Sick Pleco. Meds working??

[fishymommy]

I have a 5" common pleco who gained some weird blisters under his throat which morphed into one giant blister. I took him to a trusted specialized lfs and they gave me a Fungus Eliminator (clears serious fungus & bacteria fast). I've done two doses (according to instructions) and the blisters seem to maybe be slowly getting better but now he is developing a white film over his body. Should I add Pimafix to his meds? I don't want to over dose him (or my other fish) on drugs. Or could I just add some stress coat? Would that help?

What should I do? The lfs phone line is busy so so far I haven't been able to call and ask.

TIA fishymommy

[teach]

If you can I would put him in a seperate tank alone so you can do all the meds you need for him and not the other fish.

[fishymommy]

I can't. But I will in a few weeks (which isn't much help now) but I'm setting up a 90g for him to move into soon.

[fraggle]

I've used both Melafix and Pimafix with great success, I'd use them both too if you have them, I haven't had any trouble with them with any of my catfish when I've used them, and they heal things soooooo quickly!!

[Dave66]

He isn't sick. That's a heater burn. When they don't have sufficient places to hide, they shelter behind the heater, and often get burns exactly as you described.
Plecos are quite tough. If you'd just left him alone, he would have healed himself.

Dave

[angelcakes]

a good heater cover would keep this from happening

[fishymommy]

Ok.. so I will get a heater cover to prevent this from happening. Hopefully, once he's in his new 90g he won't feel like he has no places to hide. So, if it is a burn, it'll just go away with time? Any estimates on how long it would take to heal before I should worry that it is something worse?

[Northernguy]

I hope he pulls through for you!

Does he have somewhere to hide right now so he can heal in peace, it will speed up the recovery time and helps with the stress levels.

[fishymommy]

hmm.. well.. sora. He's stuck in a little 20g right now but he does have a huge peice of drift wood that he likes to hide behind or under but there are quite a few little schooling fish constantly around

[Northernguy]

Try giving him some kind of tunnel to rest in!


Just my .02