hello everyone
so i have a year old pleco who seems to be sick
he hasnt eatten in some days now and i came home today to him on the glass with white poop
ive seen white poop in fish but not plecos
wondering if you guys could tell me what it is and how to treat
here are some pics



About treating:
he is in a 46 bowfront growout
along with
1 baby oscar
1 baby JD
one pictus catfish
all other fish poop is normal color and eat normally

bump bump

what do you normally feed the pleco?

I missed this thread completely.
What's his diet?
Usually you can see what the pleco has been eating by looking at it's poo.
Did he eat anything different lately?
A change in diet will result in different looking poo.
Is his belly sunken in or bloated?

IMO it's best to keep a close eye on him and see if the white poo is an ongoing thing, or a temporary thing.
Like in humans, a pleco's belly can go off for some days and turn back to normal after a couple of days.

If the poo stays white and stringy, it may be worms, that your fish is suffering from, but you should be carefull in choosing to treat your fish, for plecos can react very different to medication than other fish.
Did you add any new fish to the tank lately?

Plecs eat alge from anything within the tank. I notice in the bottom pic that root looking branch is white? if so the plec will scrap down to the lays and possibly this is why the poo is white. even if that is a plastic root, the plec will eat into it while scrapping alge.

marcus wrote:


Same with any backgrounds.
The standard backgrounds are not tough enough for plecos, and will be rasped off very thoroughly as well.
Styrofoam backgrounds will have holes in them in no time.

I used to have a large bit of bog wood, its now half the size from a plec )) well if it is the background thats colouring the poo at least the fish will be ok. ))