Burned pleco

Bossman0069 · 03-01-2008, 05:48 PM

My Pleco seems to be burning himself on the heater tube. He Hangs on the filter up tube, which is next to the heater tube Approx 1.5 inch away. And i noticed a burn on his belly; I guess He was cleaning the heater. Anyone know of this happening? Are there any Heater Surrounds That Might Prevent This Kinda Thing?

carriej · 03-01-2008, 06:27 PM

My biggest cory (he is huge, I mean I bet he would break records...massive cory!) is always playing around the heater. There's about 1.5 inches between the heater and my glass and he pushed himself inbetween the glass and the heater and hangs out. Drives me nuts. I've moved the heater several times because of this, since he keeps getting burned also. There is a thing I tried, I think it was just called a heater guard. However, I found the water too hard to keep the right temperature and took it out. My cory seems to have lost interest in sticking himself between the heater and the glass and now mostly just hangs out on the driftwood. My cory got a very bad burn one time, so I netted him and held him with aquarium gloves, and just kept the burned part exposed out of water (which happened to be near his tail end so he was still able to breathe, and he is quite tame and friendly, when I put my hand in I can scoop him up and he doesn't do much until I bring him too close to the top of the tank!) and applied some melafix with a Q-Tip and it was much better within a few days to a week. My plecos do not go near the heater they stay on the back glass or on/under the driftwood. Maybe your pleco just thought the heater needed some cleaning! I would just keep an eye on him, or if you're really worried put some sort of net around your heater that won't restrict the water flow. Or you could move your heater (if possible, I know some hoods are SO annoying with the little cut outs they have.... I know I made more holes in mine!) further away from the filter intake. My gourami love to chow down on things on my filter intake. Could be the same as your pleco!

E46er · 03-02-2008, 02:16 AM

maybe try a putting apiece of black ABS pipe or a clear plastic like a gravel vac around it with a 100 or so small holes drilled in it to allow good water flow

RustyNut · 03-02-2008, 07:19 AM

Maybe he is just tanned!

Loman · 03-02-2008, 08:28 AM

Good Question. I have not had this problem but are you sure it is getting burned. My heater gets really warm but I do not think it gets that hot that fast so it seems like a fish would sense it was uncomfortably hot and move before getting burned.

orb4me · 03-02-2008, 11:02 AM

Doesnt the heater glass only get as hot as the temp is set for? Now I have a whole new worry

andysutt · 03-10-2008, 03:47 PM

My small Pleco has stayed on the old school glass tube heater in my tank for quite a while and never had problems.

The newer plastic type heater we have in the 55 gallon tank doesnt seem to get near as hot as the old one we have, and he hangs out on it also.

The old real glass one gets hot enough out of water to start to burn my hand before I have to put it down (testing it one day)

I wouldn't worry to much unless you see actual noticable marks, and then I dont know what to tell you on that.

gregpape23 · 03-10-2008, 08:37 PM

I have not had this problem but I may know a solution. I had some fish that loved being at this one spot in the tank, it wasn't the safest place for them though. So I bought one of those "mag-float" magnetic algae cleaners, and everytime the fish went near that spot I just moved the mag-float and they got scared and went away. After a few days of this they would only go there occasionaly.

Hope this helps!!