Albino bristlenose pleco attacks discus!!

[Anonapersona]

I am stunned, I thought these guys were safe for discus tanks! I just saw my albino bristlenose pleco hang on on the side of a discus. Not once, but twice. I have two fish with large whiteish marks on them, I can't tell if the scales are just pulled up or pulled off.

I had been noticing things that looked like maybe fish scales in the bottom of the tank. I stopped feeding BH just in case it was BH bits, and still saw the scales. I moved some of the more aggressive fish to a different tank, thinking it was overcrowding. One of the fish I moved had a large section where scales were definately missing, I suspected the other discus.

I have of course taken that bristlenose out of the discus tank, leaving one smaller bristlenose in the tank. I don't know of age and maturity made the bigger one attack, maybe not enough food in there for two bristlenoses. I will be keeping an eye on these guys, for there is a small bristlenose in the other discus tanks as well.

I have added 1 cup of salt to the 100 gallon tank, I dunno what else needs to be done except go to changing water every day until they are all healed.

Advice, anyone?

[blaze]

sorry u had find out this way, but ur not the first. Pelcos love the discus slimecoat, and the usually do their dammage at night when the discus are 'sleeping'. usually it's the larger lazy pelcos that responsible. Most pplz just throwout/exchange the larger one over a period of time.
Iv'e seen a huge black catfish with about a quarter of the skin on his side eaten off. The only other fishes in the pond were KOIs and pelcos.
What size was ur pelco?

Despite what some ppl say about some type being harmless. I never had a pelco and never will.

[Anonapersona]

He was fully grown at 5" or so.

I was familiar with the problems with goldfish/koi and plecos, particularly the large common types, but somehow I thought the smaller bristlenose plecos were safe.

[Cosmo]

Wow.. am I glad I read this thread !!! I had never put a pleco in my tanks for the very reason that I thought they'd latch onto that big enticing side of the Discus for a snack. Then, after reading numerous posts here and everyone saying they were safe, I was on the verge of getting a couple bristlenose to keep my driftwood clean !!! Think I'll just stick with periodically removing it and cleaning it...

Thanks for the post Annon

Jim

[blaze]

some ppl have them 'forever' and never had a problem, i aint risking it....

[Carol_Roberts]

I only keep discus in my discus tanks

[separatelife]

In my belif, discus will never lead a harmonic life with pleco in general. Regardless how much the pleco is, he will still disturb other fishes in the same tank whenever he feels hungry. sometimes a small pleco can be even more aggressive than bigger ones. i have seen this in my friend's tank before. For your discus' safety, it's better to trouble yourself a bit more rather than risk their lives. :o

[Spices]

Glad to have read this post. I'm in agreement with Carol ... one hundred and one percent! ;D --Angie--

[jules]

I have a sailfin, which I know is more aggressive - but he was about 4-5" when he started trying to attach to the Discus. They had the classic pleco sucker marks, which did heal quite well.

The most disturbing thing I saw with this pleco was when I had a sick Discus in there, a big old wild with a hump on his nose(age??) I knew he was dying; but when the pleco started feeding from him, that was it. I culled the Discus. Anyways no more sailfin with Discus. I will have to rethink the albino now.

Julie

[separatelife]

I have a sailfin, which I know is more aggressive - but he was about 4-5" when he started trying to attach to the Discus. They had the classic pleco sucker marks, which did heal quite well.

The most disturbing thing I saw with this pleco was when I had a sick Discus in there, a big old wild with a hump on his nose(age??) I knew he was dying; but when the pleco started feeding from him, that was it. I culled the Discus. Anyways no more sailfin with Discus. I will have to rethink the albino now.

Julie
yes, when pleco is surrounding your fish, your fish may be close to death. pleco like dead smell. it seems this can be applied to any fish. when my pleco kept disturbing my ray, i knew that my ray was in dangerous state. luckily she could still survive. God bless!

[Howie_W]

Plecos are no different than any other fish in that they have basic requirements that must be met; stable water conditions, hiding places, and ample food supply.

I've been keeping plecos with Discus for many years, and have not had a problem when all of the above criteria are met.

Plecos are happiest when they have lots of hiding places and good food sources. This type of aggression is more likely to happen in a bare bottom, than a fully planted tank where there are fewer places for plecos to establish territory, and the Discus are eating up food quickly.



Howie

[bigfish]

Hi
I have experienced this myself with "plecos" they will and do attach themselves to discus, feeding on the slime coat.Have heard that the bristlenose is perhaps the safer bet but i do not agree,and i no longer have
any plecs in my tanks.

[Wahter]

I think sometimes this will happen based on individual pl*cos - some will decide to start going after the discus, others don't. Lots of breeders and importers keep pl*cos in their tank with discus, so sometimes it works. IME, otocinclus will go after discus if there aren't that many other places (decorations) to stay on. I've seen a farlowella even get on a discus as it went from sword plant to sword plant - that farlowella stopped doing that after a few days. I've got some zebras, queen arabesques, and had a gold nugget pl*co with my discus and never seen any suction marks on the discus, nor seen any of those go after the discus. I do have plenty of hiding places for those pl*cos though and they do get plenty to eat. (plus the queens and the zebras are more eye candy than algae cleaners).

[Pat_in_NC]

One trick to help prevent this is to rotate young plecos in with breeding pairs to "train" them. Breeding pairs (especially with eggs) are quite aggressive towards plecos and will keep them at bay. I have had a very few instances of plecos attaching to discus and putting them in with a breeding pair quickly cured them of that habit. Along the same lines someone here (Willie?) suggested that young plecos should always be kept with adult discus and only older "trained" plecos with young discus fry. Albino bristlenose plecos are among the least likely plecos to attach to discus but it does happen on occassion and the offending pleco should be properly "trained" as to who's king (and queens) of the tank.

[blaze]

OMG training Pelcos.... the things u learn on Simplydiscus...wow