pleco not moving but breathing

I still don't know for sure what happened, but I'm going to blame the CO2. Fish tank Pet fish Pet Animals and Pets. Fin rot is caused by underlying conditions such as bacterial infection. My fish is alive and moving, but isnt breathing? The water might be dirty or the parameters could be way off of what they should be. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. They should be living for a very long time under your care. He is starting to show his age but. This guy lasted about 10 years. One time a buddy was cleaning his tank and took all the fish out and put them in a bucket. Especially if they are in the breeding season. I went and asked to the shop from where I got that pleco. This makes it easier for them to get bacterial infections. The eyes may appear cloudy or bloody if an injury is the cause. It is the most common disease in tropical fish, like plecos, and is likely caused by poor water conditions. Young animals are sensitive to too much protein. Of course, some of the fish might simply have genetic issues. JavaScript is disabled. Keep the filter, heater, and lights on for long enough periods of time to ensure their comfort. You always want to do the best job that you can when taking care of fish. He said that probably it was aged quite a lot. For a limited time, download my pleco catfish ebook below on how to care for these beautiful animals. He was struggling really hard, and ended up tipping upside-down, fighting his way up to the surface, and all kinds of things. Vote. If your fish is stressed, you may notice the loss of color in addition to the loss of appetite and abnormal swimming behaviors. Mine in the day is under a log and will only come out if there is food. Poor water conditions usually cause bacterial infections. My pleco is laying on it's side still breathing but not movi By entering this site you declare Fin rot is a common infection among aquarium fish. There are actually many signs that show you that plecos are in rough shape. A swollen belly with pleco catfish is caused by constipation or even worse, dropsy. The first thing you should consider is whether the pleco has died or not. Now he's a happy camper. I had similar problems when I had a faulty regulator. Do you notice your pleco has no clear eyes, but a white milk-like color? Feed your pleco a varied diet, that meets the species needs. As per him, he had that pleco for like 3-4 years. They are seriously chill dudes lol. Just a thought Sayuz. Help!! As weve discussed briefly, starvation is a very common death cause of plecos. Adding an oxygen source also helps. Just like any other fish, they need a certain environment to feel good. They clean algae, but they make a bigger mess in your tank. If the fish isnt moving or breathing, its possible that its dead. Full Pleco Breeding Guide (Everything You Need to Know). Fish could die due to being bullied by other fish as well. Small anekdote: I have a tank of zebra plecos (L46) (the fish that costs $200+ a piece). Sometimes the fish might even be upside down. In some circumstances, plecos can get really aggressive towards each other. Put the torch on dim and slowly turn it up and the Plec is there. An air pump is optional, but recommended to prevent your pleco from swimming up to the surface to gulp air. Many people mistakenly think that plecos dont need to be fed. WHats wrong? To test if your pleco is dead or not, you can try to touch it and see whether it reacts. Mine doesn't get active til well after 10pm at night. Try to fix this issue by isolating the fish and fixing issues with the water quality. To revive a dying pleco, perform a big water change and make sure the water parameters are optimal. I have never seen any fish go through as much as this guy did for about 10 years and live. It can be caused by elevated ammonia levels in the tank or an injury that resulted in a bacterial infection. Both tanks are also a bit small for their inhabitants, so moving your Plec will overstock your Goldie tank. Malnutrition can make plecos get sick, and they will certainly die if you dont feed them enough. Unfortunately, catching him would be all but impossible. Why Did My Pleco Die and How to Prevent the Fish from Dying? Loss of color is a common sign that something is wrong with your plecos. As I said, the other fish are showing no signs of stress. Keeping pleco catfish in an aquarium can be a good. If it truly isnt moving at all, then there is a good chance that the fish is dead. Plecos thrive in a tank setup with a variety of different natural covers, like pleco caves, stones, and driftwood. This typically isnt the case, and some plecos dont even eat algae. Fish of the Month, Pet of the Month. ), -Research nutrition based on specific pleco species, fin edges turn black or brown and look frayed, have white dots (another possible symptom of ich). Do your best to determine what is wrong with the fish. Plecos live in environments with temperatures between 72 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. In some cases, it might even be as extreme as males killing each other. The best way is to use a net or other implement to scoop them out of the water. Click here. Using a tiny pointed tool, such as a pair of tweezers, slightly open the mouth and slightly loosen the gill covers. This process involves floating the bag on top of the tank. However, they still require feeding two times a week to have a balanced diet. Then it has cloudy eyes. If the pleco is not moving but breathing, then there are several things that could be happening. How big of a tank do they need? Nitrite is the most dangerous, and should always be at 0 ppm. Hello, and thanks for visiting Avid Aquarist! This happened all of a sudden. I may not have had one of the happiest childhoods, but I am having one of the longest. You can feed the fish foods that are high in fiber to clear it up. Even the tiny three-inch long zebra plecos are carnivores. Some people may find their pleco to be more active if they feed it live worms or move it to a bigger tank. What's wrong with him? Thats because theyre quite withdrawn fish that dont want to show when theyre sick (otherwise, predators will notice). The problem may have been caused by the fish swallowing air, so pre-soak the fish food in the future to avoid this problem. Plecos do not have scales and they tend to rot really fast when they die, so as was mentioned above, you. In most cases, it is poisoning by ammonia, nitrite, or other nitrogen. (his color blends in real well with the wall - and where he wedged himself in is hard to see unless you are looking for it. If the plecos are in a community fish tank, then itll be important to ensure that they are kept only with compatible tank mates. Often, its very hard to tell whether your pleco is sick or not. Although a cloudy eye most likely isnt deadly, it is an indicator that something is wrong and should at least be examined. Like fin rot, Ich may appear due to poor tank conditions. There are some cases where the pleco might have been injured by another pet in the tank, but most of the time they will recover on their own. All Rights Reserved. Turning white may be a sign your pleco is dying. Have you bought the pleco in question within the last week or so? Sometimes I will catch him moving about. A fish dying during the night doesnt necessarily indicate that something happened the very night that it died. You are using an out of date browser. If you are worried, you can try to move the pleco with your hands and see if it swims away. The fish might be very sick and it feels unable to move. Do you see the gills moving at all or are they truly motionless? . (+ 11 Ways To Stop Your Pleco From Eating Plants), Breeding Bristlenose Plecos (With Pictures), Pleco Size: How Big Do Plecos get? However, like any fish, they can develop sickness too. It isnt uncommon for some baby plecos to die even if youre doing your best to care for them. Is there a way to tell if a pleco fish is about to die? There are other reasons why a pleco might start floating, but its possible that the fish could be dead. They will hide, or just freeze like a rock if they think they are in danger or are freaking out. This situation can be turned around if you act fast. Your fish may be suffering from ich if their skin appears to have white dots that look like salt or sugar flakes. You might need to do a better job of doing regular water changes. Poor nutrition might cause loss of color as well. Yes this normally happens with Plecos. Since plecos are a type of catfish, they feed off of algae. Breeding bristlenose plecos is certainly an exciting thing to do. I tried to prod him gently, but he still hasn't moved. Hes in a seperate bowl. My Pleco Catfish doesn't MOVE or eat and I'm worried. While there are a lot of similarities between plecos types, there are also a lot of differences in terms of care. Quarantining and giving medicine is the most effective way to cure this disease. Infections are usually caused by the various bacteria and parasites that may be present in the tank. Isolating the fish and fixing the problems source is imperative to save your pleco. Fast forward to the next day. Stress will make fish stop moving and acting normally, too. My Pleco sits underneath the rock in my mini cave. White spots may appear on your fish if it is sick. Pleco males usually fight to assert dominance and defend their territory. Can Betta Fish Live With Guppies And Tetras? The white spot on it's eye sounds like some type of fungus. Check out the FishForums.net Monthly Unless you are bying a large (when grown on) species of pleco who is to say that it's a baby, unless this is visualy obvious. My Angel fish keeps laying on her side at the bottom of the My betta fish is laying on his side and breathing heavily, Is our Goldfish dying? Hi, my name is Sean, and Im the primary writer on the site. Sorry your pleco is ill. every day I feed the fish in my school aquarium and I've notice the pleco doesn't ever move. This parasitic infection causes white spots to appear all over the fish. It may not display this or other websites correctly. i have heard reports of them lasting quite a while out of water. They will eat some algae but they need more than that to stay healthy. How to Tell the Age of a Cockatiel (Age Chart Included! Checking the water levels to ensure there are no harmful ammonia levels and correcting the problem with water changes will help your fish gain its movement back. Any animal needs some time to get used to a new home and small lizards are often prey for bigger things. A pleco might choose to remain very still and stay in the same spot all day. Use an algae pad to clean the sides of tank, and siphon out the water left inside. Make sure to take notice of this behavior, and to check your water parameters to know whether there might be a cause for this. we should definitely get more hiding spots. The hardest test for a Pleco keeper is to get the Pleco addapted to his new home. What does it mean when a pleco fish dies overnight? Do not . Does the fish appear to be gasping for air? Turned out, that fish wasn't a female but the male had trapped the less dominant male and choked him (though there were plenty of caves). I thought the pH controller was set okay so I wasn't too worried. They won't necessarily be dead yet, but they'll be struggling to try to breathe. API Liquid Super Ich Cure is another product you can purchase to treat ich. These fish enjoy hiding and they often stay in the same place at the bottom of the aquarium. These fish simply arent active during the day. Hello guys, thx for your answer and sry for my late reply. If you have a nitrite spike in your aquarium, it will make the fishes red blood cells unable to carry oxygen, leading to it suffocating. Plecos are often wrongfully accused of eating and destroying plants. If your plecos dont seem to be doing so well, then youre probably disheartened. If your pleco is gulping at the surface or swimming up and down the tank to reach for oxygen, this is a severe problem. Having more females than males also helps. Plecos arent known death, although they sometimes sleep on their backs which gives this impression. The fish might be very sick and it feels unable to move. My pleco is laying on it's side still breathing but not moving. Fix issues with the water quality and give the fish antibacterial treatments. Regular water changes and cleaning the tank will also help your Pleco stay healthy. It might need a bit more time to get used to its new environment. Come join the discussion about flora, fauna, health, housing, filters, care, classifieds, and more! Ich can be treated by using medication that will get rid of the infection. Today he is floating upside down in the top corner of the tank. Im experienced in the fishkeeping hobby for many years. This could happen to any fish owner, so it is essential to understand the causes of these symptoms and how to treat them. You might even be concerned that the plecos are dying if things are going particularly bad. If the fish is still alive, it should move when you touch it. If you dont already have some in your tank, consider putting in some real. You can get something called Stress Coat at the pet store, it basically removes any chlorine that may be in your water, it has also been proven to reduce fish stress. It's good to get confirmation as to what happened. I don't know what ever happened to him, but he was ONE TOUGH FISH. Nutrition might be playing a role in the fish dying as well. Its wise to isolate the fish during the treatment process by setting up a quarantine tank. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. he has been banging in to the top of the tank really hard. I know Elbert, that handsome fellow over there in my avatar really loves shrimp pellets and occasionally freeze dried blood or tubifex worms. I hope he recovered. Keeping an eye on the water parameters and cleaning the tank regularly will help to prevent things like this from happening. Paleness is certainly a distress symptom. Usually, rapid breathing is caused by some pollutant or toxic in the water. If an injury is to blame, then it might get better on its own if you keep feeding the fish and monitoring the tank conditions carefully. I have seen this behavior once before and today, its happening again. He flaps his fins about once e Help, my guppy is lying on its back and isnt moving but is still alive. If the temperature of the water gets too low, then that could kill them. What are some signs that your pleco is dying? You might notice the pleco fish swimming erratically. This can be caused by many things, such as poor water conditions, stress, or poor nutrition. You might need to address water quality issues. Plecos are a type of tropical fish that need a heated tank with a filter. I know that this thread was posted in 2003 but I just wanted to revive it as we had an accident with 2 of our pleco's today, a bristlenose and a dwarf clown pleco. An oxygen deficit is caused by one of the following reasons: A lack of oxygen should be reacted to immediately with a big water change and the addition of an airstone. Typically, loss of color is associated with poor tank conditions. It might be normal to see a pleco breathing but not moving. By entering this site you declare When capturing the fish, be sure not to grab the tail fin because this could damage it. Ive had the pleco for 4-5 months now and hes usually very active day and night. Home > Plecos > Care > 11 Signs Your Pleco Is Dying [+ How To Save It]. If you want to know everything about setting up a pleco tank, you can read our full guide on it. Im blogging mostly about freshwater and saltwater aquariums, fish, invertebrates, and plants. If this isnt the case, check your water parameters for a nitrite spike. Receive our FREE eBook by filling out the form below. Supply food for the other fish during the day. Barely breathing! There has to be something wrong. How is your pleco doing Vicki? Betta Laying on side not moving but breathing. If this is not taken care of, it will cause your fish to die. Physical damage. Most of the time, a pleco laying on its back or side is normal as they sometimes rest in this position. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH? Feeding your fish de-shelled peas or other foods high in fiber can help decrease the swelling. Fish laying on its side, mouth open. Common pleco not moving after tank flush! They do things at night and youre not going to see them scurrying about much when the sun is out. 3. Baby plecos have been known to die when the water temperature fluctuates too much. I have seen bottom dwelling loaches just get very pale and colorless when there is too much CO2 in the water. Vicki, I think it was the CO2 as well. Fixing constipation issues will be easy. Plecos need to be kept in fish tanks with high oxygen levels. Same my pleco only comes out when the lights are off and since ive got an enenemy (sorry if i spelled wrong) he just stays there and dosent move at ALL even in the day and the lights are off i guess he loves darkness an also cus hes hiding from my guppie named bob. I feed my fish with a dim light on in the room so they are used to light and I can check them over for disease without disturbing them because they think it is the sun setting. Virginia Semi Pro Basketball, Articles P