Disease or something else funky with my Pleco. . .

Erimikos

In my 55G tank, I have one single solitary Leopard Sailfin Pleco. It was still in its cycling period when I got him, so I am making sure to change 10G of water every couple days.

My plan was that in a week or so I would drop down to doing a 10G change once a week.

Thursday, I took a cup of water to the LFS and had them test it, and they didnt give me exact numbers, but said that everything was looking really good at the moment.

Anyway, I was thinking that I would be adding some aggressive fish (or at least semi-aggressive) in the near future (possibly making it into an american cichlid tank) so I went and got some rocks from the riverbed to create some more hiding places.

I brought them home 2 days ago and let them sit in a bucket of tap water for a couple hours, brushed everything off them, then put them back in teh bucket with fresh water for a couple hours, brushing them again. Afterwards, I set them in the sink and poured boiling water over one side, waited a couple minutes, then poured more boiling water over the other side. Once they cooled off, I added them to the tank with the nights water change.

Normally the tank light has been on from about 8AM until about 1AM, but the past couple days it has been off all day. I did watch the Pleco swim around a bit yesterday evening playing with my cat, but didnt notice anything strange. That said, I didnt turn the light on either, otherwise he would have went and hid. (I say playing with the cat because he easily could have went and hid if the cat was stressing him out, but instead was all over the front glass. Even to the point of charging close to the glass

I turned the light on this morning and about half of the pleco is covered in a light grey oddly shaped patch. It looks more like something wrong then just a change in color. It looks like something is on him, but I am not really sure. I couldn't get a good look this morning. I will try and get a picture with my phone tonight to post for more ideas. Outside of that, he seems to be doing fine. . .

Erimikos

Sorry, I forgot to add the form with all the questions. Here it is though.

1. Size of tank?
- 55G

2. Water parameters
- LFS said it was 'pretty good' a couple days ago. Did not get exact numbers, and do not have my own testing kit yet. Money and all.

3. Temperature?
- 78 Degrees (using dash to distinguish answers in the form. . . water is not -78 degrees. )

4. FW (fresh water) or BW (brackish)?
- Freshwater

5. How long the aquarium has been set up?
- About a week

6. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
- 1 Leopard Sailfin Pleco - about 4 Inches long. - Had him about 5 days

7. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?
- Not sure what this means. It was introduced by letting it float in the bag for about 25 minutes before cutting the bag open and letting him swim into the tank. Have learned better since then, and will acclimate differently next time. . .

8. a. Any live plants? Fake plants?
- Not yet. Brazilian Pennywort is in the mail. . .
b. Sand, gravel, barebottom?
- Gravel
c. Rocks, woods, fancy decors? Any hollow decors?
- Couple solid decorations, fake plants (from LFS) without hollow spaces
- A few river rocks, that were soaked in water, scraped, soaked, scraped, then had boiling water poured over both sides for a few seconds. places to provide hiding places. (from river)
9. a. Filtration?
- 2 60 gallon hanging filters running full time.
b. Heater?
- 1 300 watt underwater heater set at 79 degrees

10. a. Lighting schedule? What lights are used?
- 1 florescent light on one side. Not sure of wattage. 8AM - 1AM most days. Off the past few days.
b. Any sunlight exposure? How long?
- 3-4 hours of direct sunlight to 1/5th of the tank. Will be getting curtains or covering that part of the tank to resolve this.

11. a. Water change schedule?
- Every other day at this point
b. Volume of water changed?
- 10 gallons (from a 55G tank, so approx 20%
c. Well water, tap water, RO water?
- Tap Water
d. Water conditioner used?
- Prime. Water is removed, Prime added to tank for amount of water being added. (A little over the needed amount just to be safe) then water added directly to tank.
e. Frequency of gravel/sand (if any) vacuumed?
- Has not been yet. I need to get a gravel vacumn. Will be with every water change though. At least I beleive that is whats right, unless I see differently somewhere)

12. Foods?
- Algae Tab to supplement algue growth in tank.
How often are they fed?
- 1 tab each night.

13. a. Any abnormal signs/symptoms?
- Irregularly shaped Grey patch covering about half of the pleco. Not covering front of face, or entire back half, just a patch covering most of his back.
b. Appearance of poop?
- Did not check specifically this morning to see if he was going, although it seems he constantally is.
c. Appearance of gills?
- Again, did not have time to check in detail, as I was in a rush and noticed him looking off.

14. a. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis?
- No
b. What meds were used?
- N/A

15. Insert photos of fish in question and full tank shot if necessary.
- Did not have time to get any, although I will see if I can do so.

Erimikos

Parameters of water an hour and a half after last nights water change. (doing 20% changes for a few days now due to the funky pleco problem)

Ph = 7.6
Ammonia = .25
Nitrates = 10
Nitrites = 1

I also just added the Brazilian Pennywort I received into the tank last night.


Here are the two pics I managed to snap last night.







Any ideas?

He is starting to look a little better. . .

Erimikos

Ok, so it has gone the other way then I thought.

The Pleco seems to be doing worse now then he was. Worst part is, I just want to take him back to the LFS at this point because I know I wont be keeping him anyway. Hes going to get too big! I just need a couple bristlenose, not a huge monster like this guy.

Anyway, Everything I have seen so far points to Saprolegnia as being the cause.

The cure I keep finding is Methylene blue. And, that it kills all plants, and dyes everything it touches blue, down to the silicone in the tank. Awesome! *sigh*

I suppose I will be finding a new home for the plants for a week or so while I try and run this stuff through the tank, of course killing the beneficial bacteria too from what I hear. Ugh.

marshallsea

At one week your tank has not cycled . You don't have any bacteria to kill. You need to read up on the nitrogen cycle. It's too soon to have a pleco. Rehome him. Don't add any fish until you understand the cycle. Do daily water changes as long as you have fish until your tank is cycled.