# Bristlenose pleco death mystery



## luananeko

I came home today to find my male bristlenose pleco that I've had for 2 years sitting dead in my tiger lotus, and I'm at a loss for what may have killed him... His tail fin was nearly gone and red at the base, but I think that was due to the snails munching on his body after he died. Tank parameters were as follows according to my API master test kit:
Ammonia - somewhere between 0-0.25 (higher than normal, but likely due to the corpse fouling the water)
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10

Tank is a heavily planted 75 gallon, has lots of driftwood, and always has a cucumber or zucchini slice available. I've been out of straight algae wafers lately, so I've been using shrimp pellets and sinking wafers for the last week. Other tank dwellers include:

5 gourami (1 pearl, 2 blue, 2 opaline)
1 young-ish Red Tail Black Shark (3-4" now)
1 male King Betta
4 Dwarf Chain Loaches
2 Otos (previously had 3, lost one last month to what I thought was old age)
2 Honeycomb Catfish
2 African Dwarf Frogs
8 Guppies
6 Black Neon Tetras
6 Neon Tetras
Plus a mess of a variety of snails that hitchhiked in on the plants (Ramshorn, Pond, maybe a few other types).

All have been living together happily with zero additions for several months, tank itself has been running for a year and a half. Only aggression I've seen out of anyone are the occasional turf chases between the gourami, but they've always ran off when the pleco swims by. Tank gets 50% water change weekly.

Any idea what may have happened?


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## susankat

I would say it was the shrimp pellets, Bristlenose shouldn't eat those but maybe once a month. Their system can't tolerate protein very well.


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## luananeko

Wow really? I had no idea  The pellets were more for the other bottom feeders than the pleco, since I figured he'd go for the veggie clip first.


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## navigator black

If the red at the base of the tail followed the lines of the fin rays, then for whatever reason, the fish had a generalized bacterial infection. It can be hard to spot in a fish with a hard, armoured body as everything happens under the rigid shape.


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## luananeko

The red was in a vertical line, looked more like there had been a big bite taken out of the tail. It sounds like the too much protein thing is what did it unless there are other theories...


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## Aeten

susankat said:


> I would say it was the shrimp pellets, Bristlenose shouldn't eat those but maybe once a month. Their system can't tolerate protein very well.



Is this for real? Currently I feed my BN pleco an algae wafer every other day and she gets shrimp pellets with the other bottom feeders every day. Doesn't seem to mind but I certainly don't want to kill my fish


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## susankat

Bristlenose aren't capable of processing protien as most fish. I have seen some albinos turn black in the belly area like a ring on the fish and be dead in a few hours. If your going to feed your bottom feeders pellets everyday, cut back on some and drop a wafer in at the same time close to the pleco.


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