Pleco keeping

April

Member
Apr 5, 2017
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NJ
Hi. I just got a tiger Pleco and did a water change a day after I got him and couple of hours after water change, it died. Still kicking myself.....I bought him as a birthday present to myself as he is quite expensive....anyways, I checked all parameters and everything is good. The only thing I can think of is the ph change. Our water is really hard, around 7.8, I also have a gold nugget Pleco, Coreys, and livebearers in tank, gold nugget smaller than the tiger, so I am adding seachem acid regulator in tank to bring down ph to 7.0, which then slowly creeps up to 7.2, 7.4 as days goes. This is my second gold nugget as I've lost the first one in 3 days. So I thought ph was the culprit, per the LFS, use ph regulator to bring ph down. Gold nugget still surviving for a week now, hopefully I can keep him longer, but would the sudden ph change killed the tiger Pleco? Is it necessary to change ph water for the Plecos? If so, how do you do it.
Thanks in advanced.
 

Bigjohnnofish

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Apr 15, 2010
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Perth, Western Australia
i have found plecs will thrive in a very wide range of ph... from 6 through to 8 no problem at all....

what they dont like is a sudden change - say going from 6ph to 8ph or vice versa.... to move a pleco into a new tank with a big ph difference you need to slowly acclimatise the pleco to its new water slowly over a period of time... greater the ph change the longer it should take... i would take min 2 hours to go from 6ph to 8ph.... using an airline to slowly siphon new tank water into a bucket with some old tank water and pleco...

they can suffer from ph shock....

but if it took only 2 hours to kill your plec than i would be looking elsewhere for an answer..... try testing water for ammonia and nitrite.... and also check for high nitrates....
 

April

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Apr 5, 2017
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NJ
Thank you for the response and advise. Water parameter all good, the Pleco actually sat on the air stone on the bubbling water, I thought he like the stream so I left him alone, but after couple hours he was turning pale and white that's when I realized something was wrong. I probably should have added the acid regulator slowly from the bucket of water that is slowly added into the tank rather than adding in directly into the tank, ph shock?
As for feeding, can I feed them the algae wafer everyday?
 

dw1305

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May 5, 2009
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Hi all,
Water parameter all good, the Pleco actually sat on the air stone on the bubbling water, I thought he like the stream so I left him alone, but after couple hours he was turning pale and white that's when I realized something was wrong. I probably should have added the acid regulator slowly from the bucket of water that is slowly added into the tank rather than adding in directly into the tank, ph shock?
That is very useful.

Because the plec was sitting on the air stone before it died it sounds like it is a dissolved oxygen issue.

Plecs from fast flowing water need much more highly oxygenated water than "normal" aquarium fish.

Have a look at: <"Aeration and dissolved oxygen in the aquarium">.

cheers Darrel
 

April

Member
Apr 5, 2017
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NJ
Thank you for the info, so it could be lack of oxygenation in tank rather than pH. I actually just switched that day to a larger air stone with lots of small/fine bubbles because the bubbler that I had was acting up. Lesson learned (unfortunately had to loose a fish) but thanks for the info, really appreciate it.
 

plecoaddict

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Apr 23, 2009
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Michigan
Sorry to hear you lost him April! There are a couple things I wanted to point out here as well. New fish sound always be put into a quarantine tank for at least a couple weeks before putting them in the main tank..... I always do longer than a couple weeks myself just to make sure. Like Bigjohn said.... most plecs do just fine in a wide range of PH.... so if your PH is 7.8 normally there really is no need to adjust it at all. All that does is stress your fish and your wallet!! I have heard of others breeding plecs in higher PH than yours is.... not ideal but it is possible. I hate to speculate on why he actually passed away where the others didn't..... but I will say keep a eye on the rest of your fish in there and see if they are having a hard time breathing..... also what is your tank temp? I didn't see where you said what it is and that could be the problem too.... to high or cold of temp and it may take a couple 3 hours for him to pass away too.... and would explain why he needed the extra oxygen.

Chuck
 

April

Member
Apr 5, 2017
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NJ
Temp is 80 deg. All others still doing good, could be the LFS too, this was the second Pleco I got from them and the first one, gold nugget l-018 dies after 3 days....I probably just don't have luck with this LFS. I have found another L-177 gold nugget from another LFS and so far, about 3 weeks now, and he seemed happy. I also am not adjusting tank ph at the moment......may have to lower ph though because of elephant nose fish, researching on a portable RO unit to get water ph lower, but this could be on another forum. :).
Thanks for the advice.