L018 sick? Help

I got my first Gold Nugget on Dec 27. He looked very healthy and happy when I got him (thanks to tips on this site, on what to look for).

The first week or so I never saw him but I know he was eating because the veggies (zuc, romaine lettuce, sweet potato, mushroom, and algae wafers) I left had been chewed on and there was a lot of orange poop.

The last few days he has been out and about but his stomach seems sunken, there are tiny tiny white spots on him (maybe ick but he’s the only one showing signs). He does not appear to eat anymore and has been hanging out at the top on the tank by the HOB filter return with his head half way out of the water. There is also 1 small brown spot on his head by an eye.

He’s in a 40g tank with 14 Tiger Barbs that seem very happy and active. The tank seems very healthy as well, there is wood in there for him to.

He’s a beautiful and expensive fish that I don’t want to lose.

Any ideas?

hi, if he is sticking his head out of the water, there may be an amonia issue, so you would need to check that out. As for ich, did you q-tank him for a few weeks before adding him to the main tank? Ich is possible , a pic would help members to be sure . Not sure why his tummy is sunken if he has been eating ,as you said,so let other members comment/advise on that.

If you have amonia ,do a small wc and add a cap of Prime to detox the amonia . Could be the tank was not fully cycled or he was too big for the media to catch up with fast enough.

If he has ich, let other members advise what type of med , how much and how long , as plecs are sensitive to some meds.
good luck, I see you want the best for him .
keep us posted.

Georgie

Hi all,

He does not appear to eat anymore and has been hanging out at the top on the tank by the HOB filter return with his head half way out of the water.

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If any bottom living fish hangs around the water surface near the filter outlet is an aeration issue, as Zeebo suggests this may be related to biological filtration problems and ammonia. You need to do a large water change, (if you have tap water warm it up and dechlorinated it with Prime or Amquel). GN's need very warm water as well, so you need to check that the heater is working properly etc.

Have a look at our aeration sticky, high levels of dissolved oxygen are really important to keep all the current loving (rheophilic) plecs happy.

<http://plecoplanet.com/?page_id=829>

Not sure what you can get for White-spot in Canada, I've used Esha Exit in the UK.

Thanks for the replys and advice. Sorry no pics as all i have is the iphone for a camera.

I can do a large water change no problem. I did change 5g last night while cleaning up his waste. I do use Prime as well.
I checked the ammonia last night and it was 0. I added a Rio power head to the tank last week to get better circulation and pointed it up towards the top on the tank, so I think the water should be fine with the oxygen? I’m using an Aqua Clear 50 HOB filter. Temp was at 26 but I raised it up to 27 just in case.

hi, so 0 amona, not sure if ample oxygen, but you still have 2 other major issues at hand. Sunk tummy ,he needs to eat. White spots and you cant post a pic ,so you can look up fish diseases to see if it matches anything. The pics of diseases are pretty good, so you should be able to make a good judment call . If it is ich, you need to begin treatment asap, keeping in mind some meds will kill your filter biomedia, so be sure what you choose is safe for the filters, check and be sure if half or full dose as plecs are sensitive, and follow the entire treatment as ich has 3 stages and if you read up on it you will understand it more . Also , add an airstone , esp when medicating.

HTH, since members cant see the plec. please keep us posted.

Georgie

Thanks again for the help

I got a bad iphone pic. The smudge on his head is the brown spot i was talking about. Did a 50% water change but he's still not eating.

I did find my good camera, once he comes out of hiding again i'll try and get an upclose good pic. All the tiger bards in the tank still look great.

Cheers,
Chris

Do you have wood in there?

Are you trying to feed it any pellets or frozen foods?

Wood is in the tank. He never goes near it. I do give him algee wafers as well.

Finally got some good pics.

RIP Mr. Gold Nugget

Well he died.
Sucks

Thanks for all the help

Cheers,
Chris

Sorry to hear that

What type of rocks are those? They could be making your water very hard.

hi , so sorry , I know you cared about him and you did your best to help him.

Georgie

I just had this issue as well, lost my gold nugget last night. I've had him for a month and at first he was doing well staying on the bottom of the driftwood, eating veggies, etc. I have a fully planted tank and still have some airstones with an ugf set to low. At first he started coming out during the day and hanging on the side of the glass which was new. Then he started resting up on the lip where the biowheel circulates in. Mine also stopped eating and got the sunken belly. No spots on mine though. All other fish in the tank are healthy. Just checked my ammonia levels and less than .2. When you talk about aeration, I take it you mean the movement of the water and not the oxygen level of the water, correct? This would make sense for my case then because the water fairly calm, I had my bubble wall turned off and my filter doesn't put out as strong a flow to really churn the water. Any thoughts? If a GN isn't a good fit, can someone suggest a pretty pleco that does well in slightly acidic water (30ish gallons) that also has ground feeders like shrimp in? Thanks