My Plecostomus

Question
Hi I just switched my fish from a 125 gallon tank into a 250 gallon tank.  I had 1 black ghost knife fish, 2 parrot cichlids, 2 angel fish, 2 dragon fish, 5 gold fish, 2 silver dollars, 1 shark, 3 catfish and 5 plecostomuses. My cat fish died the next day, and Im usuming it was becuase of stress from switching tanks. my black ghost knife fish died about 3-4 days after the switch. and now I notice my plecostomus (all of them) Have a Huge white spot, a little bloody on the underside of them. There stomacks look sunken in, and thier fins dont look healthy. They are swimming as normal as they ever did, but there poop is pure white, almost see through like. Its not normal, and i cant figure out whats wrong with them. My gold fish eyes are really cloudy. but all my other fish seem to be doing fine. What kind of treatment can i do to try and save my plecos. They are about 10 years old..... and about a foot in length. Please Help Me

Answer
Hi Bobbi Jo,
 Oh dear. The white poop indicates an intestinal infection. For some fishes, you can help this by feeding them thawed frozen peas which seems to help clear out their intestines.  There are also medications which claim to help with intestinal infections, but I have not had much success with those.  You also have to be VERY careful with medications and plecos; plecos do not handle medications well so read the labels carefully.

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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