Help with injured l397

Chris 397

New Member
Jan 1, 2016
4
0
1
Central Coast nsw Australia
Hi I'm after some advice about my 2 new 5cm long l397s. There in a 4 foot community tank with some Cardinal tetras, rummy nose tetras. 2 blue Rams and a large pair of common bristle nose who have been breeding with the male still in his breeding cave. The tanks is a planted tank with plenty of wood, plants and caves. I removed about 10 other common bristle nose at around 8 cm a couple of days after putting the l397s in the tank, thinking this would be better for the new fish. Yesterday I noticed that one of the new l397s had been fighting and has suffered sucking damage on its back and dorsal fin. I have seen this type of damage on the common bristle nose that fight and they always recover. I also removed a male bn that I had missed that was harassing the breeding pair and I figured this was the culprit. Also today the damage looks slightly worse so my question is. Do you think that I should remove all the common bn as it could be the large female fighting (11cm) or in general it's better to not have bn and L397 in the same tank or could it be the two l397s fighting for territory now that they have the majority of the tank to themselves? Any Advice would be greatly appreciated. I would hate to lose a fish to some dumb error on my part. Thanks Chris.
 

Brengun

Global Moderators
Staff member
Apr 22, 2009
5,041
4
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61
Burrum Heads, Queensland, Australia
Quite possibly the new ones are feeling a bit off adjusting to the new tank and others are hassling them. It could also mean damage to slime coating in transit so I would be adding something to help that part recover. Is usually why new fish go into a quarantine tank first, so they can settle in quietly.
 

Chris 397

New Member
Jan 1, 2016
4
0
1
Central Coast nsw Australia
Thanks for the reply. I have added some Prima fix and some mela fix to help the pleco heal without infection. It is definitely from another pleco sucking on him, but I don't know which one. He has lost most of his dorsal fin. Looks to be healing up ok with no signs of white cottony infection which I have seen before on the wounds of my previous bn plecos. Do the fins on plecos regrow ? I have seen damaged webbing on fins which repairs but this looks like half of the spines are missing. Has anyone seen this in l397s that fight amongst themselves? Or is it more likely the result of fight with the larger bn plecos , should I remove them all to be safe?
 
Jan 8, 2016
29
0
1
UK
Keep tank as clean as you can, I've sometimes seen injuries to fins on mine, one had small sideways from the bottom of the tail, an across upwards tear in one, usually its between the rays. I spotted a few weeks ago, i didn't treat except to keep tank clean and parameters safe. Although a lot less serious than these fin injuries, mine healed up quickly and is completely OK now. They're are quite resilient. I personally wouldn't keep these with other plecos.
 

YAL05T

Global Moderators
Staff member
May 22, 2009
378
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16
North of Sydney
I agree with what has been covered off on. Keep the water quality up, with small changes and monitor. They are damn tough fish in general, there should be plenty of room for them in that size tank once they sort out whose territory is whose.