Any Plecostomus problems which would cause them to just up and Die?

Question

the rest of the fish in the aquarium are fine and I test water regularly and water change. I had two Plecos about three inches long. One died and then the other about a month later. any ideas?

Feeding algae tablets at the time.

Get fish from non chain stores generally. 75 gallon tank. have 3 corydoras and 3 clown loaches also.

Answer 1

Most diseases don't cause very sudden death and especially not without visible signs. Water quality issues can of course, but since yours all checks out we can rule that possibility out. Being that far apart in time I doubt there was an internal infection at work, they probably would have died closer together in time.

That really only leaves me with diet maybe. Were you feeding them specifically and feeding them some fresh vegetable matter on a regular basis?

Just a thought or two

MM

Answer 2

Most things have already been covered, but another thought occurred to me.

Since you are not naming them as other than "plecos" , I assume you just bought the common Hypostomus variety. These are the oldest type of commercially available plecos and, like some other varities of fish (guppies to name one) , have become weaker over the years due to excessive amounts of inbreeding from a small parent gene pool. It's possible you just got weak ones that come from a very bad gene pool. Since they were only 3 inches long they were very young (as that type regularly achieve lengths of 18 - 24 inches) and that seems to me to be the most likely reason given the other things you describe about your tank.

A couple of suggestions for you: First, unless you have a very large tank, stay away from the normal pleco most stores sell and try to find a miniature variety to handle your algae (like the clown or the diminuative otocinclus).

Secondly, if you are determined to try them again, try buying one from a different source, preferably a small local store as opposed to a chain. You might get better luck there. All my plecos (currently 10 types plus 2 Otocinclus) have been bought from smaller non-chain stores.

Hope this help and good luck. :)

Answer 3

a fish it truly is in basic terms placed right into a tank can die of ammonia poisoning contained in the subsequent 3 hours. there are extremely some belongings you ignored. the biggest of them being what form of clear out you've, and has the tank been cycled staggering. Koi are pond fish and they produce a intense volume of waste, so there is your first challenge. Plecos are not very hardy. i ought to not in any respect recommend any newbie to get one. Secondly, they could advance to 2 ft lengthy, so a 20 gal is way too small. even if, this isn't the case. to respond to your question, you want to strengthen the temp of the water contained in the tank. Plecos are tropical fish and favor to have temps of round seventy 8-80F. Plecos produce extremely some waste, so as that would have contributed to the region. i ought to assert you need to: A- strengthen the temp of your water B- make positive the tank is cycled staggering (you'll get a carry close try equipment for round $40) C- including your fish, you need to possibly favor a clear out it truly is rated at two times the tank length (a minimum of a 40 gallon clear out). sorry about your challenge, even if it sounds to me that you're a newbie and also you need to possibly no longer get yet another pleco if this one dies, sorry. sturdy success :)

Answer 4

Maybe your gravel is dirty. You can have pretty clean water if you do frequent water changes and still have old muck at the bottom of the tank.

Answer 5

Maybe there was not enough algea for them :)

Answer 6

don't have any ideas for you, but if you get any good answers let me know because i hate mine and want to kill him off!!

Answer 7

not enough food or they are old.