pleco immediate death

Question
Chris,  I have lost 3 pleco's in the last 2 weeks after purchasing them.  I had a pleco in my 55 gal. tank for almost 2 years before it died quickly. It grew to about 6" long in that time. I have silver dollars, orange sevrums, angel fish and 2 guarami's. I vacuum the bottom at least monthly. I just changed about 50% of the water while vacuuming. the pleco's died within 24 hrs.  Please help me out. I ove pleco's and have always had one in my tank. Are their other bottom feeder options?

Please help me out.

Best Regards,

Jim O.

Answer
Hi Jim;

Sometimes plecos and other bottom feeders have trouble in certain tanks. Stir your gravel around a bit and see if bubbles come up or there are any spots that seem "gummed up". There can be areas of anaerobic bacteria that put out toxins. One breath of that over the gills can be fatal to a fish. If you find those areas in your gravel, vacuum more often and try again once they are clean. Your fish are pretty big and messy types so it's easy for them to get the gravel pretty mucky and cause illness in fish that spend more time near it. Also check the pH in your tank vs. the store tank. Tanks with big fish tend to be on the acidy side, below 6.5. If the fish store tanks are over 7.0, it may simply be from pH shock. Neither pH is "bad", just too drastic a change for the new fish. Make more water changes to bring yours up and try again.

If it isn't the gravel or the pH, perhaps you should try a different fish store. Maybe they have had some problems with them before you ever even purchased them? It happens sometimes. Fish batches can go in cycles too. For a few weeks or months, certain species of fish just don't transport from wholesalers to the retail stores very well. It depends on the weather, transport methods, etc. Coldwater fish such as goldfish have a much higher mortality rate in the warmer months for instance. High temperature fish such as discus don't transport well in winter months, etc....

Followups welcome.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins