L002/L074 - tiger pleco and CO2

nazrm

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Feb 12, 2011
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I've had 2 of these for about 8-9months now, but not in my planted tank. I moved them over a couple of days ago (after co2 shutoff), and their behaviour has been abnormal. Doesn't look like they cope with the CO2 too well. Usually they've been hiding most of the time and energetic when they move around, but now they're just lying out in the open and moving around slowly. Breathing is very rapid also. They still stick to the wood mostly.

Should I be worried? Does it take more time to adjust to the CO2? (Is it possible to adjust at all?)

IMG_1208.jpg
 

Tom Barr

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Jan 23, 2005
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O2 needs to be high as well, this is more of the issue I have found.

I breed plecos and have CO2 with them, Chocolates, Queens, Mangos, Vampires etc etc........
 

nipat

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May 23, 2009
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I always find that fish doesn't take long to adjust itself to CO2.
I mean if you put the fish in the tank after having turned off CO2 for several hours
(so at the moment, CO2 level in the tank is near non-CO2 tank level).
When you turn on CO2 on another day, if it's fine, then fine. But if it's not,
it won't be fine unless you adjust O2 and/or CO2 in the tank.

I have an L010a which is a pleco from well oxygenated habitat.
It's doing fine in my CO2 injected tank. But I remember when my house
was flooded last year and there's no electricy. It was the poorest guy in the tank,
breathing very heavily in the night due to poor oxygen level (no filtration, no pump).
In the morning, when sunlight hit the plants, oxygen level increased and
it breathed normally again.
 

nazrm

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Feb 12, 2011
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Norway
Mm, what I suspected about adjusting to co2. Don't think I can increase surface agitation more without losing too much of it, guess there's not much else to do though.

Does O2 act the same was as CO2 in terms of degassing? I mean if I added an air stone that would be on during no-co2 hours - would that affect O2 levels during the day?
 

ShadowMac

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Mar 25, 2010
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I had problems similar to yours, although not with plecos. I added an airstone, even during the CO2 hours as my surface agitation was insufficient. I suspect other things were also a problem with my CO2 levels, but the airstone helped immensely and I did not see a dramatic loss of CO2. If anything, higher O2 levels will allow you to increase the CO2.