What is happening to my algae eaters (follow up)?

Question

I just bought a golden algae eater two days ago and put him into my 20 gallon tank. After about an hour, I found him seemingly dead in that tank. Since he was upright but not breathing, it seemed like he may have a chance, so I moved him into my 3 gallon quarantine tank to see if he might survive. Over the next few hours, he began to breathe again, move again, and stick to the tank wall again. In the morning, he was happily swimming around the tank excitedly. Same thing was going on about an hour ago. Ten minutes ago I found him upside down in the front of the tank and not breathing. I righted him, and I'm waiting to see if he'll pull another miracle. I have had the same thing happen to two other algae eaters which I have put in the 20 gallon (I actually thought those were dead so I took them out), and this particular algae eater had a problem with climbing too far up the sides of the tank and above the water line.
Is it possible that he climbed too high, and then fainted and sank?

The the levels in both tanks are 0. The temperature is around 80 in both tanks. I have a live plant in the 3 gallon tank.

The immediate problem is not the size of the tank because he is only 1.5 inches, and in a 20 gallon tank, he is far under the current inch per gallon rule, and even in the three gallon, he still fits under the rule.

There are no other fish in the tank, and I haven't yet fed him, as he isn't big enough to eat algae wafers, and he eats the algae of the side of the tank.

Answer 1

I would quarantine him for 3 weeks, to make sure he won't pass anything on to other fish. How is the temp of your water? Have you had any pH swings? You might just have an odd fish.

Answer 2

Give him a while to eat the pellet. If he still hasn't eaten it by tomorrow try putting a slice of cucumber or zucchini in the tank. Make sure to put it on the bottom and weigh it down with a rock or something so it doesn't float. If he doesn't start nibbling on the cucumber within a few hours something is probably wrong with him, but my guess is that he is just a picky eater. Also, if you just set up your tank a few days ago then it hasn't cycled yet, that could also be the problem. Try putting some beneficial bacteria in, you can look up on the internet various ways to do this. Also, because its a new tank there isn't going to be any algae in it so always make sure to have some sort of food for your algae eater until some algae starts growing in your tank.

Answer 3

1) Plecos are nocturnal fish - they don't do anything but lay around all day! Give him a place to hide, turn the light off over his tank (unless you have live plants), and maybe you'll see more activity.

2) If he's climbing the walls, he's hungry. There may not be enough algae for him in your tank.

3) Plecos don't swallow the pellets whole - they scrape at the surface as it lays on the bottom of the tank. You can also feed him a romaine lettuce leaf, a spinach leaf, or a slice of zucchini (frozen works best). They will also eat other fish food (they really like shrimp pellets!), but need to have algae or veggie in their diet as well. Feed just before it gets dark at night (important if you ever have other fish in the tank - otherwise, they'll eat the food befoer he gets a chance). Remove any uneaten greens or squash in the morning.

Do you have a filter in your tank (to circulate oxygen to the bottom)? If not, that may be why he's climbing the walls - he's trying to breathe!

Some kinds of pleco also like driftwood in their tank. They scrape the surfaces of it, and it gives them another hiding place.

Pleco info:

http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-Pleco.htm
http://www.elmersaquarium.com/10plecostomus.htm

Also, although the temperature is within his range, I'd turn it down to around 76.

Answer 4

I suspect the pH of your quarantine tank and your main tank varies too wide. Use a pH tester to see if it's true. The fainting or stunt characteristics from my experience usually result from shock, it's either suffering from pH shock or temperature shock. I have had fish suffer from this too.

To recify the problem, the introduction process have to be very smooth and it will take awhile, either using the drip method if it's pH or you have to heat up your quarantine tank (assuming your main tank is heated) if it's temperature.

There are many other way to solve this problem if it's pH or temperature, but first of all you have to verify that it's this problem.

Also note that there are some temperature and pH that certain fishes will never adapt to, but lets hope that is not the case.

Answer 5

A large part of the problem may be that the tank is too small. Those fish grow over 6 inches, way too large for 20 gallons. He would not have hurt himself from climbing too high. Are there any other fish in the tank? What are you feeding it?

Answer 6

Actually, those fish often sleep upside down. I recently bought a catfish (small one for amateurs) and looked up some fish care info for him online. It said that these kinds of fish sleep upside down. He could have just been sleeping, which is why he began moving when you disturbed him. You probably just woke him up.