# pleco swimming funny



## Stacy1990 (Mar 2, 2014)

hey folks. i bought a new little common pleco a few days ago and starting just now hes been swimming funny and up to the top in corkscrews then he bangs into everything and he sits sideways on the gravel. he is in a 150gal tank with dual overflow boxes in the back and a 30gal sump underneath sporting two pumps that pump water into both sides of the tank through two hoses on each side. also there is a 12 inch airstone in the back of the tank. so the aeration and the water flow are very high. i do a 50% water change every 4 days with prime solution. please help.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

if it is a newly bought fish, then the problem might be the fish. Would you be able to tell your water parameter? It is not normally for pleco to do that.


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## Stacy1990 (Mar 2, 2014)

the little pleco was floating this morning. RIP. anyways i had put five pieces of large driftwood in the tank all at once after my last water change on friday late afternoon. the water has a lot of colour to it now so i already know the water parameters are altered and an early water change is due. the pleco was 2 inches tops just a tiny guy. i did notice and hear that he bonked his head in the tank on his way in right out of the bag. that may potentially create problems for any fish. he may have had a swim bladder problem.


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## Clownloachlover (Apr 21, 2010)

well if he bonked his head right from the start that my have created the issue, not to mention the shock of a new tank, different water parameters, diffren surroundings, new tank mates etc etc. Please tell me you did not just dump the contents of the bag into your tank?


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## Stacy1990 (Mar 2, 2014)

no i don't do that to fish haha that's mean. but how picky can you be with a 5 dollar fish. i left this one in the bag let it float in the tank for fifteen minutes. then i opened the bag and added a bit of water to the bag every few minutes until the bag was full. that's fair enough isn't it? then i sunk the bag as it was, holding it open so the fish could swim out at its own will. it nailed its head on the tank glass in one stride and it seemed to me it was bad news after that. the other one survived.


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## Clownloachlover (Apr 21, 2010)

well you should never dump the contents of the bag into your tank...after you add your own tank water to the bag, take the bag of water and the fish and empty that into a bucket and then net the fish and put them in your tank. ta way you don't introduce any possible parasites into your tank.


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

most possible parasites will be on the fish itself. Many times the water chemistry in the bag is out of whack due to an inherent inability to deal with Ammonia in the bag during transport. This is usually stable but can wildly spike upon opening the bag. Not so good to introduce this water into your tank.


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## Stacy1990 (Mar 2, 2014)

thanks gang. i figured with that much tank and water flow and filtration a little bag of water would be harmless. his transport was ten minutes. my new pleco and the fish are doing great. again thank you.


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