PLECO!!!

Question
Ok. i dont know if my pleco is sick or not but, here are some details. i have a 20 gallon tank. 80 degree water. tank buddies are 6 giant danios. a red tailed black shark and a albino rainbow shark. The pleco used to be fine. he swam around. stuck his mouth on different places and used to be solid black with some white spots or vice versa. i dont know. but today i noticed that he stayed on the floor at the same spot for like 4 hours not moving. only his mouth was moving. i threw in an algae wafer and it landed on his back and he didnt move. it took him like 3 minutes for him to find out it was his food then he let the algae wafer fall under him then he set his mouth on in and just sat there bearly eating any of it. also his color is starting to turn kind of brownish. i dont know if it is slime or not. please try to help me. tell me if this is normal or not.
also sometimes, each shark will swim and bite at him a little? then he swims off as well as the sharks do. plzzz hellpp mee

Answer
Hi there, sorry to hear about your pleco!

The best thing I can recommend is to do a 30% water change on the tank. Poor water quality is the number one reason that fish start to behave sickly and sometimes plecos are the first ones to show signs of bad water conditions. *You might want to repeat these 30% water changes for a couple of days and see how well the conditions improve.

The pleco might also be being bullied out of his usual favorite hiding places by the sharks.  Both Red-tail and Rainbow sharks are very territorial species and tend to take over caves from all other fish. Its very likely they could be making the pleco miserable and depriving him of a good place to hide. Maybe try providing extra caves.

~Also, I would weigh down a slice of zucchini or a leaf of romaine lettuce to tempt the pleco into eating. Most plecos do like to come out at night to eat so provide one of those vegetables when the lights are out. Plecs don't like being in bright light and his paler coloration is very likely a stress response.

Definitely try water changes, providing extra caves and offering vegetables to him and see how he improves.

I hope all goes well!
Karen~