Plecos and the terrible slime disease

[benny]

Hi guys,

Came back today and found my L128 in a terrible state. He was still fine and dandy yesterday and now, he's barely alive.



As you can see, there is a change in the body coloration and he seems to have a whitish patch all over his body.



The patch behind his eyes is very prominent. I had previously lost a L95 with the same condition and the patches seems reddish at the edges, possibily bleeding(?).



Anyway, I took him out and put him in a Potassium Permaganate dip for about 15 minutes. It's now in a hospital tank by himself with a dose of Melafix and Pimafix. I've also added a bit of salt as an added measure.

Let's see how this works, but I'm doubtful he will survive.

Cheers,

[andrewtyr]

I thought plecos are very hardy fishies

[aquarius]

I've also lost 2 of my plecos to this disease quite some time back. They seem to be prone to this disease and they usually strike fast and fatal. I've also noticed that there is reddish around some parts of the body.
Now when i notice that there is a little white patch, i'll put potassium permangenate into the tank cos don't want to take any risk. I'll do so for 3 or 4 consecutive days after which i'll change 40% of the tank water.

There might be a possiblity that it's due to feeding of food which is not in good condition cos the problem occured some time after i started feeding it with a new food. Later when i changed back, no more problem.

I also noticed that L18 is very sensitive to low ph cos i've had 4 bad experiences before. Now i maintain a kh of 4 to make sure that the ph don't drop too low.

[benny]

Regrettably, he did not survive the night.

Just ten hours after the treatment, his went still and eyes were sunken in.

He was one of my beautiful 5 inch specimen. Shame.

Cheers,

[valice]

OUCH! I feel for you. Lost 2 LDA01 three days ago.
That is a very very very beautiful specimen you had in your tank.
Hope you managed to get the one at C328 as a replacement.

And Neo Kim Suey is bringing in a new shipment of L128. Not big though.

Oh, as a side note, L200 is now officially described. Hemiancistrus subviridis, so L128 would probably be described soon too.

[benny]

I went back to see the one at C328, but didn't felt like buying it. Looks really small compared to those that I have/had.

Larger L128 are not popular because of the prices. Most of the time, folks don't wish to pay more than S$60 for a common species. But the larger ones can command up to 3 times that price. But they are also 3 times as impressive. Shame...

Cheers,

[aquarius]

Regrettably, he did not survive the night.

Just ten hours after the treatment, his went still and eyes were sunken in.

He was one of my beautiful 5 inch specimen. Shame.

Cheers,

Sorry to hear of it's death. I think what killed it is probably because you dipped it in potassium (which further stress the fish) and later catch in out again (stressing the fish again) and put it into a quarantine tank.

Just to share info, i had an experience where one of my pleco was having the same disease as yours and was just as sick as yours which i treated and later recovered. At that time i thought he will surely , i put him in another tank and put some yellow medicine (brand is from qian hu), add some salt and put a power head (as this seem to work better) to circulate the water. 2 days later the pleco became very much better!!

[andrewtyr]

My heartfelt condolences, it's a nice specimen

[Gecko]

sorry about your loss benny. let me know what you are looking for, keep an eye out for you....

[benny]

Thanks guys.

Just landed from a week's trip and found another casualty. Suspected to be a similar specimen but slightly smaller. Arrgh!

The pleco folks mentioned that once it starts in your tank, it's going to be an epidemic. We'll see..

Anyway, I'll be dosing Furan soon.

Cheers,