Strange red mark

[chibi020]

Hi everyone.

This forum seems really helpful! I'm a bit stuck at identifying what one of my plecos have. I'm relatively new to keeping them but I did keep two a long time ago. I've recently been battling with ammonia levels in my tank but they've now bottomed out along with nitrate and all the other chemical parameters I measure.

I thought it might originally be an ammonia burn, but it only appeared *after* my ammonia levels hit 0. [the highest ammonia level I ever reached was just over 1).

Ammonia:0
Nitrate:0
Nitrite:0
Size of tank: 25litre
Oxygen: Haven't measured but my tank is very bubbly, I have a pump which can deal up to 45 litres
Temp: 74F [I'm planning on making it a community tank]
Substrate: Large polished gravel [wanna keep those barbels looking smexy]
Plants: Artificial but have been cleaned
Rock ornament: Bought from Petsathome [said its been treated and is safe]
Fish: 4 Plecos; as a beginning to stock my tank. Had 5 but returned one after he showed immediate signs of swim bladder problems.
Condition: Ravenous and all are swimming healthily around the tank, foraging for food always.
Feed: Half a Plecostomus tablet in the morning, half at night. Once or twice a week bloodworms.

The one in question: Very large female; eating very healthily, isn't behaving oddly but has a strange red mark on her fin. I thought it might be an ulcer but it isn't internal like the pictures I see.

Sorry for the shocking photo quality, my camera cant deal with close ups!

Hope its clear though, its slightly red in a little circle.

Any help on this would be most gratefully recieved!

Chibi xxx

 

[Doodles]

hey welcome to the forum.

What are the plecs you have?

Are you sure its 25 litre tank? thats pretty small.

Has the tank cycled? you should have some kind of reading for nitrate if so.

The redness, does it look raw?

 

[Irene0100]

strange, hard to tell from the pics, could be an ulcer or infection.
is it in the gills?
they dont actually look like plecos (??) they look like corydoras cat fish.
they may need some other food to vary the diet like tropical fish flakes.
until you know what it is I would keep water very good by doing 30% water change and then add some melafix or pimafix as these are natural plant extracts and not lots of chemicals.

what type of filtration do you have ? its unusual to have zero nitrates.

 

[Lornek8]

strange, hard to tell from the pics, could be an ulcer or infection.
is it in the gills?
they dont actually look like plecos (??) they look like corydoras cat fish.
they may need some other food to vary the diet like tropical fish flakes.
until you know what it is I would keep water very good by doing 30% water change and then add some melafix or pimafix as these are natural plant extracts and not lots of chemicals.

what type of filtration do you have ? its unusual to have zero nitrates.

:yes: Peppered Cory, not a plec.

 

[plecmom]

oh I see the tiny red like dot just at the base of the fin, is this what you mean? Its quite hard to tell.

until you know what it is I would keep water very good by doing 30% water change and then add some melafix or pimafix as these are natural plant extracts and not lots of chemicals.

Yup!

 

[chibi020]

Thank you for the responses! Sorry I have corydoras (the peppered kind) but got slightly confused since I was feeding them plectostomus food! Haha how embarassing ^^; I've read so much on plecos and corys and every single catfish, I've lost my way in basic species identification! Nevertheless, yes it did seem odd to me the nitrate reading was 0 but my ammonia reading is using a proper test kit, and the nitrate and nitrite is from a stick reading. So I'm guessing the nitrate/nitrite is very low, if zero...My tank has proper cycled since I've been through a high ammonia and a following high nitrate stage. [I hope that defines as properly cycled?]

It's not raw as of such, its a strange red blemish. Over the past two days it's faded somewhat. I've given them some garlic extract (went for the natural option as you recommended) and I'm trying to get my paws on some melafix or primafix.

I've been a bit hardcore on the water changes, I've done roughly 30% every day. I can't stand the thought that my fish are suffering in there. Yes, I understand 25 litres is quite small. I originally had a 50 litre one [roughly, it was given to me] but my father broke it when he tried to move it. I guess this one is temporary whilst I try to scrape the finances together to give my fish a new home.

I've already got fish flakes so I'll try vary their diet a bit. My filtration is an interpet internal filter PF2. It's quite powerful! None of the other fish have shown any signs of stress on their body, could it just have been an abrasion? These fish don't attack eachother as far as I know...do they? If its a bacterial infection will prima or melafix sort it out?

Sorry for the crappy photo again, taking photos of fish is always a challenge with a camera that takes 5 seconds to adjust focus!

Cheers for your help guys, its always nice to get info from the experts!

Chibi xxx

 

[Irene0100]

25 litres is fine for a group of cories, just a bit small for plecs.

is he any better?

 

[Doodles]

If its a bacterial infection will prima or melafix sort it out?

They will sort out mild and if you are lucky moderate bacterial infections but if too severe then something a bit stronger is usually needed.

Doing the waterchanges is going to help a lot.


Hows it going now?