It is laying upside down in a plant, occasionally thrashing its tail fin, and breathing regularly. I wish I had a paramedic fish in there!
2007-05-30 08:28:24 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
As others have said, increase the water movement and surface agitation as soon as you can. Also I would caution you against cooling the tank too quickly, the temperature shock could kill him. You don't say how hot the tank is or was, but unless it was well over 90 I doubt that is the cause of the plecos problems.
MM
2007-05-30 09:35:31 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How hot is the water? What makes you think he is dying? Especially dying of heat stroke? Pleco's can handle an Incredibly wide range of temperatures and other habitat conditions, and it would be likely that your other fish would die much sooner than the Plec. Try to keep the temp as stable as possible around 75 degrees F or whatever your other fish require. If you really need to cool the tank, then place a fan where it can blow across the surface of the water, this will evaporate some of the water, which you will have to replace but the tank will cool.
If he is really large, it may be likely that he is very hungry if he is acting overly lethargic, but keep in mind that plecos are primarily nocturnal and prefer the dark so they don't move much once they find a comfy dark place with algae to suck on. consider feeding him a cucumber or some algae disks at night.
My pleco pretty much stays underneath a rock upside down just about all the time, until dark when he races to the surface to gulp air for his nightly scavenging. Plecos stay balanced and swim by seemingly thrashing their tailfin.
2007-05-30 15:43:21 · answer #2 · answered by therulebookman 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That sounds like normal behaviour for a plecostamos to me! Do you mean pleco is adhered upside down on the plant, or on the bottom of the tank? If it's upside down on the bottom of the tank - then that isn't a good sign. However, the other scenario is quite normal.The water temperature should be no more than 78 degrees farenheit. You can go up to 85 and it would still be ok. Unless your water is extremely hot, I wouldn't worry too much.
2007-05-30 15:33:49 · answer #3 · answered by Gina F 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Increase the air flow ASAP. the heat will take the oxygen out of the water. When you get the temp to about 86 the oxygen should be improved. If you have an external filter add ice to it to get the temp down. If you have an iternal filter open the lid as much as posible to let the heat escape.
2007-05-30 15:55:11 · answer #4 · answered by mustang 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
increase the surface agitation (ripples on the water's surface) and turn on a bubbler of some kind. warmer water has less oxygen in it.
2007-05-30 15:33:30 · answer #5 · answered by imzadi 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋