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I have no idea what happened to my poor pleco, i had an albino female brisle nose pleco who just died. I thought plecos would be the last creature to dye in a tank, there could be nukes flying yet plecos and cockroaches would both be alive. All my other fish are prefectly fine. There is abit of ammonia but just cause i just found the decay and took it out. How i did have a friend looking over my fish and i got what looks to be half inch cotton balls at the bottom of my tank. No idea what those are. Im hoping she didnt eat one and made her ill.My other pleco is just fine.

my current readings are
Ammonia 0.5 (probably due to dead fish)
Nitrite 0.0
Nitrate 160 (maybe something to do with the white cotton balls)
PH below 6 (which is weird)

Im about to do a water change.

Check the pH again and or pH kit. A WC would be good with a good vacuuming. Cotton balls I haven't clue but I'm sure someone here like Longhair or Frank will know they know a lot, but in the mean time here some info you might be able to figure it out, will at least you will know what the parameters are for BN pleco.

http://www.aquariumlife.net/profiles/plecostamus/bristle-nose-pleco/100049.asp

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Plecoctomus,%20Bristlenose.htm
This one deals with the albino

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/bristle.htm

Djrichie
"Don't Panic"

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

First thing's first:

How big is the tank and what are the other inhabitants?

Your nitrate of 160 is sky-high, and indicates that the tank is way overstocked, you're overfeeding hugely, maintanence hasn't been done in a while, or any combination thereof.

My guess is that the nitrates are what did the pleco in. The "cotton balls" you're describing are most likely a form of Saprolegina, a so-called "water mold" which is actually a form of protist. Saprolegina shows up whenever there is a lot of organic matter to decay, but whether you had these in your tank before because of gross overfeeding or if they just started to show up because they were decaying the pleco, I can't say.

I think you're suffering from "Old Tank Syndrome". This is when, after a while, a stable tank begins to slowly decline. Symptoms include rising ammonia, nitrates, and decreasing pH. This is a good article about OTS, and I highly suggest you read it.

Joe Potato

Your nitrate of 160 is sky-high, and indicates that the tank is way overstocked, you're overfeeding hugely, maintanence hasn't been done in a while, or any combination thereof

I think we could all help you better if you address Joe's response above. I would like to know how you are cleaning your tank. Are you vaccuming the gravel when you do a water change?

EDIT: Fixed quote.

"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

Thats saprolegnia fungus, it will eventually kill all the fish you have until the tank is cleaned up. Saprolegnia exploits any uneaten food, and will, when levels are as high as yours, transfer directly to the fish and start eating them alive.

By most peoples standards that level of tank cleanliness is pretty shocking. The water should have nitrate of no more than 40 ppm even for plecs. Time to seriously review hygiene , do some major water changes- like 50% now, and then 30% every 5 days for er -forever, and cut the feeding in half.

Then affected fish should be treated with an anti fungus and finrot medication. No point in even treating them until that tank is seriously cleaned up.

The low ph is just a reflection of all the dead and dying acidic matter in the tank , its not weird, clean it up!


Time to get your hands dirty fella !

EDIT: Misclick.

the fact there is no nitrite and very little ammonia does this mean im over the worst of the hump?

after the water change as u can assume the levels are now half.

i have a 29 bow tank with

one 5 inch columbian pleco, one upsidedown catfish,and 16 small school fish. we do a water change every friday with a proper gravel vaccuum, we also have 2 filters the whisper 30 and the pinguin emporer 200. then some small plants

Youre not done until the nitrate is reading less than 40ppm, which is an acceptable marker for keeping most fish healthy.Ammonia and nitrite should also read zero for the tank to be considered an environmentally healthy place to keep fish.

One 5 gallon bucket of your tankwater at 160 ppm could put an entire 55 gallon tank of otherwise clean water over acceptable limits. Youd have to do 4 x 50% water changes over 4 weeks or so just to get it to normal levels, as the level will be rising and is accumulative. 3 changes would get it back to where you need to be, and then one more to make up for what accumulated in the 3 weeks you did the others!

Then you monitor your average weekly rise, and then calculate the water change youd have to do per week to cope with that increase, and then stick to that regimen of water changes, making sure that every time you do that weekly water change, that you do your best to give the gravel a thorough clean. The overall objective being to not let it go over 40 ppm again.

Id like to say the worst is over, but in actual fact youve probably barely scratched the surface. Hopefully that will put it into perspective for you.