Something wrong with my Zebra Pleco

kalawai · Post by **kalawai** » 22 Oct 2003, 03:37

He has been acting different---staying on his side--and has gold slime coming off the top of his head. What is going on with him?
I've had this fish for over 8 years--never had a problem--until now.

Post by **Silurus** » 22 Oct 2003, 03:41

Did you test your water? What are the parameters?

kalawai · Post by **kalawai** » 22 Oct 2003, 19:00

PH 7.0 Nitrites 0 Nitrates trace amounts. Have Eheim canister filter-- I clean it twice a month--well change the filter pads as the handbook tells me.
The tank is a 90 gal fully planted--have flo powercompacts 10,000,5000 daylights and actinic for the colors on the fish--really brings out the pretty colors of the fish.
I found one of my clown loaches dead this morning---still not sure about its death. This fish was normal one day--gone the next. The Zebra Pleco is eating and the gold slime is gone today.
I've had this setup for 8 years---have not done anything different in the care maybe change bulbs. I do water changes once a week--
I did bring in some new Angelfish about a month ago--I had them in a 10 gal for a month. I'm thinking a lizard fell in the tank--in Hawaii-- we have these little lizards in the house--Geekos.

Who knows

doctorzeb · Post by **doctorzeb** » 22 Oct 2003, 19:22

Hi Kalawai

What kind of substrate is in your tank? Is it possible that there could have been anaerobic build, i.e. do you have sand? I lost a couple of large loaches a while ago due to a gas pocket, no previous signs, then boom both gone.

As for the zebra, It sounds good that it has started eating again, hopefully if there was a problem he is on the mend.

check out the chart below and see if any of the symptoms match.

http://www.klsnet.com/files/fishchart.htm

good luck

kalawai · Post by **kalawai** » 22 Oct 2003, 19:49

Doctorzeb--I think I have to agree with the gas bubble thing. The substrate is a mix of different sizes of gravs---but its about 2 to 4 inches deep. I do have heating cables in the tank--maybe some places are not getting covered well. I'll need to do some probing around to get that taken care of before I lose anymore fish. Thanks for opening up my eyes

doctorzeb · Post by **doctorzeb** » 22 Oct 2003, 21:03

It's a bummer of a way to discover them, but touch wood, once you have, you can keep on top of them. I stir up the sand with my finger and use one of those plastic flexible rulers to slide under stones, wood etc to disturb the hidden substrate.

How's the zebra doing? I lost one today, but when I looked inside her she had a massive tumour so nothing could be done anyway.

Hope everything works out OK.

cheers
rob

kalawai · Post by **kalawai** » 23 Oct 2003, 02:13

My zebra is doing fine.........still can't figure it out. Yeah, I did find some pockets of gas-no wonder my clown died---gee,I thought I was going too.

polkadot · Post by **polkadot** » 23 Oct 2003, 03:32

Clown loaches are very sensitive and if they're first to go, you might want to "clean" up your tank.

Post by **Barbie** » 23 Oct 2003, 07:29

This topic was just recently discussed in great detail at the cichlid forum and can be read HERE. The general consensus was that my personal experience with the problem had to be from improper maintenance, but I never was clear on how exactly weekly careful vacuuming and stirring of the sand and 30% water changes on a 30 gallon with less than 15 inches total of small cichlids was "improper". Some of the information is informative, but I find it very interesting that so many other people have had situations that seem to so closely parallel my own.

Barbie

doctorzeb · Post by **doctorzeb** » 23 Oct 2003, 09:27

Glad to hear the Zebra seems OK.

rob

Something wrong with my Zebra Pleco

Something wrong with my Zebra Pleco

zebra is ok