pleco problems...

[climber05]

my gibicep has a very sunken belly. anyone know what causes this and
how it is cured???
i feed them plenty of cucumber, protein pellets and flake food.
any help would be great.
thanks

[jamosfish]

Are you 100% sure he feeds??

It might be an internal parasite, maybe it has a case of worms?

jamos

[climber05]

yeah i saw him eatin the cucumber earlier for quite some time

[likesfish]

Sunken belly isn't a good sign. Now, you have to make sure he is eating. Try to improve your water quality and give some blood worm, a bit of artemia in addition to what you are givng now. It may take at least a 1-2 weeks to see the gut improve. Probably you might notice his body is a bit emancipated as well. Are you feeding enough?

[dammwoman]

AS Jamos said...try worming him and then switch to Algae or Spirulina Wafers, plenty of Live black worm & frozen blood worm as well as a
bit more vege variety..
Good luck...Linda

[Bubblesx4]

According to my book  The New Illustrated Guide to fish Dieases    
an emancipated Pleco is usually caused by exhaustion, due to an internal worm infection.

Cheers Danae.

[likesfish]

Yep worms could be a very strong case if your water quality and feeding regime is correct. Take the pleco out and have a good look at the underside to see if it has any redness or sores. Check out the vent area also, if worms are serious you might be lucky to catch one hanging out. Try a good worming tablet but make sure it's safe for catfish. Cheerz and lets hope the little fellow pulls through otherwise a bit of fourex (not for your fish).

[climber05]

thanks for the info guys. other the last week pleco was showing signs of
improvement but during inspection today he didnt look to well. have being feeding everything from bloodworms to zhuchinni and squash and have witnessed him feeding for long periods at a time. im gonna give the worming a try can anyone reccomend a good product???

[dammwoman]

Hows the pleco doing.
We have had good results with piperizinne bird wormer.  Get bloodworm and thaw it and then press all the liquid out of it.  pour piperizine over it and let it soak into the bloodworm again.  Refreeze and then feed 2 days a week for 3 weeks.  This is to remove new worms which may have been in the egg form at the time of the first worming.
Word of warning...Although nearly all fish we worm have taken this treatment well we have killed a few.  They were Blue eyes and guppies. But be warned it obviously doesn't agree with all fish as these 2 varieties I mentioned were dead within 1 hour of feeding so it was most definetly the piperizine that did it.
Cheeers Linda

[likesfish]

interesting you mentioned about the guppy death linda. a friend had 3000 fancy guppies ready for sale, and his son put 1 dog worming tablet into each of the breeding tanks and whola, no more guppies. mind you his son is only 4 and thought he was helping his father feed the fish.

[climber05]

pleco has seemed to have made slight recovery but is still not 100%.
linda i would try that treatment but the problem is i cant isolate him at the moment as i've only got the one tank setup and dont want to risk harming my other fish. i will set up my 2footer and commence treatment if thing don't improve.
thanks for your help and info
cheers chris

[LordFlashHeart]

sorry if I'm being a spelling nazi here but I'm sure the emancipation proclaimation didn't give african americans the right to be skinny.
I think you're looking for 'emaciated'.

Sorry it's just the the pleco's symptom of seeming to be freed from slavery has given me a bit of a giggle fit over here.  :lol:

 :oops: