# Paralyzed Pleco?!



## TheNailman (Feb 3, 2011)

hi folks, i'm in need of a little help. . ..
i have a L018 Gold nugget pleco, who appears to me paralyzed!
i cleaned his tank earlier, as i have in the past, and he was fine a little while ago. just came home from doing errands and he was lying on his side, still breathing, fins fully extended. 
no stress colors, no limpness, clear eyes. other than that though, he is bone stiff!

can anyone give me any tips? ( ph is normal, as is temp and hardness. he is well fed)

thanks, :/ i'm really attached to this guy


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## freddy5 (May 27, 2011)

Are you dosing flourish excell,I know when I dose sometimes my cory cats do that,then they snap out of it and are fine,I know corys are not plecos,but could be the same reaction


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## TheNailman (Feb 3, 2011)

hmmm, interesting you mention that. i use flourish about once a week. . . .
never before has any kind of reaction occurred. 

in any event, he is looking pretty dead now. no movement, and no breathing in a couple hours. also developed a pale spot on his side. ... i think it's curtains for my little friend.


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## flip9 (Jun 16, 2011)

I use flourish comprehensive and excel on my pleco/shrimp breeding tank with no ill effects.

Just do a water change just to be safe.


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## trixella (Jan 24, 2011)

Do you have other fish in he tank and are they acting normal? There may have been something in your tap that's not normally there... like they may be adding ammonia or something else in it at the treatment plant. Have you tested ammonia or nitrites?


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## JSA (Jun 3, 2011)

Did you notice anything unusual when you did your water change? Was there funny, smell maybe? My pleco did the same thing a while back when I stirred up the substrate and a sulfur smell rose up. I came home later to find him as you described. I put him and my striped rafael catfish in my other tank. The pleco recovered just fine, but the rafael cat didn't make it. 

Julia


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## trixella (Jan 24, 2011)

JSA said:


> Did you notice anything unusual when you did your water change? Was there funny, smell maybe? My pleco did the same thing a while back when I stirred up the substrate and a sulfur smell rose up. I came home later to find him as you described. I put him and my striped rafael catfish in my other tank. The pleco recovered just fine, but the rafael cat didn't make it.
> 
> Julia


Sounds like you had hydrogen sulfide trapped in your substrate and you released it when you stirred the substrate. You can poke your substrate on occasion with a chopstick to help keep those pockets from forming.


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## JSA (Jun 3, 2011)

trixella said:


> Sounds like you had hydrogen sulfide trapped in your substrate and you released it when you stirred the substrate. You can poke your substrate on occasion with a chopstick to help keep those pockets from forming.


Yes, that's what I came to realized. I replaced that substrate and replanted - which is what brought me to this forum!


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## Bahugo (Apr 18, 2011)

Sounds like he fell asleep and lost suction from what he was hanging on to.


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## TheNailman (Feb 3, 2011)

thanks for the ideas everyone. 
i originally thought it was the water, perhaps the water authority here decided to throw something new in the mix.... However, I changed the water in all 4 tanks, and none of my other fish were disturbed in the least. 

My thinking now is, as a few of you also mentioned, that something nasty got stirred up in the substrate while i was cleaning. 

water levels are still normal.... i guess i will go look at new pleco friends at the LFS


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## Bahugo (Apr 18, 2011)

TheNailman said:


> thanks for the ideas everyone.
> i originally thought it was the water, perhaps the water authority here decided to throw something new in the mix.... However, I changed the water in all 4 tanks, and none of my other fish were disturbed in the least.
> 
> My thinking now is, as a few of you also mentioned, that something nasty got stirred up in the substrate while i was cleaning.
> ...


I wouldn't get rid of the pleco, see what happens. You can search around on google and you will get multiple threads of pleco's sleeping on their back when they are fully comfortable in their tank. My pleco has done it in the past, too the point where I literally thought he was a for sure goner for some reason but he is still healthy and grazes. 

Hope the best for your pleco.


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## TheNailman (Feb 3, 2011)

Thanks Bahugo, but he was dead as can be. :/


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## geekrawker (Apr 3, 2018)

ya same thing.. he started gasping for air 2 days prior... (150 gal with some cichlids). Water tested fine, no other ill fish (i've been in the hobby for 25 years and never lost a pleco like this). 

Last night he was beating on the top of the glass in distress when he would gasp for air. noticed stomach was sunken like he had not eaten in a few days (bloat? - no other fish have it). This AM he was exhibiting seizure like moments while laying on his back... breathing rate was not normal, shallow and rapid.. and the few times he tried to surface, he simply shot across the tank wedging him self in decor. 

Moments later he went full stiff (the death stiff). Pulled him out (big old male -about 8 years and over 1ft now). dropped him in a bath from another neutral (sick) tank.

Pretty sure hes gone... at the moment he has gone full limp.... but his eyes still have that "life" glimmer... have not greyed at all and his body still looks good with a slime coat. just full limp, no movement.. so odd. 90% sure he died 2 hours ago.. but keeping him there until i see the eyes go cloudy. Super strange.. almost wonder if it was some kind of trauma from banging on the glass a few nights ago. I've never had a fish go like this.. so strange.. and kinda crap way to go for him. i did notice he was haning around the oxygenation blower the past few days prior to going sick.. wonder if it might have been a problem with his gills.. although i dont see any issues from what little gill is visible on plecos.


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