PlanetCatfish.com

Hello all. Today i was enjoying my fish room when i noticed my Polypterus had many many rips in his fins as well as blood showing in them. Also it has odd "spots" on his body. I searched all the other fish. Two, out of four angelfish in the same tank also showed these "spots" on their sides and seemed generally in distress. Both these angels are white, the others are darker colored. Now im not ruling out some type of bacteria infection here as it happens to every one at some times, but i havnt had problems with water/disease in a long long time. I attribute this to large weekly water changes and gravel vacs as well has fair ammounts of filtration. Lately how ever i have added a 4" Goldie Pleco to this tank and im wondering if the "spots" are coming from him attacking or sucking on the other fish. The Polypterus is by far the worst of the three troubled fish. Infact im fairly sure ill find him DOA tomorrow. In the past ive seen other plecos "suck" on other Polys but never cause damage. I was wondering if any one out there has had any problems with Goldies attacking weak, bottom dwelling or delicate fish in their tanks. Im also using melafix and pimafix incase the issue is basterial as well as planning to bump water changes in the tank to bi-daily. Thanks for any replys, i hope some one can shed light on this issue as its confusing and rather sad, as my awesome little Polypterus most likely wont survive the night.

In my experience, plecos will suck on other fish if they are really poorly fed (starving). Otherwise, they will be OK with almost anything.

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Mats

They get veggy matter every other day and the ones who can / will eat meaty foods get it three times a week. Im thinking starvation is out in this case.

shawntraviss wrote:They get veggy matter every other day and the ones who can / will eat meaty foods get it three times a week. Im thinking starvation is out in this case.

Many plecos need food every day - particularly those that aren't on the carnivore side of the diet.

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Mats

I've heard of people keeping goldfish and plecos together, and having the pleco suck the slimecoat from slow moving and/or sleeping goldfish. At night, angelfish would be easy and wide targets as well.

Try removing the suspected fish, and see if there's any more damage done.