pleco starved - i think

[Slicey P]

Hi, well i woke up to my bristlenose pleco dead today :'( He was in the tank only for about 2 weeks and i suspect he probably starved. When i first got him the tank was covered in algae, brown i think , but he wouldn't touch it ( i actuall gave up on him cleaning it off and just used a cloth lol) Then when ever i'd feed him sinking algae wafers he never paid them any attention and they would eventually turn to mush and dissolve, even the other fish in the tank would peck at the algae wafer a bit, but not the pleco. So does anyone have any tips in feeding plecos so my next one can stay alive??? thx!

[weedkiller]

did you have any wood in tank? they munch on that too, my mega clown plec seems to eat only that, hard to tell if it does anything else as it will only do other stuff in pitch black, when the lights on he goes back to his hidey hole, the bristlenose is up n down all over, munching algae off everything it can find, plus i put down algae wafers when i go bed and they are usually gone by morning.
Put down cucumber with a screwcumber before now (fantasic simple invention lol)
Sometimes fish dont eat if the parameters of their enviroment are off... was it active or just pinned to the spot?

[Slicey P]

Yes i do have a piece of drift wood and i've never seen him eat it, and he was fairly active quite often releasing bubbles then immediately swimming up to the top of the tank to get more air. He seemed fine till i found him dead, - But with my next one i'll try your cucumber idea tho...thx!

[weedkiller]

the swimming to the top for air says something to me, check your ammonia/nitrites levels, do you have an air stone?

[lohachata]

slicey...i think your pleco may have been sick when you got it...while it may be reasonably normal for a pleco to go to the surface for a quick gulp of air,it is only on occasion....he could possibly have had some kind of parasite...feed your pleco a meat based food as well as algae and vegetable based foods..
i've never had anyone tell me that their fish refused Plecocaine...lol

weed.....make sure your L-340 gets plenty of meaty food too....

[Angelclown]

Yep. Plecocaine is very good. My bristlenose plecos love it. Their color is wonderful, they haven't got lighter since I started feeding them the plecocaine. My clown loaches love it as well.

[lohachata]

just don't forget to give them plenty of veggie foods too....
glad to hear they like it angel.....

[Angelclown]

Oh yeah I am going to start varying their diet now that they are better and they like the plecocaine. I have been feeding the plecocaine since I got it and noticed that the plecos look so much better and so do my two clown loaches.

[weedkiller]

Originally Posted by lohachata weed.....make sure your L-340 gets plenty of meaty food too....

yeah cheers i know, been dropping in bottom feeder tablets with earthworm meal but not sure if the blue acaras get it as they love them over the cichlid pelets and cos he only comes out at night cant tell whats going on, is there anything that would suit that the acaras would leave alone?

[weedkiller]

cant seem to find anyone who sells Plecocaine here in the uk, thats pants as everyone seems to be saying how good it is
lohachata found you on aquabid, how much to ship to the uk for im presuming #3 size x2 bags

[lohachata]

w k....the price of international shipping is what kills you...if you can find a few friends to go in with you on a larger order it save you a lot....here is a beakdown on costs...everything is in U S Dollars......

shipping rates...

small flat rate......$16.95......holds 1 lb......total is $22.95..per lb cost...$22.95.

medium flat rate...$47.95..holds about 7 lbs..total is$ 89.95..per lb cost..$12.85 per lb.

large flat rate...$60.95..holds about 14 lbs...total is 144.95..per lb cost..10.35 per lb.

these figures based on current cost of Plecocaine at $6.00 per lb..
actually , the current price for 1 lb of food with shipping included in the us is $11.00..
but that does go down as quantities go up..
i do have a couple of international customers but very few because of the shipping rates...
so 14.85 GBP for 1 lb. is kind of pricey for fish food..
and GBP price for the 14 lb box would be about 6.42 per lb.....which is much more reasonable..

i am not really trying to boost sales with this...i do my best to try to save my customers money..
one of my customers actually will buy the large box and resell the food for a profit..he doesn't make much , but it pays for his food and gives him a couple of extra bucks for his troubles..

hope i got that right.....lol

[weedkiller]

yup understand where your coming from, large quantities would be better for sure.
at the moment my fish have more food in the cupboard than me i think, various pellets sinking and floating, algae pellets, flakes bottom feeder pellets and dont forget the frozen bloodworm, tubiflex and brine shrimp lol, whilst im going through that lot i will make some inquiries i guess an see if any friends want to split the difference.