a low to 0 protien diet is best for them as their digestive system can not handle the protiens and it can develop bloat. So cancel the bloodworms, and check the ingredients on the wafers to be sure there are no fishmeal of any type in them.

I thought he was an omnivore. Most everything I kept with him was. Mostly the schools and Gourami got that or brine shrimp 1x a week, but I'm sure he got leftovers and thought that was good for him. I'll check my wafers and make sure no fishmeal! But yes, I've resumed his regular diet with fresh veggies.

Personally speaking, now that you are getting the nitrates dpwn, I would not worry as I suspect that is what killed them.

I hope so. Nitrates are now 10. PH still seems acidic but slowly moving to 7.0, which is what the tap tests at. water is medium hard.

Another possibility to the loss could be wc's. If the ph or temp is more than a few degrees off it could be deadly. Suggest you test the tap water and try to match the new water ph and temp . Do you use Prime or what do you use as a de-clorinator when doing wc's ? If you cant match the ph , do smaller wc's- much smaller.

I put stress zyme in the python (enough to treat entire tank) to precede the tap water going in. Yes, when my husband was ill, the tank went from weekly wcs to bi weekly, then monthly. Not good. Now back on track with weekly 25% wcs. rinsing filter media every other week.

I know this did not ans you main question reguarding the L200 sucking the slime coat off the others, but hopefull the mods can chime in. I have just never seen it with my blue phantoms. Good luck and best wishes to your husband.

Hoping it was just the poor water quality over time is what did the schools and Gourami in. I don't want to move him. I'm seeding a 20 gallon for quarantining new fish (not sure what yet) and I can't keep him in there. But i have a 10 gallon seeding as well in case.

Once the rainbow is rehomed, I'm looking to add but willing to keep him. Really don't want to move him out anyway but that "hole" in the gourami's tail looked suspiciously shaped like his mouth.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[zeebo]

hi Jennifer, just want to clearify about wc's and ph. At tiimes the tank ph may drop ,unknowinly to the fishkeeper, (esp if wood in tank but other reasons too) and I lost a group of harlequin raspbora yrs ago, because I did not know to check then tank ph ,which had dropped and added my tap , 7.9. The shock killed them, so I learned to test tanks ph before wc's . Hope you got to the bottom of all the probs and can now enjoy the hobby again. Georgine

 

[Jsk8tes]

Thanks! I think the PH took a slow dive over those low maintenance months. Didn't test. When I did, I started slow, about 10% wc a day, or 20% every two days until it got to 6.8. Almost at neutral, but wonder if the driftwood is locking it down.

 

[zeebo]

hi , if you can keep your ph constant , that is better for the fish than messing around , trying to get it perfect. 6.8 is not too bad if it stays at that. The fish prefer a stable ph , rather than up and down . The wood could be bringing it down some , since your tap is 7, but if it stays at 6.8 I would not be worried. I have such horrible and unstable water up here in the Northeast , I have wood for my plecs but i have to keep a bag of chiclid gravel in the filter (same as crushed coral ) just to keep the ph from crashing . I have to to daily 10% wc's just to keep everything constant. It works for me and I would never take the wood out so I had to work with it and found this works for me. Even the other 2 tanks with no wood need a ph check at times and I have to add chiclid gravel to them also. Just the crazy water we have.

Since you have had the green phantom for 7 yrs, and had no problems until you were unable to tend to the tank, I wonder if things changed in the tank slowly , the fish adjusted, then you began your routine again , and perhaps the new changes were too fast for some.:dk: just a guess. Fish like slow changes. I think you are back on track now, if you have no more losses, and keep the ph steady , you should be fine. Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[Jsk8tes]

That has to be it. Tried not to be overzealous in tending the tank and getting it back, but must have been too much, too soon. I've kept thing steady for two weeks. may go another before adding new fish. Have to wait on QT tank to be ready anyway. Thanks so much for the help.

 

[zeebo]

sure, good luck and great that you are using a q-tank for new fish :thumbup: