My pleco is having more difficulties. Its case of blood poisoning seemed to be improving for a while there, but it really doesn't seem to be getting better anymore. The spots on its fins are still more orange than red really, but they are definately not supposed to be there.

I have started with more Melafix and hope that I can get things back in order.

Any other suggestions?

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Also, I am having some difficulty when feeding my pleco. It always seems to leave most of its nightly algae wafer behind. The other two never had this problem. I am thinking it would be best to try cutting back on the amount fed each night until it can finish it off.

I am also thinking that maybe it would work best if I considered getting some sort of other bottom feeder to help with leftovers.

Anyone have something to recommend? It would have to be able to tolerate hard water with salt and high ph as well as get along with guppies and a pleco.

As it is, I am siphoning up the leftovers each morning, but I would prefer not to have to do that in order to keep the water quality up.

just feed the pleco half a wafer. The guppies in my tank eat the wafer along with the pleco. if you didnt have a common pleco i would add some type of cory. They school together but then your tank would be overcrowded. i dont know what type of water they like but they are great fish.

i found out that cories prefer soft to medium water.

i also relize that your pleco is still young, half a wafer is more than enough. Its also good that you take out the leftovers.

yeah, I try to keep on top of it. The last thing it needs is for the water quality to slip.

Still, some sort of bottom feeder would make things so much easier.

i know that you are planning to return the pleco to the store when it gets to large. How many inches will it be when you plan on returning it? commonbplecos create alot of waste so you dont want to over stock. There are very few fish that can live in hard water. Plecos prefer soft and medium but can tolerate hard. I think the blood problem could have been caused by placing the pleco in hard water. It just a theory, i dont think this can happen anyway, i dont know any other catfish that can tolerate your water.

well, that will depend on how crowded the tank is based on guppy breeding. As I have it planned though, I am planning to give it at least 6-8 inches worth of growth.

As for the blood problem, I highly doubt that the hard water has anything to do with it.

First reason for that would be that it had the blood poisoning when I bought it.

Second reason is that I have already raised 2 other common plecos with no difficulties.

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It doesn't necessarily have to be a catfish, just some sort of bottom feeder.

still the guppies will help the pleco eat the algae wafer. If you do reasearch you would know that guppies eat algae too. You dont need another bottom feeder.

Well, if they are eating it, they aren't eating much of it, otherwise I wouldn't have to keep cleaning it up.

well maybe they arent eating it then. they should be, my brothers always eats alot of the wafer and he only has 3.

There aren't that many bottom feeders that like hard water. Since they're cheap, you might try some ghost shrimp. What other animals do you have in the tank again aside from the pleco and guppies?

When my Plecy was young, I only put in an algae wafer every 2 or 3 days. Most fish will nibble the algae wafers including cories. Younger plecos will take some animal-based foods so you might try a few sinking shrimp pellets. They are smaller and will leave less waste if the pleco eats them. Otherwise, break the algae wafers into smaller pieces and/or feed them less often.

he only has 3 guppies and 1 pleco.

Tommy is wrong about that. I have 4 guppies and one pleco. Plus I am almost certain at least two of my female guppies are pregnant, so the number of guppies will undoubtedly rise.

So, what about cories? I have heard them mentioned several times before.

cories cant tolerate your hard water. They like soft, mine are in soft and they are VERY healthy. i thought one of your guppies died?

Yeah, one died. I used to have 4 females and one male. One of the females died.

According to Robyn's site though, the pygmy variety like up to medium hard water, though the salinity would be a bit high for them I think.

Common names: Cory habrosus, pygmy cory
Scientific/Latin names: Corydoras habrosus
Maximum length: 0.75 inches
Colors: Gray, black, white
Temperature preference: 73 to 79 degrees F, can withstand 68 to 85 degrees F
pH preference:7
Hardness preference: Soft to medium-hard
Salinity preference: 1 Tablespoon per 20-40 gallons
Compatibility: Good; other fish may harm them due to their small size
Life span: Unknown, a few years
Ease of keeping: Moderate
Ease of breeding: Moderate

I had the Cory habrosus years ago. I also have soft water so I don't know how they do in harder water. The information that they can take water of medium hardness came from the Baensch aquarium atlas I believe. They prefer softer water though and probably won't do well in really hard water. If you want to try cories, you might start with the bronze cories because they are commonly sold, not that expensive, and pretty hardy. I've never had them myself. The various mini cories are very sensitive.

yes if anything go with bronze but i wouldnt put them in hard water. I would get about 3.

Well, I don't necessarily want cories if they aren't right.

Anything that will patrol the bottom of the tank and help clean up leftovers would be fine provided that it won't assault the other fish in the tank.

I have no desire to doom a fish after all. There must be some bottom feeders that like hard water out there.

i have shrimp that are good cleaners. they may like hard water but they are very sensative to medication. also have you considered a snail?

I would really prefer to stick with fish if I can.

maybe you can try a sydontis catfish. most of the are aggressive butthe upside down catfish istn but it gets 4 inches long and likes to be in groups of 3. they may also eat your guppys but its one of the only catfish for the job.

I looked up the upside down catfish and regardless of the problems of size, it doesn't seem to be any happier with hard water than the cories are according to the site I looked at.

Besides, even if they did tolerate the water, that would just bring back the overcrowding issue again.

i think they can do fine in hard water because they live in the same lakes as african cichlids.