Ok, so, I have a 75 gallon tank with various fish. (I'll fill in the details below.)
Among the fish are three yoyo loaches and 4 clown laoches. I've had the yoyos for something like a year. They're about 3-4" long. One of the clowns is slightly smaller than them. I got three more even smaller (maybe 2" max) clowns in June to join him, since I got the bigger one along with a used tank around 6 months ago, and didn't wnat him to be alone any longer!
In any case, a week ago I just got a few more neon tetras to go along with the ones I had. Over time, a few had died off, and I wanted to keep a better shoal. I got six of them, and 2 of them have died, though without any ick or any other outward signs. But that's been par for the course with neons I've bought from any store. But I mention it here, since it's very possible that the yoyo caught something from them.
Now, one of my yoyo loaches is sick. The other 2 yoyos and all of the clowns and the rest of the fish all seem fine. Yesterday, I saw him swimming around haphazardly, spinning around, sometimes upside down and knocking into things. Today, he was just lying on his side at the bottom of the tank, under an ornament cover.
I've moved temporarily moved him into a 2.5 gallon hospital tank. I don't see any of the usual outward signs of illness. He's well colored, with the usual dark stripes and striations. No splotches or signs of external parasites. His fins and tail are intact. His gills are not discolored. His mouth is somewhat yellow, and he may be gasping abit more than usual. It's more that his mouth is often wide open. But it's hard to say if that's unusual, because my loaches rarely sit still in the open long enough for me to inspect their mouths! And their mouths move quickly as they're always looking for food.
Now, he's laying on his side in the hosipital tank. Every now and then he swims around a bit, but not upright.
here are the answers I can give to the standard questions.
1. What is the size of your tank?
75 gallons.
There are lots of caves and hiding places that the loaches and cories love to hide in and explore and squeeze into.
Now, the sick yoyo loach is in a 2.5 gallon hospital tank with a tetra whisper filter and an air pump.
2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.
Ammonia and nitrite are at or near zero.
Nitrate has been a bit high lately, around 40 ppm.
Ph is currently somewhat low at 6.4, and I've beenslowly raising it when doing water changes. (My tap water has a very high pH and requires acid buffer to lower it on every water change.)
hardness and alkalinity buffering capacity seem moderate (from the color on the test strips.)
I'm using aquarium pharmaceuticals ph and ammonia kits and mardel 5 in 1 test strips.
3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
Fresh, though I do use a bit of salt.
4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
Over a year. Not sure exactly.
5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
-- 7 loaches (4 clown, 3 yoyos) from 2-4".
-- small shoals of about 7-8 each of neon tetras, glowlight tetras and zebra danios. All are around 1-1.5".
-- 6 or so platies, and probably a few hiding babies. There were a few more, but I moved them out into another tank a couple of weeks ago.
-- 5 albino aneus cories. 1-2" each.
-- 3 gouramis, around 3" each. 2 females and one male, so no fighting.
-- 2 siamese algae eater, around 2" each
No real agression in the tank, other than the usual zebra danio chases and platy mating chases.
Other than the new zebras and one new platy, I've had all of these since early in the year or longer.
6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?
No.
7. What temperature is the tank water currently?
77 degrees.
8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
Yes. lots of java moss. A few other live plants, all swords.
I was having some problem a while back with black algae, but the siamese algea eaters have taken care of that!
9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
Marineland Emperor 400. I rinse off the cartridges every week or so. (Remember that it has bio wheels for collecting the bacteria for biological filtration.) I rotate changing the filer cartridges, changing one of the two every 2-3 weeks. And I usually change the extra carbon every month or so. Every 2-3 months I clean out all tubing to ensure water flows strongly.
10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
heater, air pump. though the pump hasn't been working well, and it's not getting as much air as it should through.
11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
No natural light.
I usually turn the lights out when I work, which is generally at night. Unfortunately, my tanks are in my living room, which is where I spend most of my time. I sleep usually during the day.
12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
Yesterday. About 10 gallons.
Before that, last week, also about 10 gallons.
Sometimes I vacuum the substrate, but it's difficult with the plants.
13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
I have a lot of different foods and rotate them somewhat haphazardly. The main staples are Ocean Nutrition Brine Shrimp plus and OSI shrinking shrimp pellets (which the loaches and cories LOVE!). I also use a bunch of others, including Ocean Nutrition Community Formula and Formula One and spirulina flakes, Ken's flakes, Golden Pearls, tetra community flakes, OSI spirulina flakes, freeze dried blood worms and brine shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, San Francisco seaweed salad (algae), and occasionally some peas. And a bunch of others on occasion.
I generally feed them a little while after I get home from work, which is when they wake up. I feed them a bit before I go to bed, and a bit more an hour or so before lights out.
Also, I got some snails in all of my tanks when I got the plants, which had become a problem a while back. That's why I got the loaches in the first place! They started in the smaller tanks a year or more back, then moved into the bigger tank as they got bigger and had rid those tanks of snails. When I find the occasional snail in the other tanks, I pop them into the big tank for a snack for the loaches.
14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?
All the others seem fine. But the one sick yoyo loach was swimming around haphazardly and is now lying on his side and occasionaly swimming haphazardly.
15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis.
I put a bit of Pimafix and a bit more Melafix in the tank. Supposedly, they're good for general health and treatment, as well as preventing illnesses.
One last thing, he does seem to be moving about a BIT more now that he's in the hospital tank. But that might be beacuse I can see him better and there's nothing in his way other than the tank walls.
So, any ideas what might be wrong with my yoyo?
Any suggestions for treatment?
Should I keep him in the hospital tank or put him back in the big tank.
Thanks for any help!
Among the fish are three yoyo loaches and 4 clown laoches. I've had the yoyos for something like a year. They're about 3-4" long. One of the clowns is slightly smaller than them. I got three more even smaller (maybe 2" max) clowns in June to join him, since I got the bigger one along with a used tank around 6 months ago, and didn't wnat him to be alone any longer!
In any case, a week ago I just got a few more neon tetras to go along with the ones I had. Over time, a few had died off, and I wanted to keep a better shoal. I got six of them, and 2 of them have died, though without any ick or any other outward signs. But that's been par for the course with neons I've bought from any store. But I mention it here, since it's very possible that the yoyo caught something from them.
Now, one of my yoyo loaches is sick. The other 2 yoyos and all of the clowns and the rest of the fish all seem fine. Yesterday, I saw him swimming around haphazardly, spinning around, sometimes upside down and knocking into things. Today, he was just lying on his side at the bottom of the tank, under an ornament cover.
I've moved temporarily moved him into a 2.5 gallon hospital tank. I don't see any of the usual outward signs of illness. He's well colored, with the usual dark stripes and striations. No splotches or signs of external parasites. His fins and tail are intact. His gills are not discolored. His mouth is somewhat yellow, and he may be gasping abit more than usual. It's more that his mouth is often wide open. But it's hard to say if that's unusual, because my loaches rarely sit still in the open long enough for me to inspect their mouths! And their mouths move quickly as they're always looking for food.
Now, he's laying on his side in the hosipital tank. Every now and then he swims around a bit, but not upright.
here are the answers I can give to the standard questions.
1. What is the size of your tank?
75 gallons.
There are lots of caves and hiding places that the loaches and cories love to hide in and explore and squeeze into.
Now, the sick yoyo loach is in a 2.5 gallon hospital tank with a tetra whisper filter and an air pump.
2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.
Ammonia and nitrite are at or near zero.
Nitrate has been a bit high lately, around 40 ppm.
Ph is currently somewhat low at 6.4, and I've beenslowly raising it when doing water changes. (My tap water has a very high pH and requires acid buffer to lower it on every water change.)
hardness and alkalinity buffering capacity seem moderate (from the color on the test strips.)
I'm using aquarium pharmaceuticals ph and ammonia kits and mardel 5 in 1 test strips.
3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
Fresh, though I do use a bit of salt.
4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
Over a year. Not sure exactly.
5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
-- 7 loaches (4 clown, 3 yoyos) from 2-4".
-- small shoals of about 7-8 each of neon tetras, glowlight tetras and zebra danios. All are around 1-1.5".
-- 6 or so platies, and probably a few hiding babies. There were a few more, but I moved them out into another tank a couple of weeks ago.
-- 5 albino aneus cories. 1-2" each.
-- 3 gouramis, around 3" each. 2 females and one male, so no fighting.
-- 2 siamese algae eater, around 2" each
No real agression in the tank, other than the usual zebra danio chases and platy mating chases.
Other than the new zebras and one new platy, I've had all of these since early in the year or longer.
6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?
No.
7. What temperature is the tank water currently?
77 degrees.
8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
Yes. lots of java moss. A few other live plants, all swords.
I was having some problem a while back with black algae, but the siamese algea eaters have taken care of that!
9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
Marineland Emperor 400. I rinse off the cartridges every week or so. (Remember that it has bio wheels for collecting the bacteria for biological filtration.) I rotate changing the filer cartridges, changing one of the two every 2-3 weeks. And I usually change the extra carbon every month or so. Every 2-3 months I clean out all tubing to ensure water flows strongly.
10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
heater, air pump. though the pump hasn't been working well, and it's not getting as much air as it should through.
11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
No natural light.
I usually turn the lights out when I work, which is generally at night. Unfortunately, my tanks are in my living room, which is where I spend most of my time. I sleep usually during the day.
12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
Yesterday. About 10 gallons.
Before that, last week, also about 10 gallons.
Sometimes I vacuum the substrate, but it's difficult with the plants.
13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
I have a lot of different foods and rotate them somewhat haphazardly. The main staples are Ocean Nutrition Brine Shrimp plus and OSI shrinking shrimp pellets (which the loaches and cories LOVE!). I also use a bunch of others, including Ocean Nutrition Community Formula and Formula One and spirulina flakes, Ken's flakes, Golden Pearls, tetra community flakes, OSI spirulina flakes, freeze dried blood worms and brine shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, San Francisco seaweed salad (algae), and occasionally some peas. And a bunch of others on occasion.
I generally feed them a little while after I get home from work, which is when they wake up. I feed them a bit before I go to bed, and a bit more an hour or so before lights out.
Also, I got some snails in all of my tanks when I got the plants, which had become a problem a while back. That's why I got the loaches in the first place! They started in the smaller tanks a year or more back, then moved into the bigger tank as they got bigger and had rid those tanks of snails. When I find the occasional snail in the other tanks, I pop them into the big tank for a snack for the loaches.
14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?
All the others seem fine. But the one sick yoyo loach was swimming around haphazardly and is now lying on his side and occasionaly swimming haphazardly.
15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis.
I put a bit of Pimafix and a bit more Melafix in the tank. Supposedly, they're good for general health and treatment, as well as preventing illnesses.
One last thing, he does seem to be moving about a BIT more now that he's in the hospital tank. But that might be beacuse I can see him better and there's nothing in his way other than the tank walls.
So, any ideas what might be wrong with my yoyo?
Any suggestions for treatment?
Should I keep him in the hospital tank or put him back in the big tank.
Thanks for any help!
