PlanetCatfish.com

Hi All
I am new to this site but not to plecos. I recently purchased a gold nugget (L81)about 3 inches long. It had been doing well for about a week and then died very suddenly. Upon examination, it's belly was dark green instead of the usual pale beige. When I looked it up in the Baensch Fish Atlas, it said that these plecos were vulnerable to "green belly disease" during the tank acclimation process. Does anyone know exactly what green belly disease is?
I currently have a female bristlenose about 7 yrs old and a clown pleco that's about 2 yrs. This gold nugget is the first pleco I've lost.
It was in a 33 gallon cycled tank, filter rated for 50 gallon tank, good water flow. Compatible tank mates - 6 bronze corys, 12 pencil fish, 1 angelfish, about 15 young female bettas.
pH 7.0 (peat in the filter)
KH 30 ppm
NH3 0 ppm
NO2 0 ppm
NO3 20 ppm
Temp 78'F
Tank conditions have been very stable for months with no other fish deaths or illness.
Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

Andrea

I couldn't find this disease (nor does google seem to know anything meaningful there) in my Baensch fish atlas, but I presume it relates to what I would call "internal bacterial infection", which these are indeed quite prone to. In my opinion, it's commonly caused by "wrong food", that isn't high enough in fibre and high in protein.

More details on how to care for this type of fish can be found here:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... m+pleco%3F+

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Mats

I couldn't find anything on Google either and my first thought was that it was probably bacterial in nature. My little fellow had access to and was eating shrimp pellets, algae wafers and nori in the short while that I had him. He was fine in the morning and gone when I checked on him at suppertime.

I can say this has happened to about 85% of all of my plecos. Most of the time, it happens within a few weeks but I had two die from this after months. I've had it wipe out bristlenose plecos as well as L204 plecos. With my older bristlenose plecos that I've had for months, it seemed to strike after the introduction of feeding cucumber. My L204s all had access to lots of driftwood, and my bristlenose plecos didn't, but both died from the problem. I don't think mine got any frozen or live foods really except for the stray bloodworm every once in a while. I've thought possibly treating for bacterial infections ahead of time may treat the problem before it could escalate. Next time I buy L204s that is indeed what I plan to do. I would also be interested in any more information about this ailment.

I have lost a couple of very small bristlenoses in the past but chalked it up to the fact that they were very small and therefore not as hardy as larger specimens.