Hello People,
Greetings from Ncke.
I've a 25 gallon tank where I had 3 gold fishes and a sucker. Everything was going fine and they seem to have great fun together. Suddenly one morning I found my beautiful fan tail (clinton) belly up with a black spot on one side of his tummy and a small cut on the other end!! I then headed to the pet store where I was advised that my tank might have some kind of bacteria so I treated them with an antibiotic. Everything was fine again. But 2-3 weeks later I saw another goldfish having the same fate!! I read that plecos have this habit of sucking on goldfish but I never saw mone one do that!! I'm so confused!! I don't want to loose my last godfish. Can somebody pls. tell me whats happening. I'm so sad

Thank you
Ncke

if i were you, i'd move the pleco to another tank, or return him to the petstore. i had the exact same thing happen with a really cute black moore i used to have. he was an awesome little fish, and i had a small pleco in the tank with him to eat the algae. unfortunately, the algae got eaten up after a while, and the pleco got hungry. i tried those stupid sinking wafers, but my goldfish devoured them before the pleco even had a chance to see them. within a couple days, he'd decided he was tired of being hungry and ripped the side of my goldfish right off in one swipe. i saw him do it. i was so angry, he went back to the store immediately. my fish died because of it.
snails are awesome for algae consumption, and will never ever kill your fish. just keep in mind if you have more than one, they may start multiplying faster than bunnies.

I am so sorry to hear about your goldfish. I would remove the pleco from the tank immediately.

My goldfish love to eat snails ... the eggs and the babies. The only the ones that survive are the ones that are too big to get in their mouths.

Ncke, plecos often feed at night, so that may be why you are not seeing the bullying occur. Like the others suggested, taking him out would be the best for your fish. I

*terrified* is this for all plecos??

No' I've had plecos in my tanks for years. I have heard that sometimes they start eating on fish and you have to remove them.

Count me in on the carnivarous pleco caravan. And be careful if you decide to go the otocinclus route. My goldfish ate one and I had a heck of a time with the silly thing because they have spines for fins....