Quarantining for a New Pleco Owner

[DarrenK]

Hey everyone, I am getting a L137 - HYPOSTOMUS SONIAE "RIO TAPAJOS" shortly here and I was wondering about best practice for quarantining wild caught plecos. I know that scaleless fish are often more sensitive to medications, is there anything you recommend? Are wild caught L137s usually bad for parasites/worms?

My current plan is to toss it into a bare 10 gallon with a piece of drift wood, some flowerpots, and a mature sponge filter for two to three weeks and and treat the tank as minimally as possible.

Thanks for any help in advance!

[Jools]

Don't worry, as a new pleco owner you personally don't need to quarantine. Sorry, my awful sense of humour.

We probably need to know a bit more to really help. What's it going into in terms of the main tank? And what's been it's route to you? You can do a dip, many use this method, or you can just let it settle and start feeding in quarantine. 10 gal could be too small depending on what size it is. However, it may be relatively low-risk to add it straight to the main tank depending on what that is and what is in it.



Cheers,

Jools

[Tony4143]

I personally would add him to the tank. Monitor it and see if it eats when you feed it. Look at the poop and see if it looks off or stringy etc. I would also keep the temps on the warmer side 82- to also speed up the metabolism and make the fish want to eat more frequently
Tony

[DarrenK]

It will be going into a 75 gallon for the foreseeable future, I currently have it stocked with 3 small (2") Ctenopoma acutirostre, and a breeding pair of convicts I will be moving out tonight. I would just put it into the 75 but I spent a lot of time trying to find those Ctenopoma so I don't want to risk them.

From what I know, the L137 will have spent 3 weeks in the importers warehouse before I get it. I know he does some quarantining but I have bought Apistos from him in the past and they have not always been in the best shape.
He is usually quite good for sizing, and has them marked as being 1.75"-2".

Will my 10 gallon quarantine be big enough at that size or should I be setting up one of my 30s?

[Tony4143]

It will be going into a 75 gallon for the foreseeable future, I currently have it stocked with 3 small (2") Ctenopoma acutirostre, and a breeding pair of convicts I will be moving out tonight. I would just put it into the 75 but I spent a lot of time trying to find those Ctenopoma so I don't want to risk them.

From what I know, the L137 will have spent 3 weeks in the importers warehouse before I get it. I know he does some quarantining but I have bought Apistos from him in the past and they have not always been in the best shape.
He is usually quite good for sizing, and has them marked as being 1.75"-2".

Will my 10 gallon quarantine be big enough at that size or should I be setting up one of my 30s?

If the fish is that size you will be ok for a few weeks if need be, keep him alone in QT until you see him eating and so on. Then you can add him to the main tank.
-Tony

[DarrenK]

Fish just came in and looks to be in good shape. Thanks for all of the advice!