# Pleco jumped out of tank



## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

This is a good excuse to go out and get a quarantine tank right now. You really should have one anyway. It doesn't need any lighting or anything. Just go get a 5.5 AGA from PetSmart and throw a sponge filter in there.

This exact thing happened to me one time with a BN pleco, and when I found it the cats were sniffing at it on the ground. I picked him up, dropped him in the QT, and he's still alive today.


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## frozenbarb (Dec 16, 2006)

You know that if a Pleco jumps out and dries up on the floor. You can still revive it by putting him back into the tank.

Its something about the Pleco that can do that, weird creatures they are.


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## art_t (Jun 8, 2008)

That was exactly what happened. He dried up on the floor. 

I'm dropping my daughter off at camp and then I'll go pick up a small tank. What should I do about a heater for the tank? They don't usually have heaters for 5 gallon tanks.

I'm about an inch away of getting rid of the fish tank entirely!!!! I'm not kidding.

Thank you for your help.

Art


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## joy613 (Jun 19, 2007)

Walmart has little heaters that aren't temperature adjustable. You could use a 25 or 50 watt heater in there as well. Use some filter medium out of your present tank to get a jump start on cycling.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Yeah, get an el-cheapo walmart heater. They are perfect for little 5g tanks. They cost like $8 or so.

Don't get rid of your tank!!! This is just a little hurdle, that's all. The pleco will be fine, and now you'll have a quarantine tank up and running, ready for any further troubles you may encounter...


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## art_t (Jun 8, 2008)

The pleco died while I was out. I did go to walmart and I bought a 5 gallon bow front tank kit (comes with the little light and filter) plus I bought a heater for it. 

After having my tank for 2 years I'm just getting disgusted with constantly worrying about the fish, the plants...etc. I bought new substrate for the tank, live plants that are supposed to be "low maintenance" and my tank looks like crap.

The plants are dying, my fish are dying (I lost my clown loach a couple of weeks ago) and now my pleco jumped ship. The water parameters are perfect, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Without the clown loach, snails are eatting the plants just to add to the problem. I was in the process of setting up a 55 gallon tank, but I'm just not sure anymore.

Well, thank you again for the help. 

Regards,
Art


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Sorry about the loss...

What size tank are all these inhabitants in? What is the full livestock list? Maybe they were overcrowded? Maybe they weren't being fed enough? I don't know, I'm just throwing out possibilities. I personally think you shouldn't let this dissuade you from setting up your 55g. That's a nice sized tank that you can keep lots of fish in, and I think once you get it going you'll have a lot better luck than you've had recently.

Sometimes things like this happen, and you can't avoid them. All you can do is roll with the punches. I'm sure there's some explanation for what happened, and it will come to you in time.

Don't give up!

:smile:


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## art_t (Jun 8, 2008)

I'm not sure what's going on.

I have a 20 gal. tank with 6 black skirt tetra and 1 cory. Ichanged the substrate about 4 weeks ago to Eco Complete and I planted live plants (which are struggling too). I did throw in wafers for the pleco and he looked great, so I can't figure out what happened. 

I'm just concerned that the bigger the tank, the bigger the worries. Kinda like having kids. Little kids little problems, big kids big problems. 

I guess I just feel frustrated that the plants are dying too and I'm not sure what to concentrate on, fish or plants. I can't seem to handle both at the same time for some reason.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

My advice, and this is an opinion I think I share with others on this board, is to focus on the plants. If your plants are healthy, it will just naturally create the proper environment for the fish. OTOH, you can have an acceptable environment for the fish which is NOT necessarily the best environment for plants.

I can only tell you that it's the philosophy I use, and it works for me. As long as my plants are happy, every single last one of my fish are too.

But your mileage may vary, I suppose. Best of luck to you.


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## mavisky (Jun 18, 2008)

How much lighting?
CO2 injection at all?
Are you using any fertilizers on the tank?

As I quickly found out there's alot more to growing plants than sticking them in some good dirt and calling it a day. 

As for the fish have you checked the water parameters? How big were the pleco and clown loach. A 20gal is big enough for both when young, but the 55 would've been better for them. Did they have places to hide? Do you have a glass top for your aquarium?


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## art_t (Jun 8, 2008)

I have a 65 watt Coral Life light (it's 130 watt with both bulbs on, but I only run 1 bulb).

No CO2 injection. When I purchased the plants I was told that they were low maintenance and didn't require a CO2 injector.

Yes, I use Seachem florish, florish excel, iron, potassium etc for my fertilizer and I go according to the schedule on the Seachem website. I realized up front that you can't stick plants in and expect them to just grow, that was why I tried to go with plants that were as low maintenance as possible for starters.

I've had the pleco for about a year and I had the clown for about 6 to 8 months. There is a cave for hiding and driftwood for hiding. From what I can tell the water parameters are good. No nitrate, no ammonia, ph 7.2, 78 degrees on the nose. 

I guess that perhaps the 55 gallon might be easier after all...at least for the fish.
Art


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## mavisky (Jun 18, 2008)

Hmm, everything sounds fine. I'd look into a glass top personally. I didn't have one on my 55 and my Amano lept out after the second day, Not sure how or why but her was gone. It also helps with reducing water loss due to evaporation.


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

Yeah bigger tanks hold more stable paramaters. once you get yours up and running itll be harder to mess up than a 20.


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## sherry (Mar 4, 2004)

Art, you are running more than 3 watts per gallon without c02 injection. That is VERY VERY High. no wonder you tank looks yucky. It is impossible for your plants to outcompete the algae without sufficient co2 and 3 watts is a high light tank. 

I am running 2.5 watts with co2.

with that I grow all of the hard plants.Ludwiga glandulosa, Ludwiga Pantanal, tonina fluviatilas, tonina belem, euriocaulon , ect.

my non co2 tank with "low maintenance" plants has only 1.25 watts pergallon. In there I have blyxia alberti, java fern thin leaf, baby tears, crypts and anubias. NO algae that a single olive nerite can't handle. 

Your ferts are not great. but I wouldnt' even bother worrying about those until you decide if you want a high light co2 tank or if you wnat to drop that light by half. 

The pleco and clown are heavy for a 20 gallon tank as well. That clown will need to be transferred eventually.


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## flyjsh (Jun 2, 2008)

Art,

Sorry to hear about all the trouble you are having. Many of us have been where you are (having some trouble and seeing "everybody else" with perfect tanks).

My first suggestion to you is relax! Aquariums are supposed to be soothing, not make us pull out our hair. It sounds like you are working very hard trying to make a low maintenance tank.

About 30 years ago, I bought a 30 gallon and stocked it with 6 angels (P. scalare) and 6 corys. I wanted to breed the angels, so I set the tank up with all the bells and whistles (including a fancy new canister filter my LFS had just started importing from Germany). So, there I was with a new tank, good stock, and just enough knowledge to be dangerous. I heard fish often spawn after water changes, so I was doing 20% water changes every other day. They didn't spawn. I read somewhere fish need a certain pH, so I started buffering or acidifying the water to get that "perfect" pH. It only stressed the fish. Then I heard about this "Blackwater Extract" water conditioner that would coax the fish to spawn. I added it and watched the fish for hours, looking for any sign of breeding behavior. Nothing. I tried feeding several live foods. The fish gobbled them up, but still no fry. The fish seemed healthy, so I resigned myself to the fact that I just didn't have a "wet thumb". Over time, I fussed less and less with the tank. Water changes every couple weeks. Letting the filter go longer between cleanings. The water quality was still good, but I worked less and enjoyed more.

I had the tank up and running for a couple years when I took a 2 or 3 week vacation. Before I left, I did a water change, set up an automatic feeder, and left the lights off (no live plants back then). When I got home, I had a hair algae bloom (I didn't set the feeder correctly resuolting in too much food and too much sunlight entering the tank). As I took a head count, fearing I had lost some fish, I noticed a hazy "cloud" around a couple of the angels. I looked closer and saw dozens of new fry. I was elated: after all my trying to MAKE them make babies, all they really needed was to be left alone.

Since then, I have tried NOT to fiddle with my tanks as much as possible and my livestock seems happier. Start simple. If a problem develops or you want to improve something, make ONE change at a time and let the tank run for 1-2 weeks minimum before making another change.

Good luck,
j


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Agreed, your tank(s) are supposed to be enjoyable. If you're finding that you're overly stressed, it's time to try another method.

I also do regular gardening, and when I was very active with it, I had all kinds of beautiful flowers everywhere. People would ask me for my "secret". Well, here it is: Plant lots of different plants. The ones that die, throw out and never buy again. The ones that do well, keep.

By doing it this way, only the plants that did well with my setup (soil, ferts, etc.) grew while all others were tossed. That made my gardens look fabulous when, in fact, they were just doing what plants do.

I also refused to cover my plants during any of our very rare freezes. My philosophy? If it can't handle our weather, I don't want it. Even if I ran out to cover the plants on every freeze, eventually I'll miss one and the plant will be dead. Might as well let it die now.

You cannot be a true gardener if you don't kill some plants. It's just the way it works. And this holds true for aquatic gardening. You MUST kill some plants or you're not really trying. 

Determine what level of work you would like to put into your tanks. Then get suggestions on which plants and fish would fit in with your plan. There will be lots for all plans. Get what you like out of the suggestions and see what happens. If a plant just don't make the cut in your tank, let it go! Those that do well, keep and maybe buy more of the same or similar (such as different crypts if they do well in your tank).

Keep using this trial and error method until you find the plants that do well in your tank which also only require the effort you want to put into it. You may prefer anubias, java fern(s of different types), crypts and maybe a stem or two. Keep your lighting very low. You can probably get away without any ferts or very little ferts. I have crypt wendtii 'bronze' in my 20L that's always done amazingly well no matter how much I abuse that tank.

Eventually, you'll end up with a tank that only requires the level of work you prefer so you can sit back and truly enjoy the tank and fish. It may take a bit of trial and error in the beginning, but you'll eventually get there.

And as flyjsh mentioned above, sometimes less is more.

Also, keep in mind that sometimes stuff happens. I just had a bunch of anubias go south on me for no reason I know of. Even the anubias I had been growing for a year were affected. Most of the rhizomes tuned into mush even though they were not covered in the substrate. Didn't make any sense.

I yanked them out, cleaned them up, and put them in another tank. Surprisingly, they may end up even better than before because the parts that have survived are putting out new branches all over the place! So what was once just one branch with leaves will eventually become a network of branches with leaves! Sure, it will take some time, but that's half the fun. Sometimes what appears to be a lemon can become lemonade. 

But the best advice I can offer is to expect to kill plants. Expect that not all fish will always make it. Expect to get algae. And with each step you take, you'll learn more and more until you eventually get the tank you're wanting. It doesn't have to be hard. It just takes patience and a willingness to let your tank do its thing until you finally get everything balanced.

BTW, you never mentioned which plants you have or what's wrong with them. If you do, people can help figure out what you can do to make them better.


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## art_t (Jun 8, 2008)

Thank you again for the advice! I'm really not trying to overdo the tank. After having it for 2 years with fake plants, things seemed to be running smoothly at one point. It seems as though everything changed once I added the new substrate and live plants. 

Sherry mentioned that the light wattage is too high without a co2 injector (thank you Sherry) The new tank I'm setting up (the 55 gallon one) comes with a hood and lights. I have to assume that the lights on a standard tank hood are not as bright as what I have now.

Yes, I have algae starting to grow (it looks like fine hair). I'm doing a water change today and removing the dying plants. I ordered the stand for the 55 gallon tank 4 weeks ago, and it's still not here. That's been my big hold up on setting up the new tank. I cancelled the order yesterday and I'm going to purchase a stand today because I'm tired of waiting.
Art


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I have been told that planted tanks are the most difficult of all to maintain, harder than salt water tanks. There are so many variables that all have to work together, and if anything's not in balance, it throws everything off. So it makes sense that things changed with new substrate and plants. However, a planted tank is also the most rewarding when you do get it balanced.

Your new lights will most likely be much less brighter which will definitely keep algae and other issues to a minimum. I ran a very dim light over my 75g for months without any problems. I've begun using my brighter lights (just 2 of 4 bulbs), and I'm now dealing with some algae issues. The light drives it all.

Good you cancelled that order! 4 weeks? They must not be too interested in getting the tank for you. A 55g tank is pretty standard. If a LFS can't get one in 4 weeks, I wouldn't trust them.

Good luck on getting your new tank today! I hope it all works out well for you. :smile:


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