Had hm a long time with no issues. Only change recently is addition of some large fish that are not showing any health issues. I also removed some breeding caves to use in other tanks. I'm thinking viral that may be stress related but would appreciate any opinions. Other plecos in tank are doing fine and not showing symptoms.
That looks like damage to outer edges, like you would get from squabbling and territorial disputes. I would put back some caves, do a couple big water changes and watch for secondary bacterial infections, if he was mine.
I agree with Barbie, and I suspect that this is a female [a photo from above would confirm], so it may be that you have a male wanting to mate, and the female being "not quite ready".
How big is it, and what other fish are there in the tank?
She is in a 220 gallon tank. Other catfish in with her are megladoras irwini(5)that stay in their caves but are getting big, over 10 inches. They don't bother anything while the lights are on but nothing gets in their caves. I also have 6 other l91's, all at least 6 inches to 8 inches and (9) l114s from 6 inches to most over 8 inches. I had 4, l204's that I recently took out to see if I could get them to breed and to give my vacuuming a break on the tank. The 204s go through a cord of wood a week. I took out some caves to put into the 204's new tank and think it may have led to the problem or they are just starting to try and breed as you suggested. The fish in with them are long time residents ( Paretroplus menarambo, Vieja Argentia, Myleus schromburgki and red hook silver dollars. None of the fish have ever bothered with them. Looks like all the ridges are being scraped. I'm going to isolate in a quieter tank and add more caves back to this tank. The 114's seem to be the most active the last month and think they also may be looking to breed. I'll work on some pics when I finally catch her. The tank has a lot of wood in it.
I would suspect that its the 114's, they are getting to the size where they are getting more territorial towards anything else in with them. Although a 220 is a large tank, I would suspect the 114's are going to start beating each other up also, which may lead to losses, which nobody wants...might want to think about seperating them into breeders...from my experience that is....ENjoy
220 gallon is a decent size tank, but doesn't appear to be a standard size (and you haven't recorded a size in the "My Aquaria" section). So it would be helpful to know the actual diemensions of the tank, as you have a fair number of rather large fish in there, and it would be good to understand how much space they have.
Whether it is the L114 or L91 that fight with the L91, I'm not sure, but either is entirely possible. I had to rescue one of my L91 from the group I have. It made a full recovery, and is now back in the main tank with the others...
It's 6 x 2 footprint. Going to tear the tank apart. I have a 180 underneath the 220 and will split up the 2 species to see if it helps. Had some rare syno refugiensis in the 180 that I was trying to breed but will have to put them on hold and move them for the sake of harmony. They are on the same system so the water will be the same.
Have an area with breeding grass on the bottom . The synos are probably egg scatterers but haven't been bred before. Hope to have a day off this week to catch the plecos. I put more caves in the tank for them to hide in in the meantime. Do you think it will be better to put one group in the other tank or split up the 2 groups?
Looks better. Moved a lot more slate caves in there and seems like the abrasions on body are almost gone. Still lighter color than others in the tank. Is this a breeding condition or stress? Thanks again for your advice and comments.
and some of the others. One is a lot redder in the fin. Is this a different variant?
