Re: Sick Plecostomus

Question
QUESTION: Hi Megan. Further to my previous message sent about 90 minutes ago, I have now seen that my Plecostomus has a very swollen stomach/under belly which appears slightly white or transparent. He also has a long white poo hanging from him. I tried searching the internet and sounds like he may have something called dropsy. Do you agree? Please help quick!
ANSWER: White feces can be Hexamita. Dropsy causes the body to bloat and scales to protrude. An effective treatment is the drug metronidazole.

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QUESTION: Hi. Please could you expand on this answer. His stomach does appear very swollen/bloated. Do you think it is dropsy? What is Hexamita? Does metronidazole treat dropsy too?
I have now spoken to my aquatics store who said they never heard of a Plec getting dropsy and to take him out of the tank and kill him!!! Although I've only had this fish for 1 week he is all ready my favourite and would hate to lose him :o(

Answer
It could be then. Hexamita is in the digestive tract and causes the belly to become concave. Remove the fish and put him in a quaruntine tank (in case it's contagious) and try treating him for dropsy with some anti-bacteria fish food. If that doesn't work please email me at megan140@msn.com and I will work to do what I can but please be patient if I don't respond right away because my computer is in repair and I haven't had a chance to use a different computer.