What is happening to my loaches??

rainbowcharmer

rainbowcharmer

AC Members
Jul 30, 2007
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East Coast, USA
I've lost 3 loaches in 2 days.

My parameters are normal - 0/0/10
Temp is 78

Nothing weird has gone on recently other than a large water change because I needed to move the tank a little bit and it was too heavy to slide while full. So I did about a 60% water change in order to empty it enough to slide it so I could get the cabinet that I needed into the corner next to the tank in place.

Could a large water change cause fish deaths? I used dechlor, and made sure the temp of the incoming water was as close as possible. I normally only change out about 10%-20% of the water, but I didn't think doing a larger one was going to do this. :(

I lost a 2 year old Yoyo on Thursday and two Angelicus loaches yesterday. One of them was about 2 yrs old as well, the other was probably about the same age, but had not been in my tank as long - I QT'd it a couple weeks before introducing it about a month and a half ago. All seemed OK??

The most recent addition to the tank is the school of diamond tetras, which were also QT'd for a few weeks prior to being introduced to the tank, and they all seem to be fine still.

Any ideas?? I really don't want to have to start over stocking this tank. I was almost finished, just one more addition to make after the Angel finishes QT... but now I'm wondering if I'm going to have to restock my bottom-dwellers.

:help:
 
I came home to a kuhli not looking well. Thank goodness I bought that 10 gal hospital tank a while back, and had the filter for it running on the main tank, so I know it's cycled. I caught him (way too easily for my comfort), and put him in the hospital tank. I need to go get meds for him. Problem is, I'm not positive if what he has is a version of ich, or if he's got a fungal thing going on. He's covered in spots, but they look more green than white to me. I will try to get a good picture of him and post it. None of the other fish that I can see in the tank are showing any signs of spots of any sort. The cories are fine, oto is fine, diamond tetras are fine. I haven't seen any of the other loaches out and about. There should be one more yoyo in there, and an angelicus as well, but I've not seen them in days now. I hope they are OK.

Any pointers would be great here. I haven't had any illness in this tank ever, so this is a new experience for me.

Off to take photos. I'll be back with those shortly.
 
Pictures of my sick kuhli

OK, so I saw the 2nd kuhli in the tank (he came out for food), and he looks fine. So hopefully it's just this one who is not well.

Anyhow, here are a few pics. Looks like his skin is actually peeling off in places too. Any ideas on what meds to try? I know loaches are more sensitive to meds than scaled fish. I have aquarium salt, but I've been told that is not normally good for loaches.

Any advice would be great...

Thanks.

DSCF0015.JPG DSCF0023.JPG DSCF0011.JPG DSCF0014.JPG
 
Gee, I really hope someone can help - your poor kuhli!
I don't recognise what might be wrong with it from the photos, unfortunately. It would be better to get an ID before you start trying to treat it. The only thing that occurs to me, if only loaches are being affected, is some disease that loaches are susceptible to, or something about the conditions that affects them more - pH, hardness, water circulation?
 
it looks like a fungus to me or a very bad case of ich
it looks like what my molly has and im using Pimafix. that seems to be working
but im definately no expert
 
Well it is too late to go to the LFS tonight. I went ahead and treated the tank with some aquarium salt. Only did half of what the recommended dosage is since I'm afraid that it's going to be a problem with the loach. He is still acting about the same. Lethargic and not moving much.

Hopefully someone who recognizes what's going on will stop by. I really don't think it's ich since the rest of the tank is OK. If they all start breaking out in spots, then I'll treat for ich, but the spots are not the white color that I would expect from ich.

I really believe it's a fungus of some sort, or a bacterial thing. But I'm not sure why only the loaches seem to be affected, and at that I'm not sure why the other kuhli is OK so far. I'm half tempted to try to catch him and put him in the hospital tank as well just in case, but I'd have to rip the whole tank apart to get to him since he's feeling perfectly frisky.

Anyway, I will keep watching him and if I see any spots start to show up on him I will move him as well. Problem is I really need to know how to treat before having the fish in the hospital tank is going to do much good...
 
Oooh, eep. Poor guy. Not sure what it is, I'm not a disease expert. I would say your loaches are showing this first because they don't have scales. They tend to show symptoms of diseases affecting the skin sooner than scaled fish. Which could mean that your other fish may have this too.
You'll be okay with salt and loaches, just don't use as much. I used 1 tbs per gallon to treat ich in my tank, and my kuhlis did fine.
 
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