Identifying if Pleco is Malnourished?

DGalt

DGalt

AC Members
Jun 1, 2008
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Connecticut
Does anyone have a good picture or two of what a malnourished pleco looks like (i.e. sunken belly, sunken space between eyes, etc). I can't seem to find anything specific and I just want to make sure that my pleco is ok.

I recently (about 2 weeks ago) moved my gibby to a bigger tank and I've noticed that he isn't eating like he used to. I generally keep a piece of cucumber in the tank and ever 3 or so days I'll give him an algea pellet. It used to be that if I put a piece of cucumber in the tank before I went to bed by the next morning it was all but gone. Now he'll check out the middle but leaves the rest of the thing.

I have been wary of giving him the algea pellets in the new tank because the tank isn't cycled yet (emergency tank change) so I'm trying to create as little of a mess as possible until it cycles. Cucumber is easy to fish out...bits of algae wafer not so much (at least not without a gravel filter, which I was told not to use until the tank cycles so that I don't disrupt the bacteria growth in the gravel).

I can't seem to get a good glimpse of his stomach to see if it's sunken or not. I'm just not really sure what I should be looking for, but since he's not eating like he used to I'm a bit concerned.

I'll try to get a picture of him up here...can't find camera again.

thanks
 
he may be stressed due to the tank change and the fact that the new tank isnt cycled. how big is your pleco? i would think that as long as hes eating SOMETHING you should be ok in keeping your pleco from starving.
 
Here's a picture:



It might be water quality. I know he's not too happy with the water as you can see with the white stuff on his body. Unfortunately I'm already doing daily water changes and I'm not sure what else to do to get the water quality better.
 
My sailfin goes that way from time to time, but only lasts a little while, within two days he is back to normal, feed a variety of food and syphon out the uneaten food, i am lucky i dont have to as as my hungry pack of menacing corydoras finish off any left overs..lol..
 
so far your pleco looks fine. his eyes arent in the least sunken. as they get bigger, their eyes bulge less. when you can see the shape of the socket, then you need to really worry. your doing the right things so far by keeping up with the water changes. these guys are pretty hardy. you should be fine
 
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