What happened to my zebra plec?

Question

I had a zebra plec in my 64 litre tank along with a betta, a pimeloda pictus and 6 tetra. My pimeloda had been harassing my tetra and had caused one of them damage and so I was advised to dose the tank with Methylene Blue. On reading the enclosed leaflet it states that it is suitable for all aquatic life and can even be used on roe or fry. I dosed my tank as instructed and all went well as the tetra began recovering well. After 4 days it said that I should dose again if all was not completely clear. She still had a raw bit so I ran a water test (all of which was fine) and then dosed as instructed again. Throughout this all fish were checked and present and correct. I also checked that they were all feeding and moving as normal which they were. However, two days into the second dose and my zebra plec was stone dead. She was moving around as normal this morning but tonight she just died. Does anyone know what happened? Did I do something wrong or is it just one of those things? All other inhabitants seem to be fine and on removal of the poor plec, there were no obvious signs of stress or disease. I'm a little confused and would appreciate any advice. Many thanks.

Update:

Thank you all for answering. I did make inquiries at the store who supplied the fish and was told that they were all suitable for my tank. I was also advised that I should dose all fish in the tank. Nobody said that my plec was more sensitive so I was ignorant to this. It also didn't say about exceptions on the treatment either. I won't be making the same mistake as I feel terrible that I killed it but I can't undo it, just learn from it. Thank you all for taking the time to answer.

Chelsea Lately · Accepted Answer

Bottom feeders tend to have issues with medicines more so than other fish. 

I've been having to treat my community tank for a couple things and noticed my large pleco acting strange. The medicine was affecting him in a very negative way. I moved him to another tank for the duration of the treatment and now he's fine. 

I'd guess that he died as a result of the medicine. As I said bottom feeders are a bit more sensitive to the medicines. 

Another thing -- your tank is too small for any plecos (yes even dwarf species) and the pictus. 

Good Luck :]

Sarah · Answer

You made one big mistake. First of all, medication isn't always necessary! If your fish was injured and you posted a question asking what you should do, how you should treat it, then I would've recommended you move it to a hospital tank and treat it with aquarium salt. The aquarium salt (one tablespoon for every 10g) will help heal the wounds faster. Fins grow back, it's just a matter of time, and care.

Secondly, when medicating, you need to isolate the injured fish, don't medicate your entire tank! The chemicals in the medication were probably too strong for your pleco (catfish are especially sensitive to certain things, aquarium salt being one), so it died. Another option is that your pleco died because all the beneficial bacteria was wiped when you added the medication to your tank, if you didn't remove the filter cartridge(s). Medication isn't the best thing as the chemicals can tamper with water conditions.

? · Answer

Methylene Blue.is a pretty harsh treatment and as plecos are scale less fish and should have half doses of any treatment the Methylene Blue.probably killed the plec.

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What happened to my zebra plec?

3 Answers