Other Turtle Discussion :: My Second Pleco Died!

[thatgirl05]

Just to keep my tank alittle cleaner, I no less then 24 hours ago put a pleco in my turtle tank. Wiggy, and I just noticed he died! Now, Juelz did not eat him or harm him in anyway, he just started floating belly up. Any explaination on this? I had a second pleco die on my in my regular fish tank, willy. But of course I had him for a few weeks. Anyone else have their pleco's die in their turtle tanks without a reasonable explanation?

[Pizza]

Did you test the water for high levels of nitrates, phosphorus, and ammonia? High levels are harmful to your turtle, but it can live in high levels of such for quite some time before serious things happen.

Fish, however, live in the water and can't escape it, so even a small increase in nitrates, phosphorus, and/or ammonia will kill them in minutes. Often you can't see if these are in the water, they don't cloud the water like waste and urine would, they are in most cases, invisible.

The 3 are often found in turtle waste, among other factors.

Best to test and adjust if the levels are too high, test for pH too, the ideal pH for most freshwater organisms is 6.8-7.

[daredevilgirl013]

Did he even have enough food and a place to hide? My plecos have enough algae to eat and stuff now, (I have two) but you may want to get some alage wafers for them to eat, especially if you just cleaned the tank. And also a place for them to hide. I have a log from walmart that sits on the bottom of my tank that they can get into to hide, but my turtle cannot.