whats wrong with my pleco's dorsal fin?

Question

http://www.geocities.com/loubalookookakachoo/vdfgf.jpg

unfortunately, thats the best pic i can get. the first time i noticed a change in his fin was the day after i fed my plecos a bunch of stuff. i gave them cucumber, peas, lima beans, corn, and sliced chestnuts (i thought they were potatoes ). the cucumber was held down by 3 forks.

the last time i fed my plecos a cucumber, held down the same way, the OTHER pleco of mine got something really similar on one of his pectoral fins. at first i thought he pierced it with the fork, but the wound started to get worse.. the hole got bigger, and spread to his other. fingers on the fin .. it only lasted a couple of days, and it healed on its own- so i concluded that it WAS the fork.

now the other one has something going on. it started out with a red/white mark - with an open hole on his dorsal. the hole got bigger, the white/red spread... i dont think its fin rot.. i figured that it might be a battle wound from the other pleco? an allergic reaction to the cucumber or chestnuts? what is it?

jesus christ, john!

youre mean!

Answer 1

Good job providing your fish with veggies, but you might be adding a bit too much all at once. Be sure you bet out any left overs within a few hours, overnight at the longest. You might try attaching the cucumber or zucchini to a small rock with a rubber band to hold it down, then you know the fish will be safe around it. Corn and chestnuts aren't the best choices of foods as they don't have much in the way of vitamins you fish needs.

Thanks for posting both a description and a pic of the fish! That helps alot! It sounds and looks to me like you have a bacteria fin infection. When you saw it on the other fish it healed up. That means you have a healthy tank with healthy fish, good job again!

If this doesn't clear up in just a few days or seems to be spreading really fast you will want to treat it. You can actually remove the fish from the tank and dab on some Mercurochrome from the pharmacy to treat it. Just treat once or twice a day for a few days. The other choice it to add an antibiotic to the tank. Marycn would be a good choice. Clean the tank, remove the carbon from the filter and follow the direction on the package carefully and it should heal up quite well.

Your guess about battle damage is a very good one. That might be where the first hole came from and what let the infection start. In fact, they might have been fighting over the food. Try feeding in two different places in the tank.

Hope this helps!

MM

Answer 2

sounds like you put waaaay too much food in the tank- contaminated water can stress the slime coat on a fish, and bacteria will attack -fins are especially susceptable. do a water change (you may want to do 50%) add a small amount of freshwater aquarium salt, check your water parameters to make sure the ammonia, nitrates, ph etc are ok, and you might want to treat your tank- i recommend maracyn for this type of problem. but definately do a water change, and perhaps vacuum the tank...remove carbon from filter when using meds. a short soak for the sick fish in some melafix may help also...good luck

Answer 3

Definitely don't feed them cucumber anymore. I've never even heard of feeding them vegetables. Mine get goldfish flakes(they live with goldfish), and they thrive on it. Plecos are algae eaters, so I wouldn't feed them anything but fish food or algae disks. This sounds like an allergic reaction, or the wrong nutrition.