There's a hole in my pleco, dear Eliza....

[daz]

I have a pleco, probably about 20cm nose to tail. He was in my african tank and seemed to be getting beaten up a lot. One day I noticed that apart from his raggedy fins, he had a hole on his belly about 7mm diameter where his scales had been ripped off. I figured the africans were picking on him a lot more lately so I moved him to a 2 foot tank that only contained 2 small americans (parrots - extremely docile).

He has been there a week or two now and his fins have healed up but the hole is still there. Is there anything I can do to help the healing process along?

[griff]

Daz, you can buy some stuff called Melafix & another thing called Pimafix these are meds to stop some fungal diseases & to help stop secondary infections ( these are made from natural products ).  I would use both of them if the wound looks deep, if it isn't deep & just the skin under the scale thats damaged I'd just the melafix & add a bit of salt. Just dose as per instruction for the melafix & I wouldn't add too much salt as the pleco is in a small tank.

Remove any carbon from the filter before using the meds. Carbon will remove the meds before it does the fish any good.

I usually keep some Melafix & Pimafix on hand but have run out.


Cheers Brian.

[daz]

I've got some melafix and pimafix here, I'll give him a good dose tomorrow. No carbon in any of my filters so no worries there

Cheers