# Pleco missing tail whos the culprit ?



## djm761 (May 23, 2011)

I added a Hifin spotted pleco to the tank on monday and today I noticed his tail is almost gone, I think the featherfin may be the culprit, none of the other fish seem to have an interest in him during the day, and we only catch glimpses of the featherfin in the early morning on late evening. What would your opinion be ?

This is an updated list of fish in the tank: 4 Severums 2 Chocolate Cichlids 2 Uarus 1 Featherfin 3 Spotted Silver Dollars 2 yellow labs 1 Angel fish


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## lil_gold_ram (Mar 1, 2011)

Usually other fish won't bother plecos, do you have any salt in the water by chance? I added too much salt to my tank when treating for ick and my pleco got fin rot....and it happened really fast.


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## djm761 (May 23, 2011)

lil_gold_ram said:


> Usually other fish won't bother plecos, do you have any salt in the water by chance? I added too much salt to my tank when treating for ick and my pleco got fin rot....and it happened really fast.


yes one tbsp per 5 gallons, I should also mention it's not his whole tail thats gone, but maybe 20-25% missing, I did notice the tail had a white rim on it but i thougth it was a secondary infection, and I am treating that now.


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## lil_gold_ram (Mar 1, 2011)

Reduce your salinity by doing 2 back to back water changes, cories and plecos are sensitive to salt. What are you treating it with?


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## Chubbs the Jellybean (Jun 16, 2009)

Melafix. Works in a pinch. :thumb:


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## lil_gold_ram (Mar 1, 2011)

Melafix is good but maracynoxy works faster for finrot. If you prefer natural I would go with melafix and pimafix together.


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## djm761 (May 23, 2011)

ussaully I would use Maroxy for scondary infections, But I've been hearing so much good being said about Melafix, since I've been nursing the two silver dollars back to health I decided to give it a try , I havent heard of pimafix.


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## lil_gold_ram (Mar 1, 2011)

Oh yea, you're the silver dollar dude! Pimafix is antifungal and melafix is antibacterial. Used together they are supposed to be very effective but I personally have not had good results with them. I meant macaryn Oxy in my previous post, it clears fin rot and fungus really fast and you don't have to remove carbon from your filter, which is fine with me. Good luck


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I think once you have cured any disease and just want to aid recovery, Melafix and Pimafix can help.

But if there is a bacterial or fungal disease (like fin rot) already established, I would use a more effective medication until I got things turned around.


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

I've used melafix cause one of my smaller cichlid was badly injured, he had almost no tail left at all and he was starting to get secondary infections, white slime/spots on his body, poor little guy... It took a little while but he recovered completely. Then I had an outbreak of an unknown disease in my main tank, used melafix and pimafix together and my fish are all fine now. Sometimes, it can be long before melafix totally works, so if the fish is in a really bad state, it is a good idea to use something that acts faster. 
One of my red zebra used to pick badly on my pleco's fins, since he's gone, my pleco has nice fins, that red zebra was the only fish doing that, never got why..


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## djm761 (May 23, 2011)

Thanks for the replies, I moved the pleco to the hospital tank yesterday and started treating with Maracyn Two and Maroxy, the hospital tank was over grown with algae anyway and this morning he looks like one happy little pleco (6'' of poo trailing behind him)


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## lil_gold_ram (Mar 1, 2011)

Lol....that's good, good luck :fish:


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

LOL my pleco is about a foot long now and he is VERY active, he cleans the plants, I never had to scrape algea off my tank, and its been almost a year, love him... except is 2 foot long poo that can trail behind him... :lol: sometimes I just cant believe it! Glad to hear your plecos doing better!


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