Can a sucker fish kill?

Question

since i had one 3 of my goldfishes died suddenly, one even lost his orange colour before dying.

Answer 1

If its a common Plecostomus, then yes! Common Plecs should not be kept with Goldfish for one reason, Goldies are bottom sleepers and pleco are nocturnal and therefore goldies are susceptable to the nocturnal predations. What most folks don't realize with this combo is that as pleco's grow, they need more to eat, algae in the tank alone isn't going to cut it and they will eventually outgrow the tank anyway. More then one eyeball has gone missing from folks fish, and yes death as well sadly. I would suggest & recomend a smaller specie such as a rubbernose or albino, they don't get mean or bigger aand stay much smaller and peaceful.

However, the very first thing one should do is rule out water Q.. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates? How big is the tank? Fancy's need 10 gl's each min, 15-20 for common types that get even larger and the filtration needs to be 10 x tank size in gph. The next step is did you add anything new, fish? Plants? Often new fish, new plants can harbor bacteria and/or parasites. New fish, new plants should alway's be quarentined and treated before adding to a already established tank.

And Parasites are something that are not alway's seen, most require a microscope (scrape & scope) to see. I would get with some experts and see if I could rule out most things and do some trouble shooting to correct any problems, there's more then meets the eye's when it comes to fish in general.

Answer 2

It's very doubtful that a pleco would harm another fish. They are extremely peaceful. Most likely, your fish are dying from ammonia poisoning. Before you moved, you had apparently had the tank set up a while and it was cycled. That means that the filter had built up enough beneficial bacteria to process the ammonia the fish produced. When you moved, if you didn't keep the filter wet to preserve all the nitrifying bacteria, you would have lost the bacteria colony causing the tank to recycle. With not bacteria to process the ammonia, the levels built up and poisoned your fish. Before you add more fish, get a liquid test kit and test the ammonia and nitrite levels (you mentioned pH but it isn't nearly as important). Those are the toxic chemicals in the tank. They should both be 0. If they aren't then you don't want to add any fish. When you do add fish, add them slowly, only 3 or 4 at a time and then check the water everyday again, doing water changes if needed, until the ammonia and nitrite are 0 again. If there are any levels of ammonia or nitrite, do a 15 to 25 percent water change to try to keep the levels below .5 or .25 if possible. Below is a link to a great fish forum. You can get quick answers from very knowledgeable people to any questions you may have. Edit: Dave, I said it was possible that the pleco did it but I highly doubt it. That would happen only if no other food was available and plecos will eat other food that settles to the bottom. With the situation described, I would say it is less than 1 in a million and would bet that the ammonia and possibly nitrite are sky high and the cause of the deaths.

Answer 3

All I know is I've seen my sucker fish get really aggressive with my goldfish. My goldfish has since died, but I never saw it try to eat it. Just bully it around some... weird.
Oh, I have a Chinese sucker fish, they are a little bit smaller...

Answer 4

No a sucker fish cant kill a goldfish, but if there is small babies in the tank they will eat them . experienced that first hand. I would say you are having water problems if your fish are dying that quick. Do you do water changes every month ? I do water changes every month about 50% tank change and put in chemicals for the chlorine that is in the water

Goldfish are a dirty fish anyways and you really have to do more water changes on them then any other fish to keep your tank clean. I just dont do goldfish I have all platies in mine

Answer 5

Short answer....yes they can and will. Most suckers won't but there are a few that will kill slower moving fish. They can get territorial with fish close to the same size.

Answer 6

Absolutely! Chinese algae eaters have a tendency to get more agressive the bigger they get. They are very fast moving fish and tend to attack the slower, smaller fish. Also, I've seen Plecos attacking fish as well, although they usually leave most fish alone.

Answer 7

Chinese algae eaters are also notorious for attacking and scraping the slime coat off gold fish (they are rather agressive fish). If they damage the fish enough, it can kill them. I wouldn't keep any algae eater with goldfish except *maybe* Ottos which are quite small.

Answer 8

We've had all sorts of fish with sucker fish, never had a bad experience. That is very weird though.

Answer 9

Sucker fish is a broad term. It may not be a parasite. Most are algae munching critters.

Sounds to me like you may have a water quality issue. Have you tested for NO2, NO3 and ammonia?

Answer 10

they most certainly can! as they get larger the plecos and some of the other algae eaters get predatory. they will suck the goldfish eyes out, they will suck big holes in the sides of your fish
it's not a good idea to keep them together