Pleco's

[nc0gnet0]

I was wondering, there has been alot discussed on different medications for Discus, but for those of us with a couple of pleco's tossed in the mix, which medications are safe and which ones do we avoid when treating for various parasites and infections. For instance, i got a couple of bottles of anti-fluke life beater from David Rose to have in case it is needed. But on the bottle it warns against using in a tank with bottom feeders. And I see this on alot of medications. So what does everyone do?

[JL15219]

I think Eddie said he dosed the anti-fluke with plecos in the tank with no problems, but I dont have any actual experience with using this with plecos.....you might want to ask him.....I have used prazi and Quick Cure with no problems but that is all I have used......

[jimg]

Anti fluke life bearer kills plecos. I have used prazi, metro. piperazine and quick cure with no problems. A few weeks ago I used life bearer and it killed 2 or 3 plecos I had in the tank overnight but never killed flukes.

[Wahter]

I have used Fluke Tabs at half strength and the pl*cos became REALLY pale. I probably wouldn't try that again. I've also had pl*cos die when I used Potassium Permanganate (PP). No problems using Praziquantel, Quick Cure (Formalin + Malachite Green), nor Metronidazole. Also no problems using Kanamycin.


Walter

[nc0gnet0]

I wouldn't expect as many issues with anti-biotics as I would with anti-parasitics, but I could be wrong. Myself, I have lost a pleco with quick cure (non discus tank). I think it may have been a combination of the elevated temperature and the quick cure combined when treating ich.

So what does everyone here do when saying combating a case of flukes or other nasties when they have pleco's in the tank? Remove the pleco's and treat seperately? And if so with what? Or, do you just bombs away and hope for the best?

I was hoping apistomaster could shed some light on this subject.....

[jimg]

I wouldn't expect as many issues with anti-biotics as I would with anti-parasitics, but I could be wrong. Myself, I have lost a pleco with quick cure (non discus tank). I think it may have been a combination of the elevated temperature and the quick cure combined when treating ich.

So what does everyone here do when saying combating a case of flukes or other nasties when they have pleco's in the tank? Remove the pleco's and treat seperately? And if so with what? Or, do you just bombs away and hope for the best?

I was hoping apistomaster could shed some light on this subject.....

That is what I have been wondering too!
I have over 100 plecos in a separate tank waiting for a way to treat them.
I cleaned all my pairs of discus with pp but not sure if the plecos have flukes. I am going to try prazi for 30 days again with dmso this time. I have tried prazi many times with vodka, (a drop to make paste), straight, etc. knocks flukes back, but did not rid them.
PP did rid the discus of any flukes, but was afraid to put plecos through it

[Eddie]

I think Eddie said he dosed the anti-fluke with plecos in the tank with no problems, but I dont have any actual experience with using this with plecos.....you might want to ask him.....I have used prazi and Quick Cure with no problems but that is all I have used......

Trich will kill definitely plecos. There aren't too many meds for flukes that plecos can tolerate besides Prazi but the problem is that many report zero success in eliminating flukes using Prazi. Now, I've had plecos survive through Quick Cure and PP but I've also lost alot too. The crappy thing is that plecos are notorious for carrying flukes, which sucks.


Eddie

[nc0gnet0]

The crappy thing is that plecos are notorious for carrying flukes, which sucks.

Have you ever seen a pleco flash? i can't say I have, which makes diagnosis even harder. I have had success with PP, but NOT at discus temps, I treated at 72-74 degrees and alot of air.

What about metro and levansol Eddie, how does this effect pleco's?

[Eddie]

Have you ever seen a pleco flash? i can't say I have, which makes diagnosis even harder. I have had success with PP, but NOT at discus temps, I treated at 72-74 degrees and alot of air.

What about metro and levansol Eddie, how does this effect pleco's?

Haven't ever seen plecos flash, they tolerate way more bugs than discus do in general. Never had any adverse reactions using metro or levi on plecos.

Eddie

[nc0gnet0]

Thanks Eddie, that helps for future reference. Have you ever diagnosed a pleco with flukes, and if so how? Can they even get body flukes? With out the tell tell signs, its seems like only a gill snip could be used for diagnosis.

[Eddie]

Thanks Eddie, that helps for future reference. Have you ever diagnosed a pleco with flukes, and if so how? Can they even get body flukes? With out the tell tell signs, its seems like only a gill snip could be used for diagnosis.

Nope, never ran anything under the scope for plecos. At the moment, I just automatically assume they have them.

PS-Just wanted to add that the plecos I've picked up have all been LFS so depending on the source, the plecos may/may not be carrying flukes.

[Darrell Ward]

I've killed plecos in the past while treating the discus in the tank with Metro. Organ failure I suspect. They died off one at a time after heavy treatment in 7-10 days. In other tanks at different times, Metro didn't seem to affect them. Hit or miss I guess. It might be worth noting that albino bristlenoses are the ones that died from treatment. The other tanks have black bristlenoses, they are still living.

[JL15219]

I've killed plecos in the past while treating the discus in the tank with Metro. Organ failure I suspect. They died off one at a time after heavy treatment in 7-10 days. In other tanks at different times, Metro didn't seem to affect them. Hit or miss I guess. It might be worth noting that albino bristlenoses are the ones that died from treatment. The other tanks have black bristlenoses, they are still living.

I just started Metro treatment today and I have albino BN....I guess I will see what happens I sure hope I dont lose them....

[jimg]

I am not to sure plecos are affected by flukes. I had flukes on a batch of fry awhile ago and the parents were from the same tank as the plecos. So I figured they all had them. I was going to treat with prazi in a different way this time but I decided to cull a couple plecos and scope them. no flukes at all.

[Eddie]

I am not to sure plecos are affected by flukes. I had flukes on a batch of fry awhile ago and the parents were from the same tank as the plecos. So I figured they all had them. I was going to treat with prazi in a different way this time but I decided to cull a couple plecos and scope them. no flukes at all.

I'm sure they are, many published documents on the subject. It might be more gill fluke than skin but its definitely a common occurence. Just a quick google search.


http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-p...1&size=largest