new fish died quick

[Peteisrad]

ok

I bought three kuhli loaches two days ago. Today they all died. I really cant figure out why. My tank has been fully cycled for about a month, and in it I have three platies, one Powder Blue Gourami and one platy fry thats about two to three weeks old.

My water chemistry seems to be good accordning to all the tests I've done.

However, I did buy four pounds of rainbow slate to create cover for the loaches. Could the rocks have done something to the water? My other fish seem to be fine. Help!

Pete

[wetmanNY]

Sometimes Kuhli Loaches just don't make the transition. They are "scaleless" fish, which are sensitive to toxic substances in the water. After you treated for Ich, did you do water changes to dilute the medication?

Is this the same tank where the pH went to 9.0? I never saw the outcome of that post. Was it a carbonate rock? Testing technique?

[val]

I bought a pair of kuhlies for my first tank and they didn't last very long. In fact, my old LFS stopped selling them because the owner heard so many stories about dead kuhlies (and he was a very reputable advice dispenser). So, it could have just been the fish.

On a related note, I usually pride myself on my ability to see which fish in the LFS tank are healthy, and which are not (I probably spend 10 minutes peering into a tank looking to see which fish swim freely, at all levels of the tank, have nice erect dorsal fins, breathe freely, etc). But if your LFS tanks are like mine, there were probably a dozen kuhlies and you couldn't tell which fish were which and you got the three that the LFS-guy could catch. Maybe they were caught because they were already sick...

Sorry to hear about the loss....

Val

[cdawson]

I agree with the kuhli loach transition idea, when I bought mine I never saw him for 6 months ! i thought he was long dead and eaten, then one day he came out of the sand !

[Peteisrad]

hi

I did a water change a day after I got them, which was right when I bought the rocks for them. But Ive been testing the water and it seems to me that the rocks havent changed the water chemistry much if any at all. Like I said, the other fish seem to be doing fine....so maybe it just was the fish.

Wetman, I'm surprised that you remembered that post about my ph going to 9, because to be honest with you, I hardly remember the outcome of it. I think I might have read the test wrong. Or, I did a 40% water change or something. Whatever it was, the problem has been fixed.

Val, When I got these loaches they were the last three left in the tank. They were also hiding so I didnt get a chance to look at them before I bought them. but theyre hard to look at anyway because you cant really see their fins very well. But you have a good point. I never took it to the level you do but its not a bad idea to start doing so.

thanks everyone!!

Pete