WHats wrong? Plecos can stay in the same place for long periods of time, or move and go back without you knowing it. Feed your pleco a varied diet, that meets the species needs. Plecos turn white for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to: poor nutrition, disease, stress, or inadequate tank conditions. My parents have a cockatiel who is 36 years old this year. Infections can be treated by isolating the sick fish and consulting your vet to determine the proper treatment. Barely breathing! They should be living for a very long time under your care. Home Aquatic Problems & Solutions 7 Signs Your Pleco Is Dying and Needs Attention. If there are no good bacteria, harmful levels of ammonia can build up quickly as plecos produce a lot of waste. In some cases, it might even be as extreme as males killing each other. My pleco is laying on it's side still breathing but not moving. Test to see if your ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels are too high. A swollen belly isnt a good sign. Nighttime is when these fish can take their time exploring their tank to find food, which they often do by keeping their skin touching the substrate (or other objects in the tank). JavaScript is disabled. Temperature levels, chemical levels, and pH could be contributing factors to poor water conditions. If your plecos dont seem to be doing so well, then youre probably disheartened. When one of us would pack it in for a while we would pass this one pleco to another person. If it truly isnt moving at all, then there is a good chance that the fish is dead. If you get no response, the fish is surely dead. Most of them can be caused by poor water conditions in the tank. we should definitely get more hiding spots. It could simply be that the pleco fish succumbed to an illness during the night. Plecos are often misunderstood because they dont like to be shown off, which makes sense given their wild origins. They arent necessarily fish that will swim around and show off for you during the day under normal circumstances. Also, theyre nocturnal fish that rest during the day. If the fish is still alive, it should move when you touch it. Here are some of my favorite foods for plecos (make a selection suited for the species youre keeping). Sick goldfish not moving but breathing/alive. Also, does he have any places to hide? If you dont already have some in your tank, consider putting in some real. I also asked my lfs and he said they are MOST active at night. Mine doesn't get active til well after 10pm at night. Checking the water levels to ensure there are no harmful ammonia levels and correcting the problem with water changes will help your fish gain its movement back. Hello, and thanks for visiting Avid Aquarist! Fin rot is caused by underlying conditions such as bacterial infection. The Fora platform includes forum software by XenForo. My Pleco Catfish doesn't MOVE or eat and I'm worried. Then the water got cloudy and that is when they started breathing heavy. If you are worried, you can try to move the pleco with your hands and see if it swims away. Plecos are freshwater fish that need to live in water that is between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius (72-82F). HELP! My pleco is going crazy! I don't know what's wrong. In some circumstances, plecos can get really aggressive towards each other. Perhaps the heater stopped working and the water temperature dipped far too low. The main pressure on the regulator has been dropping so I raised the main pressure in the regulator and then increased the bubble flow.