funny swimming loach

fishywishywashy

fishywishywashy

AC Members
Dec 4, 2008
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Virginia Beach, VA
I just got two new small gold weather loaches from the LFS. In a 15 gal with some 7 small mystery snails. babies really. anyway, noticed one is having a hard time staying on the bottom. looks like when she stops swimming she floats up to the top. Her vent looks red also. looks like the region right after her head is the bouyant part. swim bladder problem or dies she need to "fart" and release air?
 
Could possibly be constipation, skip feeding for a day then give her a shelled pea and see if there's any improvement.

Is the 15g a quarantine tank? If not, you'll need to upgrade pretty quickly.
 
this is a temp tank till they are large enough for the 75 gal. Currently, the 75 has one adult loach and assorted others. Last time I added a baby loach, it didn't make it. I think it was just too scared to compete for food.
 
Not to be ominous, but I had a pair of golden dojos before my current pair, and they both did roughly what you describe, separately, the day before each died.

I got another pair from the same LFS, from the same stock I believe. They've done fine. The only thing I could think of as the possible cause was temperature shock. It seems like many LFS insist on keeping Dojos with tropical fish, and I may not have allowed enough transition time for my cold tank.

For your case, the suggestion of constipation certainly seems possible. I was shocked a couple of days ago to witness one of my 4-5" golden dojos produce a bowel movement the like of which I had assumed was coming from my 10" common goldfish. I was blaming the wrong fish for making such a mess of my tank, and I'm not sure if a diet change might be in order.
 
You may have to remove the snails if you do not want it to eat.
I have read mixed reviews on the weather loaches eating snails, but someone ate all the mts in my goldfish tank, I suspect the weather loaches.
 
sadly, she did not make it from the time i posted. Came home form work to find her belly up. picked her up with the net and put her in the freezer. Since her vent was really red I suspect something else going on as her mate is just fine. Will call LFS in the morn. hope all is well for the other lil guy
 
Aww, that's a shame. :tombstone:

Under the circumstances, I'm thinking parasites. If it was me, I'd go ahead and treat the one still left with prazi-pro or something or the sort, but I know a lot of people don't agree with pre-emptive treatments (parasites are the only thing I treat for without symptoms, and only if I've had trouble with fish from that store before).
 
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