Ok I have this pleco about 4in long and he has a swollen belly. I've red about swim bladder disease and I think it might be what he has. I'm about to see if he'll even eat a pea.

Now the other day the power went off for 24hrs and since I live in Houston Tx it got really hot in the tank. The last time I remeber checking the temp in the tank it was up to 88'F and it's usually at 75'F. I know the fish were getting stressed but I couldnt do too much besides do a 15% water change to try and keep the temp a bit lower.

Anyways Long story short...He is not floating upsidedown at the top of the water w/ his belly sticking out. He frantically swims around every now and then. He also floats around the top of the tank on his side. He is very bloated and I'd like to know what I can do for him. All my other fish seem fine even the other pleo who is 11in long.

Is this b/c of the dramatic change in water temp? Yall think he has SBD? Or somethin else. (sorry I cant take photos my digital just broke the other day)

Thanks,
Adrianne

Well...I've not seen my pleco having bloat...is urs a common ?
Mine just put on weight but no signs of bloating

Kinda weird to hear pleco get bloated. Pleco is a very tough species. I am having my few L series species for years and never have this kind of problem. Try to change 30-40% of water. They do like lower PH water parameter like 6.x.

It's a common pleco...Yesterday I dit a 25-40% water change and added 1tsp of paking soda to up my ph by .4 (thats what I was told would help raise ph a bit at a time) Today when I got home from work I noticed his belly is smaller and he wasnt at the top of the tank just floating. He has a couple mini holes in his fins and I did notice a white spot that looks like a couple scales rubbed off. He still hasn't pooped and he hasn't eaten any peas. Now is anus is bulging out a bit...dont know if that is any help.

I don't think the common pleco sensitive with the PH. I did saw some growing well in low PH and some in high PH. Perhaps the temperature of the water is too low. What is the temperature of your tank water?

What do you feed it with ?

Not all plecos are hardy...go try out a golden nugget 177 and see if u can succeed

Try keeping the water clean and feed more veggie food. zuchinni would be great stuff.

Common plecos can stay anywhere in any pH...but that doesn'y mean that nothing wrong can pop up. Do you give it wood to chew on ? It is supposed to aid its digestion.

Yes. Not all. Especially those L series and dwarf type. I have my clown, royal, spotted, L046...etc. I am feeding them with algae waffer, tetra bits, tomato and boiled spanich.

Pleco like to have some rock and wood in there.

75-77'F it goes up a ndown a couple deg.

I usually just let them eat the sinking pellets and the big pleco sucks on the Goldfishes floating pellets. And yes I do put zuchini in there everyother day or so. I'll go check out those nuggets you're talking about.

BTW: My Pleco has gotten darker durring this whole bloating thing.