Can anyone help me? My common pleco suddenly stopped eating just over a week ago. Fine one day, a bit quiet the next, and now his abdomen is swollen, he isn't eating or pooping, his eyes are a bit sunken, and he is hiding away out of sight. No other symptoms - no red streaks, flashing, gasping, rushing to the surface or anything like that. His colour is a bit darker, but that is probably because he is hiding away in his log most of the time, which is very unlike him. He gets courgette most days, shelled peas every 7-10 days and the occasional New Era plec pellet, but he prefers courgette. Because of the corys, I'm always careful to remove uneaten food, so I don't think he would have eaten bad food. He is nearly 9 years old.
Tank is a Rio 300, ammonia & nitrite both 0, pH is 6.6, nitrate 20-40 and temp 25C. Other fish are some tetras, some corys, hatchet fish, scissortails and a Bosemani rainbow. No new fish has been added to this tank in a couple of years and all the other fish are absolutely fine. Weekly water changes and gravel wash of around 25/30%.
He won't eat shelled peas (he won't eat anything). I've tried a course of Interpet No 9 with no results, and also tried dosing the tank with 1tblsp Epsom salts per 10 gallons (worked out at 7 tblsp). Have also been doing mid week water changes of 10% to see if this would help.
I don't know what to do. Can anyone suggest anything else I could try? I'm really concerned about him. Thanks.
Tank is a Rio 300, ammonia & nitrite both 0, pH is 6.6, nitrate 20-40 and temp 25C. Other fish are some tetras, some corys, hatchet fish, scissortails and a Bosemani rainbow. No new fish has been added to this tank in a couple of years and all the other fish are absolutely fine. Weekly water changes and gravel wash of around 25/30%.
He won't eat shelled peas (he won't eat anything). I've tried a course of Interpet No 9 with no results, and also tried dosing the tank with 1tblsp Epsom salts per 10 gallons (worked out at 7 tblsp). Have also been doing mid week water changes of 10% to see if this would help.
I don't know what to do. Can anyone suggest anything else I could try? I'm really concerned about him. Thanks.