Red bumps/ sores on Bristlenose Pleco /RMF      8/23/16
Hi,
<Hello>
I noticed today that my Bristlenose Pleco has two lumps/sores on it and wondered what it might be. It lives in a 240 litre tank with harlequins, rosy tetra,
<Best kept in a school, can be/come nippy>
phantom tetra, minnows, Oto's, Synodontis catfish,
<Mmm; which species? Might be picking on your Pleco>
Cory catfish, 2 small Pakistani loaches, 2 small clown loaches. The tank is 6 months old. Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate is 20. The Bristlenose has been in the tank for about 3 weeks and is about 2 and a half inches long. I have tried researching antibiotics in the UK but do not know what is good to use if it becomes infected.
<Am referring you to Neale Monks here... he is a Briton... and think he will suggest eSHa's line>
There is nothing sharp in the tank. Thank you for your time.
Sean
<Saw your pic... could be a trauma at work here (as I suggest above); or?
Bob Fenner>
Re: Red bumps/ sores on Bristlenose Pleco /Neale       8/23/16
Sorry. I forgot to attach a picture.
Hi,
I noticed today that my Bristlenose Pleco has two lumps/sores on it and wondered what it might be. It lives in a 240 litre tank with harlequins, rosy tetra, phantom tetra, minnows, Oto's, Synodontis catfish,
<As Bob has mentioned, Synodontis spp. can be boisterous. Much variation though. Synodontis nigriventris is a schooling species that is fine with Ancistrus spp., and even "gentle giants" loners like Synodontis eupterus are pretty good. But there are some species in the trade that are less reliable; Synodontis nigrita for example is often sold as Synodontis nigriventris when young, but grows twice the size, isn't sociable, and throws its weight around quite a bit!>
Cory catfish, 2 small Pakistani loaches, 2 small clown loaches. The tank is 6 months old. Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate is 20. The Bristlenose has been in the tank for about 3 weeks and is about 2 and a half inches long. I have tried researching antibiotics in the UK but do not know what is good to use if it becomes infected. There is nothing sharp in the tank.
<Oh yes there is! That substrate looks horrific! Definitely not catfish friendly. Catfish like to stick their heads into the substrate, thrash about a bit, and extract any bits of food they can find. Fine "pea" gravel or smooth silica sand are ideal. I'm wondering if these "sores" are actually more like cysts or blisters, perhaps even viral, but undoubtedly related to the environment somehow.>
Thank you for your time.
Sean
<I would recommend eSHa 2000 as a good all-around antibacterial. Don't forget to remove carbon (if used) while medicating. I'd also review the substrate and strongly recommend changing it. Not only is it much too coarse, it's a bright colour guaranteed to make your fish "fade" their colours and look washed out. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Red bumps/ sores on Bristlenose Pleco      8/23/16
Thank you for your response.
<Welcome.>
The catfish is a Synodontis Petricola which was sold as a Pictus Catfish.
He isn't aggressive.
<Indeed; definitely one of the better Synodontis. But does have rather specific environmental conditions. Hard, alkaline water for example, which makes it an odd choice for life alongside tetras! That said, if yours is thriving in soft or medium hardness water, then obviously not a big deal. Flip side, if your water is very hard, keeping tetras can be tricky.>
He lets the Pleco in his cave. The Pleco is still very small.
<Can we not call him a "Pleco" or "Plec"? He's a Bristlenose, genus Ancistrus. Although they belong to the Plec (UK)/Pleco (US) family, the Loricariidae, they're no more closely related (or similar) than, say, house cats are to lions. Much better to think of his specific needs rather than those of a "Plec". In other words, he's relatively small (to 14 cm), prefers coolish conditions (22-25 C), needs a secure hiding place, and feeds primarily on algae and tiny invertebrates rather than scavenging for leftovers. They're actually MUCH better aquarium fish than the Common Plec, but they aren't interchangeable. As your specimen shows, they're a bit more delicate. Whereas the Common Plec is able to survive in oxygen-poor habitats in the wild by breathing air, your Ancistrus comes from quite fast-flowing streams where the water is shallow, well-oxygenated, and as mentioned earlier, relatively cool. Ideal companions for tetras in this regard, many of which come from similar habitats.>
It is also very active. I was watching the tank in the dark and the only thing it avoided on it's endless laps around the side of the tank was the clown loaches. I have two and they are about 5 centimetres long. I had 3 but one died. I was told they are peaceful fish but these are new to the aquarium (3 weeks) and seem aggressive. Is it normal for them to attack other fish?
<Yes. All Botiine loaches have the potential to throw their weight around. On top of that, Clowns are social (to the point they misbehave in groups smaller than 5) and get extremely big, certainly over 20 cm, and I've seen specimens 35 cm long and almost as round as dinner plates! While they do grow slowly, long term, 240-litres isn't nearly big enough for the species.>
There are 6 black phantom tetras, 6 white finned rosy tetras and 6 rosy tetras. They generally all stay together. They are not overly aggressive but I have seen one go to nip a tail of a different fish.
<Quite so. Tetras are normally well behaved, but like a lot of schooling fish, can be nippy if bored. None of your tetras are serious nippers like Black Widow tetras or Serpae tetras, but if they misbehave, adding a few more of the species in question often fixes things. In a tank your size, I'd be keeping at least ten of each. Their impact on water quality will be minimal.>
The gravel is a pea gravel but seeing it enlarged so much in the picture I do agree it does look incredibly sharp and not fine enough for the catfish so I will change that.
<Understood. Garden centre smooth silica/silver sand or the finest grade gravel is easily good enough and very cheap. Just needs a lot of washing, and check that it's lime-free. If using sand, just a thin layer, a couple cm, is all your need unless your tank has rooted plants. Search WWM re: sand in freshwater aquariums for more. As for gravel, this is the substrate of choice for most, being nice and dark, and so bringing out the best in the colours of the fish.>
Other than the substrate is there anything else that usually would cause cysts or blisters that I should change? The water parameters are fine.
<Really hard to say. Blisters usually indicate either heat damage (such as burns if the catfish hides wedged by the heater) or else physical damage (including scratching on the substrate, bites from other fish, and even clumsy handling by the owner). Usually they heal in time, and while treating as per Finrot with something like eSHa 2000 is useful to stop any bacterial infections, good water quality is the main thing. Viral infections (such as Lymphocystis) often go along with some type of environmental stress, from the wrong water chemistry through to heavy metal exposure. No actual treatment is needed, as these viral infections tend to clear up after a few months or so (sometimes a year or two!) but again, reviewing the tank is a good idea.>
Thanks again
<Hope this helps, Neale.>

Re: Red bumps/ sores on Bristlenose Pleco        8/24/16
Some really helpful information thank you.
<Welcome.>
What size tank is suitable for clown loaches?
<A tricky question. Let me direct you to the Loaches.com website if you haven't already seen it:
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/clown-loach-chromobotia-macracanthus
Anyway, they suggest a minimum tank for a school of adults around 6 x 2 x 2 feet, which works out at about 650 litres. That's a big tank! While it wouldn't be the best way to keep them, I think you could probably get away with a trio in 450 litres, but with the proviso that these loaches are prone to being either nervous or aggressive when kept in too-small a group, and the benefit of a really big tank is the potential to keep 5+ specimens, which is the best approach. For sure these fish grow slowly, and it can be several years before they're even 15 cm long, in which case a tank around the 450 litre mark would work okay. But when all is said and done, these are a demanding species not well suited to the average aquarist (or the average budget!) despite their wide sale. If you remember the Red Tail Catfish debacle of the 1980s, much the same thing pertains to Clown Loaches; i.e., far more of them are bred and sold than can properly be looked after. Pangasius Cats, Silver Sharks, Oscars, even Common Plecs fit into this category too.>
I don't want to buy more in the hope that they settle down and not be able to care for them when they get bigger.
<Understood.>
I am a bit worried because I did suspect that one had injured another of my fish that died.
<Personally, I'd hang onto the ones you've got, but with a view to rehoming them once they become too big. Maidenhead Aquatics are a chain of stores in the UK that are very good at rehoming fish. Indeed, the branch in Crowland (near Peterborough) actually specialises in loaches!>
I do have other tanks but they are smaller. I have a 120 litre with 2 musk turtles (under a year old) and 2 sucking loaches which are larger than the turtles.
<Do they all get on? Given how nasty the Sucking Loaches can be at times, keeping them with Musk Turtles makes good sense!>
I don't really want to put them with the turtles in case they feel a bit peckish and decide they want a snack. I have a 90 litre with female Betta, 3 Otos and 3 sterbai Corys in it. If I moved them into the larger 240 litre tank would it be adequate for the clown loaches until they started to get larger?
<For a while, yes; but I think once they go to, say, 10 cm, I'd be looking to rehouse them. 240 litres is a brilliant size for a community tank. Can't be beaten, in fact. It's just bad luck that Clowns are too big for community tanks. There are any number of smaller loaches, like Yo-yo loaches, that would work better.>
Lastly I have been looking on the internet at different substrate, mainly soil as there is a layer under the gravel. It is very expensive and wondered whether there was a cheaper alternative.
<Heavens yes! If you're setting up a serious planted system with CO2 and all the rest of it, then a proper plant-specific substrate is probably a good idea. But if you're just sticking in a few hardy plants (Crypts, Amazon Swords, Vallisneria, etc.) then plain gravel is just fine. Just remember to stick plant fertiliser pellets into the substrate near the plants every month or two. That's all you need to do. Plants normally fail because of lack of light. If the substrate is at fault, their leaves still grow but go yellowy, in which case you add fertiliser to the water or, I think with better results, as pellets for their roots to 'suck up'. In fact unless you have super-fast plant growth, a rich (i.e., expensive) substrate will more likely spur algae into becoming a pest. If you really want to pamper your plants, leave them in their rockwool-filled pots, and the hardy plants will happily spread out from these, sending runners or daughter plants out all over the gravel. Easy peasey! The thing to remember about aquarium plants is that the easy ones are basically weeds, and need no more fussing over than dandelions, though just like weeds, they grow in sunny spots away from competitors, hence the fact light is the limiting factor.
Don't forget also that Java Ferns, Java Moss and Anubias couldn't give a rip about the substrate because they aren't stuck in the ground but stuck to rocks and woods, and obviously floating plants don't care either. In other words, the fact plain gravel is what you want/can afford is NEVER a reason to worry about not having a nice green tank!>
I used to have sand in one of my smaller tanks and found that difficult to clean.
<Understood. But you don't actually need to clean sand. If you use it in a tank with plants, their roots send oxygen down into the sand. Snails or catfish will skim the top layer, especially if you choose snails that burrow but don't breed quickly, such as Tylomelania species, or Assassin Snails. Set up thus, sand should basically stay clean, though it will darken a bit in time, and that's fine. The idea of "bad gasses" coming from deep sand is a bit of a myth -- look up deep sand beds in marine tanks, and you'll see they're actually a good idea, and the freshwater hobby is a bit paranoid about them!>
The Bristlenose's name is Mr. Plexy so that is why he was referred to as Plec and I agree he is different to the common Plec and quite lovely in his own right.
<Even better when this species starts breeding!>
Thank you.
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Red bumps/ sores on Bristlenose Pleco      8/25/16
Wonderful advice Neale.
<Welcome.>
I have separated the Clown loaches and the Pakistani loaches from the community tank. Unfortunately too late as not sure which of them attacked my Betta and it has died.
<Could be either, to be honest. But Bettas are, basically, bad choices for most community tanks. Sticking one in a community tank is like keeping a Pug alongside a pack of wolves, on the theory they're all dogs. We've bred Bettas to such a degree they don't really work with ordinary fish.>
As for the sucking loaches and turtles they actually are really good tank mates. They are both full of attitude and won't take nonsense.
<I bet!>
Have lots of space and hiding spaces too. I have very clean turtles as the loaches clean them regularly haha.
<I was going to ask you about that! Mixing fish with turtles is done, but it is tricky, and only certain combinations work. I think you've hit on one of them! Cheers, Neale.>