Sick Bristlenose :(

[Guppylove1985]

My bristlenose has what appears to be the beginnings of fin rot - meaning black on the edges of her fins and also half of her "snout" part of her face has turned dark Her caudal fin has begun to look a little bit ragged at the end, but you really have to look and it's hard to tell because it's not flared open or anything.

All my water parameters are perfect, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate is about 10. PH is 8, water temp has been high but that's because of the weather and there is no air conditioning in this house. Temperature is about 81-82 during the day. I have a Rena Filstar XP3 filter running, a UV sterilizer, and an extra sponge filter in the tank, which is a 48 gallon long. The tank is heavily planted and has a driftwood cave for her to munch on.

I leave a zucchini slice rubberbanded to a rock for her every night and she has a great time eating it completely, so I know she's not starving. In fact her tummy looks perfect, nicely softly rounded.

The only symptom is the weird blackness on her fin edges and half of her snout. I will try to get pics but she likes to hide and is hard to photograph.

I have no experience with sick plecos, my specialty is goldfish, so I don't know how to treat her. If it was a goldie that was ill I'd be salting the tank, turning off the UV and adding Melafix, and feeding medicated food. But I think plecs can't tolerate salt, and she wouldn't give a hoot about the medi-gold pellets.

Can anyone give advice as to how I should treat this?

[Guppylove1985]

pics:

Last week:


She is stress barring up in that pic because of the flash.

This Week:

and


Her color looks funky in this weeks photos because of the flash. She is actually much darker.

[MatsP]

I'm not sure about this, because none of my bristlenoses have had this problem (or any other problem, except for reproducing like guppies or rabbits).

Anyways, I think your Melafix sounds like a good plan. If she eats something like algae wafers, I guess you could add some antibacterial to that, or add a generic antibacterial to the tank water. This is best done in a hospital tank, as the antibacterial medications tend to destroy the filter bacteria too, and you don't want to do that on your "real" tank.

--
Mats

[Guppylove1985]

Thanks for replying

It's really strange isn't it? I've never seen anything like it before, with the half-black face

I got a better look at her fins yesterday as she was out and about the tank and I was watching quietly, and when flared her caudal fin actually does look normal, so that's a relief. It just has that strage ragged blackish edging her other fins have developed as well....?

I unplugged the UV and added Melafix, but I think you're right and I'm going to transfer her to a hospital tank and treat there. I don't like the thought of having a sick fish in there with the UV turned off, you know? If my other fish got ill as well and I lost them all I would be heartbroken.

I'll keep her on Melafix in q-tine for a few days and see if it gets any better, if not I have antibiotics I can add to the water.

OK - I put her in the quarantine tank and moved her driftwood cave along with her and a piece of zucchini. Hopefully she's comfortable and the capture didn't stress her out too much, since it's REALLY hard to catch a fast moving 4 inch fish in a 4 foot tank loaded with plants

[Guppylove1985]

no one has any ideas what this may be?

[Guppylove1985]

OK, as of today I just checked on her and the black on her "snout" seems to be receding, and looks more like the first pic, about halfway to that good you know?

She didn't eat the zucchini round I put in for her last night, but she's been munching on the driftwood, and there are lots of poops to prove that she's been eating something. I think I'll finish the weeklong treatment of melafix then add her back to the main tank.

[DeepFriedIctalurus]

You know...since it's looks fairly symmetrical, it might just be a nervous thing rather than a disease at all. I've seen a couple cich-lids take a bad shock from an electric cat at a petshop before, and both of those became black on the rear 1/2 of the body (as well as paralyzed in the same place. I know I dropped a cich-lid many years ago, and the same thing happened w/o the paralysis temporarily.

I also had a Siamese algae eater a few years ago that got lost some scales to another fish and it suddenly turned 1/2 black the same way. It acted completely normal for about a week before dying as suddenly as it changed color. I'm sure your bushy is in no danger of passing if this is the case tho.. If it's receding like you say, it should disappear w/o issue.

[catfishgrrl]

I had a gold nugget a few years ago get a nasty heater burn.
It was blackish while it healed, which closely resembled your bristlenose. He would hide his face under the heater.
I added a heater guard.
On a happier note, I have had BN's that when one of the females had eggs her color would change and her head would get very dark.
Either way, good luck.

[Guppylove1985]

thanks for replying everyone

I've just added her back to the main tank as she is all better, and she looks very happy to be "home"

[Guppylove1985]

physically she looks all better, but she still isn't eating her zucchini I tried cucumber last night incase she liked that better but no dice....

What would cause a pleco to go off it's food but have no other symptoms? The other fish in the tank (8 inch ryukin goldfish and a 6 inch weather loach) are peachy keen.

I'm going to test the water just for peace of mind, and post the results. I know that the PH was lowered very slowly in the main tank while she was in QT due to the addition of DIY c02 for my plants, but I made sure to acclimate her nicely to the main tanks water over 30-45 minutes.