Ancistruss sick or just greedy?

Falina

One of my ancistrus plecs has a really big belly. He seems fat all round in fact. His eyes look like they're protruding more than compared to my common plecs, but I can't get a good look at my other ancistrus cause she always hides. He doesn't have pretrudin scales, and appears to be acting normally. He also has 2 bristley "blobs" on the sides of his cheeks. The rest of his face isn't very bristely, justy a wee tiny bristles. I know a picture would be helpful but I have no camera.

Should I be worried about him or is he just a greedy plec, who is starting to get his bristles?

Thanks.

*edit*

Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 mg/l
Ph 6.5

Lupin

Julie, have you tried green peas? Could be constipation. Dropsy is unlikely to happen in plecos.

Falina

I have tried green peas but he isn't interested in eating them. I've not seen him eating today, but since he hides a lot it's possible he has eaten and I've just not seen him.

I have got a proper good look at him since the last post and am now more certain that there is something wrong, and that he's not just greedy.

It does seem like dropsy but since it is unlikely in plecs I sort of ruled that out before I posted. I got a good look at the female tonight there and his eyes are definitely protruding in comparasin to hers. His belly is really big now and I'm beginning to get quite worried.

He was shipped to me a fortnight ago, and while the fish store packaged him and his gorlfriend really well, the delivery men were not careful with them at all and the box was badly damaged so I imagine they would have been terribley stressed while being shipped. I am now beginning to wonder if this stress has weakened his immume system and, as unlikely as it is, he does have dropsy?? It is mainly the protruding eyes that makes me suspect this. The scales around his belly seem to be a tiny bit "rough" but I thoguht that was maybe just because his belly was so round that they were sticking out a little just to get round the curve.

Lupin

I have not seen nor heard of plecos suffering from dropsy. If you have a spare tank, you might have to put him there and continue monitoring him as days progress. Better to do so than never as there are dropsy cases which can cause transmission via cannibalism.

Causes of dropsy are based mostly on bad water quality, bad food quality, internal parasites and damaged internal organs. If it was dropsy, there is little chance a fish can last as most cases are incurable.

Falina

Water conditions, as posted, are good but as Ihave only had him for 2 weeks roughly, it's hard to tell whether any of the others may be an issue.

I moved him just minutes ago just incase - better safe than sorry as I have other plecs, and was worried they would suck on him if he did die. Even if it's not dropsy, whch I'm still unsure about because of it's unlikliness, I don't really want them sucking on a dead fish anyway. I had a spare tankset up for fry, but I hadn't planned moving th fry for a few days - so they'll just have to wait a bit longer now.

Just need to keep monitoring him and hoping for the best.

Falina

He is doing a poo as I type, so I don't suspect constipation anymore.

His breathing is a bit rapid as well.

Falina

Gomez is not looking any better. His eyes are still protruding and he still looks really bloated. He also looks like he has some blisters on him around the bloated belly.

He isn't acting funny as such, just lying about not doing much, like plecs often do anyway.

He also has a sore on his back.

amonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5mg/l as it always seems to be.

What should I do? He looks really bad like he might be suffering, but he desn't seem to be acting particularly strange so I'm not sure if he is.