Help or Advice: Scarlet Pleco Stomach and Anus look weird

[Vertigon_z]

Good Morning All, I noticed one of my Scarlet Plecos currently in my 180 Gallon stomach looks a bit weird and also his anus area has a small protrusion. I tested the water and ph was 7.2, ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate < 30 PPM. I am strict about water changes and Filter maintenance and have been in the hobby for over 15 years and I never seen this on my any of my fish. My Water changes are 40% each week to ensure optimal water quality since I am still putting funds aside for a tank set up around 500-1000 gallons. Filters are Fluval FX6 paired with 2 XL Hydro Sponge Filters. The scarlet has been with me now for 3 years and was doing excellent. Currently the 2 scarlets are housed with a Silver Arowana (15 inch) and 4 Geophagus. I feed the 2 Scarlets in the 180 Gallon a mix of Repashy Soilent Green, Repashy Morning Wood, and Repashy Bottom Scratcher for a balanced diet. He swims and is reactive to stimuli (light and movement) but is anus area looks to be "throbbing" and his stomach area looks sunken (Let me know if I am mistaken or if this is how a normal Scarlets stomach looks as they get older). Any advice MFK community?

 

[parrthed]

It does look pretty skinny, Female I'm assuming? although the sunken area is pretty

Are you observing it actively eat?
Have you tried to vary the diet up a bit, maybe shrimp and mussels/clams. My pseudas love these.

Without knowing more this Just speculation , M and F?

If its a female maybe she just dumped a load of eggs, That could be her genital papilla.

 

[DHarris]

Looks fine other than the stomach. If you look at it from the bottom is it sunken? Does it eat?
How do it's feces look?

 

[Tom the bomb]

Probably starvation. This is how my first gold nugget pleco died. Stomach sunken when I took him out and closed mouth. It looks like it suffered a lot. It never eats whatever I feed it. This is why I'm never getting a pleco or suckermouth ever again

 

[Vertigon_z]

parrthed How long do you usually leave shrimps in the tank before removing it.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

Yeah the stomach does look a little odd to me, I have different size L25 and none of there stomachs don’t look like that, maybe the fish is just hungry and cant get food due to competition, is your tank bare or do you have hiding places, I ask because I’ve had problems with L25 feeding when they don’t have some were to hide and feel safe, but that’s when they were smaller and your one looks a decent size, I find all fish have different personalities and yours maybe shy, if I was you I’d try dropping in some finely chop prawns, shrimp or mussel just before lights out in the areas that the fish patrols, some pleco I find only like feeding in the dark, then when you get up the next day remove all the waste if there is any, and just repeat the process every night, that’s what worked for me, I added a couple of hiding pipes to the tank and fed them at lights out, I think because they had some were to hide they became less stressed and then started to feed eventually, still took around a week or so after adding pipes and feeding in the dark, but it worked the 2 I’m talking about are around 20 cm now

 

[Vertigon_z]

Looks fine other than the stomach. If you look at it from the bottom is it sunken? Does it eat?
How do it's feces look?

Strangely the stomach area looks flat and inline with the front, Im not noticing any

 

[Vertigon_z]

Jonnyakawombell I actually caught him eating just now and when he noticed me he stopped. I had the lights off too. I will monitor it, his stomach underneath doesnt look sunken.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

Jonnyakawombell I actually caught him eating just now and when he noticed me he stopped. I had the lights off too. I will monitor it, his stomach underneath doesnt look sunken.

That’s great news, honesty the amount of L numbers that I’ve owned that will only feed during lights out is unbelievable, it’s taken as long as 3 years + sometimes for some of them to feel comfortable enough to start feeding with the lights on.

 

[Vertigon_z]

Jonnyakawombell Lol yea your are right I had 4 L25 fry and they hid in tiny cracks in the driftwood and I only ever saw them eat with the lights off. They even made thier own holes somehow in the driftwood.