BN checkup please, does George look okay?

I'm primarily a betta and oto catfish person, but when I set up my forty gallon for my wild bettas, I decided to pick up this really cute BN pleco at my LFS. George has been a puzzle from the get go. He(?) hid so much for the first two weeks I thought he'd died. Now he's getting out more, but I can't tell what he's eating. I've got a pair of snails in the tank and some cories, so there's no telling who eats the algae wafers, zuchinni, sweet potato, or algae. I chuck in food and in the morning it's chewed up, but it appears to be a group effort.

I was able to get a good picture of him hanging out on the driftwood today and thought I should post and see if he looks okay to everyone.



Please ignore the debris, the imbellis just got some daphnia and they haven't finished hunting it all down. He looks a bit fat to me, but I'm used to bettas where I have to really control their food. He's just recently started showing up when I'm around so I can't even comment on activity levels being normal. Right now it looks like he's having a good chew on the driftwood? I haven't seen any sign of parasites in the tank. I have a spare 10 gallon I can use if I need to isolate him and monitor his diet, but I'm worried moving him will just send him back into hiding/inactivity.

Tank parameters:

40g breeder, heavily planted, fully cycled
79*F, 7.0 pH, ammonia/nitrites/nitrates = 0/0/10
No CO2, using fertilizers and liquid carbon
Canister filter at 264gph and two air stones for circulation
8 betta imbellis, 7 albino corydoras catfish, 2 snails, 1 BN pleco

Any advice would be appreciated, I'm starting to really get attached to the big guy, especially now that he's out and about.

A second shot of George. He looks bloated to me . . .

Yeah, he looks a bit on the bloated side. I would be looking to add in some de-shelled peas, just after lights out (when he will be at his most active) and hopefully that will clean him out

Maybe also a broad scale antibiotic such as melafix would help out. or a half dose of a multi-cure type med

How do I get unshelled peas into him? I usually secure veggies so that they don't go far. My tank has oak leaves on the substrate so I have no idea what I'd do with peas. This is the tank, to give you an idea of how chaotic it is.



I'm afraid they'll get lost. Serve them up on a skewer?

I can't risk melafix with the bettas in the tank. Research has turned up too much info about labyrinth organs being damaged. Is this a case where I should set up the 10g as a hospital tank and move George? Or wait a bit, since he's still active and doesn't look too terribly distressed.

Hi,if you have another tank that you can put him into,it would be a good idea to do it so that he can be treated.You can then use melafix which is very good and can feed peas to him by just dropping them into the tank.Also do not feed him any foods other than algae or veg.Put him some bog wood in also and a hiding place.Make sure the tank is well filtered and if possible with an already cycled filter.

Not sure that i can see any bog wood in the tank ?

I have a second filter running in my ten gallon for my betta splendens so I might be able to steal that. I think I'll run to the LFS tonight and see what's available. I can run it bare bottom with a cave and chunk of wood from the back of his current tank.

He only gets veggies and algae fed for him, but he might be picking up some leftovers from the carnivores in the tank. It should be pretty minimal, considering the way my imbellis hunt down every bit I feed them.

I might be confused, is bogwood different from driftwood? The wood in the tank was collected from a river, I thought that was what he needed.

any wood is fine. Some people prefer bogwood because of its properties in so far as it releases good acids into the water and the bristlenose love to chew it. They will chew any wood. I have some bits that there over a cm thick when i put them in a few years ago, now they are breaking up cos they are so thin!

However, getting wood from a river is a very naughty thing to do. Not only have you taken away some poor little native fish's habitat, you have almost certainly added in some pathogens into the water from the river. Regardless of what you do with the bristlenose i would medicate the whole tank with a broadscale antibiotic.

I'd just throw a few peas in. they sink so its easy. Just search the forums for peas and you will find countless posts that will help you prepare them

I prefer bog wood and so do my bristlenoses.If i was you i would get a piece of bog wood from the aquatic shop,you can get small pieces for quite cheap.I hope he soon looks better,please keep us informed.

Soak the bog wood in a bucket or bowl of boiling water for a while first.It will still make the water brownish but that is normal and is good for the fish and tank.