[Fishboydanny1]

Will a royal pleco attack fish wile the sleep? last night, four of my fish in my 29 gallon tank died; one cardinal, both of my female bettas, and a koi angelfish. the angelfish seemed to have just died; no reason for its death have been found (ammonia was zero, ph was a LITTLE acidic, not enogh to kill fish), but the three others seem to have curcular scrapes or a hole in them the size of the pleco's mouth... Is it possible the pleco killed them in their "sleep"????

 

[roc-aquarium]

Possible? Yes. Probably, no. The fish probably died and then got nibbled on.

 

[Kogo]

sounds like the pleco is the culprit to me, but what other fish are in the tank?

 

[Mystique]

I agree that it's Not probable and that they were nibbled on post mortem. I had a full grown Panaque in with an angel 100 gallon community tank and never a problem with 'attacks"!

 

[Kogo]

post mortem nibbles are usually first made in the belly and eyes. Attacks are found on the fleshy part of the body... IMHO


however, while rereading the post, i noticed the Ph drop. do you have any driftwood in the tank or any chemical altering Ph? if not, something else must have dropped the Ph.

perhaps there Was an ammonia spike (ammonia lowers Ph), that killed the fish, and dropped the Ph, then after fish loss the ammonia cleared up but the Ph was slower to return to normal.

is the Ph normal now?

the only thing that doesn't fit the ammonia spike idea is the loss of the female bettas. they should have been the last to go for that reason