# Pleco jumped out of tank, anything I can do?



## studentdad (Aug 27, 2009)

This is really not what I was planning as my first post but I would like to help this fish survive if possible. 
I woke up this morning at about 7am, at around 8am I noticed the pleco missing from the tank. I got up to investigate and found him on the floor. I thought he was already gone but when I picked him up he was still moving so I put him back in the tank. I turned up the heater (the water is at 76 right now, I turned up the heater to 78 ) but I don't know what else to do to help him. He is about 14" long and he is in a 55 gallon aquarium. I don't really have much hope because I know he had to be out for a minimum of an hour, I would have noticed if the jump had happened while I was in the room (which I was from about 7am until he was found at about 7:55).

Is there anything else I can do to help him out? He will swim around a little bit but mostly he just lays very still with all his fins down. His typical behavior is to swim all over the tank with all his fins up and stick to the side of the tank in all directions, he is actually a very lively fish.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

I have nothing to add except -- how the heck does a 14" pleco jump out of an aquarium????

On the other hand, maybe he was trying to find a bigger home??  A 14" fish doesn't really belong in a 55 gallon aquarium.


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## studentdad (Aug 27, 2009)

I am taking pictures today or this weekend to make an introduction post and get overall advice about fish but to make a long story short my landlord asked me if I wanted to take a 55 gallon tank someone who moved out of one of their rentals abandoned about a week or two before she told me. I had to take them before she had her maintenance guy put it in the trash and when I went to get it it had the pleco and about 12 incompatible with each other fish all 3-6 inches long all in about 4 inches of water. The water was so murky/brown you couldn't even see the fish in it except for the water moving. I'll post sometime this weekend with what all I have in there and looking for advice on the other fish. This is the first time I've had an aquarium.


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## 55gal (Jan 19, 2009)

I would start doing water changes. Replace 50% of the water that's in it. Waite a couple of days do another 50% WC. You don't want to clean it all at once it would be to much of a shock to the fish.

Is there a filter, if so replace the cartridges and get a bottle of decorticator (API) and follow directions.

This is where I would start.

Report back after your water has some what cleared..


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## ladybugzcrunch (Jul 26, 2009)

Poor pleco  Amazing that he could survive out of water so long  55gal, I think the OP was talking about the condition of the tank when (s)he got it, not its current condition.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

He'll probably be fine...You'd be surprised how resilient those things are!

I've actually heard of people finding fish on the floor seemingly 'dried up' but they revived and survived when put back in water.

Good luck!

Is there a hood on the tank? If not, you need one. If you can't afford that right now, you can pick up a piece of eggcrate and cut it to fit the top for now. You can get that at any Home Depot or Lowes...

Otherwise, you may find you have more jumpers!

So, did you start the tank all over? You might be dealing with some severe spikes with ammonia and nitrite if you did...Take a look in the library section at the articles on the nitrogen cycle if this is new to you.

We can talk you through it if need be...


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