# Poor Mr. Pleco. How to make him better?



## welok (Jul 20, 2015)

Help! My fiancee saw 2 of my crayfish fighting, so called me over. I immediately grabbed the net, and went to split them apart, and quickly realized they had the pleco (who was only in this tank until he got bigger, then was going in the 55). The 2 crays were eating him. After scooping him up, and getting the 2 crays back in the tank, I realized he was still alive! I have a 10 gallon tank next to the 17 cray tank, so immediately dropped him in that one. He has come out of hiding in that tank after ~30 minutes, and now I see the extent of his wounds:

His back fin and tail are torn up pretty good. Is there anything I can do to help him heal? *c/p*

Side note, there are no more fish in with the crawdads...


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## SHAZZA (Aug 14, 2015)

Oh poor Mr. Pleco. Give him some of his favourite food and hope for the best! I think he will be okay  . I am no expert, but I have had a sail fin pleco for 3 years in with my turtle. In the begining my turtle took a couple of big bites out of his dorsal fin and his tail fin. They grew back after a few weeks and he was fine. I think plecos are pretty resilient, so hopefully he will be fine.
Good luck.
Sharon


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Don't add anything to the tank, do 50% water changes daily till he shows improvement. If fungus starts forming use a fungus med, nothing else. I have seen plecos with worse damage survive.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Poor guy! 50% dailys should help. I am rootin for the guy.


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## Mugwump (Aug 11, 2014)

water changes and good chow, frozen blood worms, etc,....'no salt'....and BN like cooler water most times.........mid/upper 70's....


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## FancyFish (Jul 22, 2015)

Not being argumentative.

There is a time and place for using salt as part of a treatment.

Salt should not be the first go to, in this case the fin damage should not be treated as a wound and upped water changes will heal the fins just fine.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Not to mention salt irritates catfishes. So while it is a good med in many cases, for scaleless fishes, it is not.


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## big b (Jun 28, 2014)

What does active members have to do with anything?


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

Someone's back.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

he's gone


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## big b (Jun 28, 2014)

Thanks Susan.


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## welok (Jul 20, 2015)

Well, Mr Pleco is doing much better now. Here is a pic of him in his new home:


I have also given him a name: Evander. Does that mean I should name one of the Crayfish Tyson? *r2


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## welok (Jul 20, 2015)

Oh, and the tank is a little cloudy at the moment, because the roots/leaves of the water lettuce are going all over the place... Just put it in a week ago, it hasn't taken off and started growing yet.


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## FancyFish (Jul 22, 2015)

Glad he is on the mend.


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## kalyke (Nov 19, 2014)

I have a little endlers who had half his tail bitten off. I thought he would die. I removed the trouble fish, and re-homed it because it had eaten 8 of the endlers over the weekend, and the little guy was free to swim in peace. It took about a month, but that tail fin grew back in. It is colorless, but it is there. Sad because this guy had the prettiest colors. I read that it just takes peace and clean water, and they will heal themselves and grow fins back. I guess it depends on how badly injured they are.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

So glad that he is looking a lot better. I have seen plecos cut with fishing line that was used for tying plants down and mend all the way. But believe me I will never use fishing line again.


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