I've tried for ever to get a pleco to live past 2 weeks. I buy them algae disks, I give them cover, I put driftwood in the aquarium, compatible tank mates, you name it. After two weeks, I notice they start to have ick, and then slowly pass away.

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? It's one of the only fish that I can't keep, and I have no idea why. I've read all the FAQ's, pleco care sheets, and everything else under the sun, and follow it to a T, but it never works. How do you guys do it?

My tank stays anywhere from 76-80 degrees, the pH is about 8.3, I do 30-40% water changes weekly, water parameters are normal, and the tank is on a 10-12 hour light cycle.

Any ideas? Any species you recommend?

How big is your tank?

maybe you have some salt in your tanks on accident plecos are very salt intolerant

With a pH of 8.3 I'd be concerned that your hardness is also high. Coming from South America many (if not all) pleco's originate in soft acidic water. Many will do best closer to their natural habitat, though commercial breeding often conditions fish to a broader range of conditions.

How good is your retailer? I've seen many pleco's at retailers with sunken stomachs from poor feeding.

In my current residence I have high copper and iron, eliminating all invertabrates. Sometimes you need to pick fish to suit your conditions rather than trying to manipulate water parameters.

umm ick doesnt just come out of nowhere. if they all came from the same store id sugest finding a new store (although its likely that its the supplier not the store)

also check your levels if only for a giggle id hate to think your losing them to Old Tank Syndrome

other than that id acclimate them slowly most fish can adapt to any ph. its kinda like a human moving from new york to florida. it will be a culture shock if your not eased into it.

also if your just lookign for a scavanger check out upside down catfish they dont get gigantic like plecos do probably a max of 6-8 inches and most plecos only eat algea as youngins then tend to be like any other catfish and scavange leftovers as adults.

they are active both day and night.

If the ich is not extensive and your only noticing it after you've purchased the fish there is an excellent chance of irradicating it before it even becomes a problem.

If you try another pleco you could dose your tank with half the normal medicinal dosage of salt (1 TBS per 5gal instead of 10). At this level salt will be tolerated fine by a pleco and will assist in combating stress from the ich. Also if your tank mates are species that will tolerate it you could run the tank around 82f for the first 14 days after the pleco is introduced, ich will not do well during the tomite stage of it's life cycle at such a temp and that alone may be enough to stop it in it's tracks. If your particularly worried and don't think the salt and heat alone are going to cut it, you could also dose with a half strength dose of Malachite Green for a period of 14 days to ensure you have killed off the ich through several lifecycles as it is only vunrable during the tomite (tankfloor to host) stage.

Here is an article I have written on the dealing with ich if it's any help...

Recichlidus Forums - Dealing with ICH

My personal experience - excessive heat hasn't killed ich. I ran into a bad case a while back (actually it was on some fish Mazza_402 gave me, and none of the others in the tank, come to think of it)... after unsuccessful treatments with a blue stain (similar to malachite green), and salt, I ran the temp all the way up to 92 for several weeks. No cure was ever effected, and the fish eventually died. Of course there is the distinct possibility that it wasn't Ich. I didn't check post-mortum to see if it was anything else.

That's weird, It's been shown through studies that the ich protozoan should die in a temp that high :mellow:. A lot of fish will survive (my tanks can run around 90 here during summer, Australia) but it's not really recommended to have a tank temp that high on purpose :blink: , that temp alone will kill some fish in my experience. Mid 80's might be an ok step in the hope of curing or preventing ich but I wouldn't advise pushing 90's unless it's your room temp and there's no way around it barring major investment in a chiller.

How do you check post-mortum and make an evaluation on cause of death?

Ph is too high for commons, Fix the tanks Ich problem pleco's need to live in an established tank (6months or more) to have adiquit nutrients, Also try feeding a potato, nuke it in the microwave for 30 secconds untill soft and then put in Cold water get a fork and tie a string round it and put it in the tank, your other fish will eat it too, mine all do

I'm a little confused about the fork and string thing. Does the potato get tied around the fork, or does the fork stab the potato and the string is for...?

I think the string is for retrieving the fork and potato. :lol:

string is tied to the fork and is used to retrive the fork when the spud is gone

you tie the string to the potatoe throw them both in and just say "fork it mother forker"

The string gets tied around your finger as a reminder that you put the potatoe in your tank. The fork is for jabbing yourself in the arm to prevent getting carried away with potatoes in general and falling into a potatoe induced psychosis.

lol this is getting stupid

ROTFL (I need an emoticon for that, I think that will be one of the four to replace the bottom ragged looking ones). Ok, so seriously, why not just toss the potato slice in? It should still sink, as long as it's not fully cooked beforehand, and I could just reach in and pull it back out, right? Ok, I don't LIKE reaching in, as it adds to the possibility of putting a new disease into the tank, or could possibly give me a disease from the tank, but I keep my tanks pretty clean and healthy, so I'm not too worried about that... except that I do know that I have a previously undocumented bacteria lurking around the house (possibly on the cat) that sometimes get's re-introduced into my 10g tanks over and over (never infecting the same fish twice, and it was only fatal once, to a new fish that was already diseased and stressed, that's what I get for shopping at WalMart here). I really need it to infect one of my larger feeder fish so I can send it to a lab to get it documented... but most of my fish now have built up an immunity to it.

Seems like common plecs can't live in my tank because of the high pH. Other than that, I've always put them in there in relatively new tanks, < 6 months old.

You mentioned the upside down catfish can live in my tank? Do they need a school to be happy? I've always liked the upside down catfish.

Unfortunately on new tanks plecos have a hard time. What i've done in the past is place vacation feeder blocks around where they hang out. They love those things. Its worked for me, give it a try.