snail killed BN Placo?

[kampmanfan4life]

I found my BN Placo floating dead tonight. The day before he seemed fine. I don't know how he died but one of those annoying snails (pond snail?) that always come with plants was sucking on its eye. Could the snail have caused it's death? I did not see any other marks or anything wrong with the Placo. A bunch of Zebra fish are the only the occupants of the tank.

Thanks for the reply

[genocidex]

doubt the snail did anything, zebra fish meaning dianos? they shouldnt be a harm. do you have driftwood? did you feed the pleco instead just letting it chow on algae? what are the parameters of the tank? any new additions?

[kampmanfan4life]

Yes they are Zebra dianos, and nothing new with tank. I do weekly water changes every Sunday, so tomorrow Ill do one.I got two pieces of driftwood in their and usually throw in an algae wafer one or twice a week. Also cucumber if I got one, roughly once a week. He lived for probably 1.5 years and everything went smooth as far as I could tell.

[rodm81]

As genocidex asked, what are your water parameters? How long has the tank been up and running?

[kampmanfan4life]

Just did a test. Colors show 0 ammonia .5 nitrite and 0 nitrate. Tank has been running for about 1.5 years

[rodm81]

Is this a heavily planted tanked? If so 0 nitrates makes sense, if not your cycle may have crashed. If your cycle stalled that would probably explain what happened to your pleco. What is your wc schedule? How often do you clean your filters and how exactly do you clean them?

[talldutchie]

A pondsnail taking on a bristlenose... LOL! No, impossible. A bristlenose which gets annoyed will send snails flying in all directions. Pondsnails will scavenge and start on dead bodies. With a bristlenose, which is armored, the eyes are an obvious place to start.

In this case it's the nitrite or possibly a lack of food which got it. The feeding regimen described would only work in a mature tank with plenty to graze.

[genocidex]

the nitrites tell me your cycle crashed... 0 nitrates even in a very heavy planted tank is un heard of, unless right after a big water change. my guess is it just got too stressed and the ammonia (if the cycle crashed there would be an ammonia spike) weakend him and the nitrites killed him... sorry for your loss.

things that can kill a cycle you ask?
not dechlorinating water.
thinking aging will dechlorinate it.
not knowing chloromines are in the water, not all conditioners can remove those.
sudden change in ph might cause a slight die off...

other chemical contaminates too but not likely...

[Dennis Bissett]

I think Genocidex hit the nail on the head, if you have nitrites your cycle has crashed, if so the worst of the water is at he bottom of the tank where BN's hang out......
Look for something that changed - ph level or chemical additions to your water supply, painting or fumigating the house, etc