plecostumas fish

Question
We have a vampire plecostumas he has been doing great until a couple of days ago. He has been lying sideways in his tank and once was upside down. He has a white looking bubble coming from his butt,we don't know what this is and I don't remember ever seeing this before. Could it be laying eggs as for I have another pleco in the tank. When we move him he moves, other than that he just lays on his side. He is in a 160 gal tank with 3 Oscars and Fatty a huge pacu they have all been living together for a year now with no problems. What can this be?

Answer
Hi Shawn,
 Unfortunately, I strongly suspect that your plecostomus is not laying eggs, but rather is very sick with some sort of intestinal infection.  Sadly, such things are very difficult to treat.   

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>