kuhli loach losing color

M

momtank

AC Members
Dec 14, 2008
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0
southeast Wisconsin
This morning when I fed my fish, 1 kuhli loach looked like he had been "erased". He is turning white??? I called the fish store, and he told me that they fade out when they are sleeping, so maybe when I turned my tank light on, it startled him, and he hadn't colored up yet when I saw him eating. But if he is eating and swimming normally, he is probably fine. I've been watching him all day, and he still looks the same. So I "googled" kuhli loach losing color, and found only forums discussing that this is how their kuhli loaches died. I am beside myself. I just started the tank last fall, and I am really attached to my fish. The tank is so healthy, knock on wood. I am not used to having fish die, and not the kuhli loaches. They are so cool and really hard to find. I lucked out when my fish store got these in November, and they haven't had them since. Now I see tonight that another kuhli is getting faded in one spot as well.
Does anyone know what this is?
Tank info:
36 G artificial plants
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 5 ppm
ph - neutral to slightly acidic
water is soft
I normally do a very thorough water change weekly where I take the plants out (leave the caves for them to go in) and vaccum the gravel really clean and replace about 12 G of water. This week, I am about 4 days late because of flu, but am doing the water change first thing in the morning. That always brings my nitrates back down to zero.
 
I'm sorry you're having troubles with your kuhlis. Your parameters are really good. I don't know what can be wrong; I'm not experienced in kuhlis, but I'm sure someone will be along soon that can help you. Hang in there.
 
Lupin is the loach pro. Lupin, are you there??

I think you seem to be overly agressive in your tank cleaning. You may be causing repeated cycling problems by killing off the beneficial bacteria. Nitrates are normal and a sign of a cycled tank. The poblem only comes when they get too high (over 40). Fish losing color is often a sign of stress.
 
It's usually nothing to worry about, I have 1 that's "faded" a lot of the time. Any change or excitement can bring it on: water change, light on, feeding, loachy dancing.

It may be the nitrates are a bit higher than usual since you missed their WC, no biggie. Your nitrates go to 0 without real plants? Do you clean your filter with tapwater? You should just squeeze out the media in used tank or dechlor'd water. I use tap only on tanks with 2 filters & only 1 at a time. You can cause the tank to go into a "mini cycle".

Also once in a long while you need to vac under the cave. If you have at least 2 just do 1 at a cleaning.

Hope you feel better soon.
 
Water changes would not have that affect on a fish.

Are you using a conditioner?
What else is in the tank?
What do you feed?

Fish do lose some color overnight, but turning completely white doesn't sound normal.
 
A few points...
1. Tank Maintenance.
Kuhlis do not like their hiding places fiddled too much. If you're vacuuming everywhere, then this is disturbing the kuhlis too much. They burrow and vacuuming power can also add to stress.

2. Water Parameters
What test kit are you using? What else are in the tank aside from kuhlis?

3. Dechlorinator and Food
Per Jpap's post.

4. Salt
Do you add salt? If so, for what reason? Is it dissolved?
 
Thank you all very much for the advise. I did start using a water clarifier a few weeks ago to clear up cloudy water. I notice that when I put cucumber or zuchini in the tank for my bristlenose pleco, the water would be a little milky looking in the morning, so once a week I clear it up with the clarifier. It clumps suspended particles together so the filter picks them up. My LFS told me it was really safe, but does anyone have any experience of it being otherwise?
I am going to stop moving the tank decor when I siphon, and only vaccum the gravel less often. Any suggestions on how frequently I should vacuum, and as far as water changes, should I do one every week no matter what, or should I be testing the water and waiting until my nitrates reach a certain level??? The test kit I use is API Freshwater Kit which is the kind that you sample water in a vile with a bottle of test chemical that you drop in. The nitrate test has two chemicals that you have to drip in.
The kuhli loach is still swimming and eating, out and about, and seems normal. Just looks like a pencil drawing that has been erased. He (or she) is my chubby one, if that makes any difference.
 
Stop using the clarifier on a regular basis, it's not a part of regular tank maintenance (or shouldn't be). I always vacuum during water changes but try doing 1 end's caves per week then the other the next. Do 2 smaller changes a week & see if that helps, it maybe too much TDS change at once (total dissolved solids).
 
When I do a water change (once per week) I generally vacuum one section of the tank substrate on an alternating basis. I do not put a gravel vac to the entire bottom of the tank at any one time unless there is a parasite present. I don't wanna kill off the bacterial bed in the substrate so this is what I do.
 
Bubbles, you can't harm the benificial bacteria by vacuuming. What you vac up is fish waste, uneaten food, plant debris that add to the nitrate level as they breakdown.

I occaisionally get a slight whitish haze in 1 tank if I change more than 30% but it clears in a couple hours without doing anything. How long has your tank been set up? You might try feeding a smaller amout of veggies & see if that helps.
 
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