# Bristlenose with sunken belly.. help



## IrishKittenOWar

i got this male bristlenose pleco from the fish store.. he is a beauty... i fell instantly in love with him when i saw him... well we get him home and he has been here a few days and we noice he has sunken belly.... i was wondering what yall would reccomend feeding him to fatten him up.. yes i know it is a new home a new tank and new surroundings, but i dont want him to die i have already lost enough fish this week battling Ick, Swim bladder disease, and some kinda internal infections that causes there butts to explode...

need help quick please all the pleco nuts out there give me a suggestion or 2


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## MaryPa

Mine love broccoli,cucumbers and algae tablets. Be sure you have some driftwood for him to suck on too.


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## IrishKittenOWar

we have driftwood comming in the mail.. it shoulbe be here in a day or two... the poor baby.... he is such a pretty pleco.. we tried zuccini with some garlic las night idk if he ate or not... i gotta go do a water change speaking of which


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## Sprite42

Some plecos like a hiding place, too! This may make him feel more comfortable.


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## IrishKittenOWar

we bought some pvc piping for him to hide in... he either lays in it or under it.. he doesnt seem to want to eat though which makes me concerned... we are trying Zuccini with garlic in it which is suppose to make them hungery.. he doesnt want to eat the aglae wafers either.. maybe he is depressed about being in a new environment? after all we took him from his hime of 4 months.. idk what to try to get him to eat i dont want him to die... so honestly any suggetions i am willing to try to save my new baby


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## garfieldnfish

How big is the tank? And what other fish do you have in it? How long has it been up? I see you have a lot of fish and critters in your signature and I'm pretty sure they are not all in the same tank so I am guessing you are not a newby at this.
I have 3 bristlenose adults and 80+ fry currently. They are some of the easiest plecos to keep and breed. Try a leaf of microwaved (5 seconds tops) lettuce. My baby BNs go absolutely nuts for that.
The wood is needed for their digestion. I feed mine frozen algae (Formula II), shelled peas, French beans, shrimp pellets and carnivore pellets. When I feed them zucchini or cucumbers (remove the seeds) I microwave them for 10 seconds and leave them in the tank for 36 hours. Make sure you tie them down somehow with a plant weight or veggie clip or a rock and rubber band. Some plecos (and fish) prefer them a little softer so leaving them in there for 1 1/2 days is ok or long as they don't fall apart (more likely with cucumber then zucchini). A good way to cultivate more natural algae is putting a glass jar with tank water and a tank ornament of mini flower pot in direct sunlight. I do that for my otos all the time.


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## gemjunkie

Fist things first... What's the water temperature? When bringing new plecos home, you should keep them VERY warm, mid 80s warm, 82 to 85 degrees with heavy airation. Plecos need a LOT of water movement with the water that warm to keep up the disolved oxygen level. 

Second, I know you are NOT going to like to hear this, but once the belly gets hollow and they are not eating, 9 out of 10 times you are going to lose the fish. They have in a sense, given up being stressed out too much. 

Try turning up the heat, turning off the lights, throwing in some algae wafers and hoping for the best. I wish you luck!!!!!!!
~gem~


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## mrpotato

Keep the lights off. This should stimulate eating. Hope for the best.


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## IrishKittenOWar

the tank temp is @ 78 and he finally came out of hiding today. i havent turned the lights on the tank knowing that plecos like the dark.. he is in a quarintine(sp) tank at the moment along with a psycadelic(sp) pleco as well after battling diseases from a fish from the local fish store we got a quarintene tank.. we have 7 tanks all together. we have driftwood coming in the mail and it should be here in a day or two.. today was the first time since we brought him home he cam out of hiding (yay) so i think that is a good sign.. i will feed him some more zuccini with garlic tomorrow to see if he will eat that. right now we have some watersafe piping in the tank for him to hide in until we get the wood. My husbnd nor i knew that they ate bogwood as well as everything else.. we thought that they were strictly herbavores... guess thats what we get for thinking.. its good to know and thatks for the advice, we also have been talking to one of the guys at the LFS who breeds them and he gave us alot of suggestions on how to take care of our newest tank buddy and the best envioronment for livebreeders

thanks agian and ill keep you updated on my BN


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## Alin10123

Hope your pleco is doing better now that the wood is here.
Hows he doing?


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## Jonno

Hi I know this post is pretty old but the reason your bn most likely has a sunken belly is he properly lacking something in his diet most likely driftwood.

I Hope he is doing aliright now.


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## IrishKittenOWar

he is doing better and has fattened up alot..


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## pureplecs

IrishKittenOWar said:


> he is doing better and has fattened up alot..


That is wonderful news! Congratulations!


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## gemjunkie

I'm SO glad he's getting better! Nice to hear a happy ending for a change!


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