Bristlenose Pleco belly up but still alive

All posts regarding the care and breeding of these catfishes from South America.
Post Reply
Rosieandorlink
Posts: 1
Joined: 20 Nov 2022, 07:22
Location 1: Christchurch
Location 2: Canterbury

Bristlenose Pleco belly up but still alive

Post by Rosieandorlink »

Help, I recently got a group of Pleco fish, Bristlenose and the longfin variants from someone, they are nearing 5 years old but some are younger and we’re spawned in this tank when the other person had them.
One of my big males has floated up to the top of the tank and I thought he was dead, he has a bloated stomach and his mouth is wide open but when I scooped him up he wriggled. If I let him out of the net he swims down but floats right back up.
After reading some other forums I attempted to feed him deshelled peas but he’s not interested at all.
None of my other pleco are acting the same and are as healthy.
He’s trying to swim occasionally but is mostly floating from one side of the tank to he other.

Tank temp rn is unknown as I just found that my heater is not working. Could this have made this happen? Why have the others not been affected?
Woodh
Posts: 165
Joined: 14 Apr 2021, 12:28
My cats species list: 6 (i:2, k:5)
My aquaria list: 1 (i:1)
Spotted: 7
Location 1: Linkoping
Location 2: Sweden

Re: Bristlenose Pleco belly up but still alive

Post by Woodh »

Sounds like diet issues or constipation to me but who knows. I had a Bristlenose randomly die on me during a water change a half year ago or so(looked abit like you described it except he didn't float to the top), it also had a bloated stomach, a bit weird since I barely fed any protein heavy food into the tank but guess he must have hogged the occasional bloodworms or something.
User avatar
bekateen
Posts: 8955
Joined: 09 Sep 2014, 17:50
I've donated: $40.00!
My articles: 4
My images: 130
My cats species list: 142 (i:102, k:39)
My aquaria list: 36 (i:13)
My BLogs: 44 (i:149, p:2653)
My Wishlist: 35
Spotted: 177
Location 1: USA, California, Stockton
Location 2: USA, California, Stockton
Contact:

Re: Bristlenose Pleco belly up but still alive

Post by bekateen »

It could also be something like kidney failure if the water quality was very bad for a long time. In that case there is really nothing to do about it. I rarely see floating catfish get better.

You could try epsom salts, but I doubt it will help.

Good luck,
Eric
Image
Find me on YouTube and Facebook: http://youtube.com/user/Bekateen1; https://www.facebook.com/Bekateen
Buying caves from https://plecocaves.com? Plecocaves sponsor Bekateen's Fishroom. Use coupon code "bekateen" (no quotes) for 15% off your order.
Post Reply

Return to “South American Catfishes (Loricariidae - Plecos et al)”