sick pleco

Question
I have had my pleco for many years in an established freshwater tank...she is now around ten inches long and my pride and joy in a tank with goldfish, a catfish and a pair of mollies. They have all been tank mates from the start, nothing has been added or taken away. Today she started showing signs of listlessness and won't eat(she normally comes right to the top and takes the algae biscuits from my hand)...she is now EXTREMELY lethargic and when I move her with my  hand, she is unresponsive, even when she is turned over to her side(I was looking for parasites)...slow breathing, no sunken belly or paleness, and no signs of external parasites or diseases, fins outstretched and stiff....PLEASE help! Joker(her name cause she has a question mark on her belly) is like my baby...

Answer
Hi Nancy,

Get her out of that aquarium and place her in a hospital tank today, as soon as you can.

It's environmental or it's a disease, but either way, she needs to be removed from the general fish population.

I am betting on the water being too cold, but if you check that and it's okay, then there is still disease to consider, or parasite.

Get a 5 gallon tank at the store, put a heater on teh back and a hang on back filter, and get it going.  Make sure you put in water that comes from a water dispenser so it's filtered or Reverse Osmosis.  You want to give her the best.

Something is going on, on her insides.  They don't live astoundingly long, but this species is not a fish who dies early on as many species do.  Many only live 2 years.  I've had plecos much, much longer, so this is probably not age-related.

Get her into cleaner water, first off.  If it's atmospheric, it will change.  Be sure to heat her.  She sounds as if she's shutting down.

How warm is the tank she's in?  It should be about 75 degrees for her to live comfortably.

If it's not a cooling issue, then it could be due to an internal parasite or an internal infection.

Either way, put her into the other tank, heat it sufficiently, and put a good filter on the back.  See if there is improvement.

In her home tank, do a water change, 25% today adding filtered water to replace it, and change and clean out the filtration system.  It could simply be environmental.

Don't chemically treat her yet.  Let's see how it goes.  Email me back please...let me know how it's going and I will try to help you with this as much as possible.

Renee