Sewellia lineolata -color washed out?

Hi fishbone
It's hard for me to tell as the 'after' picture is less clear. If you think his color is washed out, it probably is. What concerns me is the nitrite reading of .25. Anything other than 0 usually indicates a water quality issue which would be stressing the fish, perhaps in different degrees depending on species. Determining the cause (too much stock, too thorough cleaning, insufficient filtration?) and daily water changes until a 0 reading is achieved would be my suggestion. Not sure about the ferts. Good luck.

The .25 nitrites will kill fish - immediate water change when you see this to reduce to 0. Then work on establishing how the spike happened (over-feeding, death in the tank unspotted, poor maintenance generally, some disruption of the bacterial colonies e.g. cleaning filter media in chlorinated tap water...)

Have you anything capable of eating the loach whole in there ?

If not, she's in there somewhere alive or dead (under a rock, driftwood, behind a filter pip/heater). You'd need to take absolutely everything out to be sure she had magically vanished.

I had a fire belly newt disappear once. It was completely odd.

I was also 12 and had it for 5 years, wonder if mom and dad tried to skip an awkward convo?

Sorry abut your Sue


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Check under rocks you remove as they like to stick under it even when the rock is out of water. I find that they prefer to be in groups even though they can be territorial to each other. Hope you find the loach as yours is a beauty from the photos!