Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I don't know if this is the correct place to post this or not, however, I thought others should know and be aware. The common scrubber fish - aka common pleco or just pleco is a great little aquarium cleaner and pool cleaner, but, when they get big most get aggressive and should be keep by itself. One place I goggled stated that a grown pleco could strip the scales from a large Koi is just one night. They work mostly at night and sleep during the day. The pleco also likes to suck the slime protection from your fish. We did not know this and lost all but three of our Koi in less than a week. We lost 11 large Koi, some about 60 cm's long. Mostly females full of eggs. He is now confined to the bog-garden-area by himself.

How big is it?

Approximately 30 cm's. Over four years old. Has been in the Koi pond all along.

I got two of them with my catfish, and one is probably the same size as yours. Might have to get them out.

Edible?

probably edible, but I don't think I want to eat them.

It is funny that they never mention the size these things can get at the pet shop. After i bought it i did some google searches and nearly pissed myself laughing thinking about how bit this thing will get in my tank.

plecos are a problem in aquariums especially with fish like discus as the do like to suck on the slime of the body.i have not heard of them doing it to koi but down here we keep plecos in trop tanks only. i would be suprised that it nailed most of your koi though.are yousure the water quality was not an underlying issue, because if a fish was weak then i would expect the pleco to latch on, most fish would tell them to bugger off.
just a suggestion
cheers
byron
and yeah they do get big and they are edible(not by me)

Water was Amm 0, PH 7.6, Nitrite 0. I did no test on Nitrate. Other small Koi in pond where fine as is one other tropical fish.

I have never had common pleco, but Gibbiceps are one of my favourites, I have them in almost every tank.
I have never had one suck scales off a health live fish, my biggest is around 45cm.

Sorry to hear you had troubles

Interesting. As someone who surfs fish forums all the time (just got into aquaponics) I've never heard of plecos latching onto fish. I know that plecostomus and similar cat fishes that are kept in aquariums need driftwood in the setup because of their rasping habit. Do you have driftwood in your FT? Also, what I've noticed in AP is the high overstocking rates which is very different from the hobby of ornamental fish keeping. He could be getting super aggressive about his territory because there are too many fish around him. Just my two cents

Yeah I gotta stand up for my pleco. Ive had him for 7 years. Does not sucker onto other fish. And x2 on driftwood, think its also part of their diet maybe. The pleco and bristle nose catfish neef driftwood to be happy. I have had some other algae eaters suck onto the larger flatter fish. It was a golden algae eater. you could see sores on the fish where it would latch on.Was a battle to get him outa the tank.

Sent from Brett's Galaxy

Your two cents might have identified the problem. He might have become aggressive about being crowed because at the time this started we had all of the fish penned in to only one half of the pond while we repaired and cleaned the other half. I have a dividing wall that divides my pond in half. If the pond is full the fish can use all of the pond. But if I drop the water lever 30 cm's or more they are stuck on one side or the other. We had them and the pleco all on one side for a week. So they only had half their normal space plus less food since we cleaned and repainted the other half of the pond. Since I moved him to the bog-garden-filter bed we have had no more problems.

Now please tell me what I should feed him to supplement his diet. Once he cleans up the bog-garden he will have very little food available - we only have one small fish and three Koi now plus my wife just added 11 fingerlings. Not much poo as compared to 14 large Koi.

Thanks to all of you who have provided information. Please keep it coming. Johnra

I have heard of it too, my old bristle nose never attacked my angel fish, I was dreading the day though... Bill is dead now though (RIP)
As they mature they get more territorial apparently.
Now all my aquarium logs are covered in algae and I have to scrub it off by hand..

Hi Green Troll. Was a battle to get him outa the tank. I was having the same battle trying to get him out of the Koi pond. Then my pissed off wife came on scene with murder in her heart - the Koi are her pride and joy - so this cat was in deep stuff to start. She took a 3/4 inch pvc pipe and speared him in the head knocking him silly - scoped him up in a net and body slammed him on the cement patio. I had her stop so I could see up close what he looked like and if he was still alive. All looked ok so I had her put him into the bog-garden-pond. I said he can now earn his keep instead of killing fish and she went for it. Damm I am glad she was mad at a fish and not me. These Thai ladies do have a temper.

Today is his third day in the bog-garden and he seems happy and well. Really cleaning up the gravel bed nicely. He sure is a tough little guy. Acts as though nothing happened.