What is happening to my loaches??

I wonder if I should put more in then. The aquarium salt box said 1 tbs to every 5 gallons, so in the hospital tank (10 gal), I put in 1 tbs. I also treated the big tank with 6 tbs. I wonder if I should double the dose on both tanks?? I just don't want to get over-exhuberant and do more damage than good.
 
Not a fishy expert by any means, but I wonder...
Since all this started with a water change, have you called the water company? I have read several threads here where people have lost fish for no apparent reason other than a water change, and it turned out the water company had been flushing mains or something like that, and the extra chemicals in the water had been enough to cause deaths, even with water conditioners, etc. Could the peeling skin on yours be a chemical burn?

I have also read threads where someone has accidently stirred up some funk by gravel vaccing too enthusiastically. Could you have rattled up the substrate enough to disturb some toxic dust bunnies when you did your move?

Jen
 
rainbowcharmer said:
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...
Click to expand...

the rest of the tank may not be affected YET. or they may never get affected i once had a fish with ich and that was the only one in that tank to get it.

Edit: i agree with Jennie Beth also though, it may be your water
maybe you should just test your tap water or call the water company
 
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I'm not sure what to test it for, and I guess if it were the water, wouldn't all the other fish be affected? Or at least the other Kuhli?

I just don't know what to treat with. :(

And I've been doing 50% water changes on my QT tank (my angel) every few days, with no issues. I would think if it were the water, the Angel would be having issues with all the water changes??
 
Well, I want to keep this thread live in hope that someone expert will have a look. It certainly doesn't look like ich to me, and I don't remember seeing photos of anything like it either.

In answer to your question, (Wouldn't all the fish be affected?) if there is a problem with water quality, the fishes' general health can suffer, making them more susceptible to disease, or some other factor - so it might be a general problem that is showing up in only certain fish who might have a genetic weakness, say.

It might be good to do regular water changes, so if it is a question of something toxic be introduced to the tank - even a short term change in water from the mains - that that gets diluted and eventually removed.
 
I just finished treating my tank for ich with salt and I was told not to use Aquarium Salt for the treatment (and I also have 4 clown loaches so don't worry about salt with them...although my cory's did die when exposed to 2tsp per gallon)

Switched to 100% NaCl (4lb bag for 1.99) and it's completely gone now

just out of curiosity what is your pH at?

the fish's skin "looking like it's peeling off" seems a little strange
 
My PH is pretty low - it always has been. I've actually added some crushed coral in the past to try to bring it up, but it never seems to do a whole lot. It's pretty rock-steady at about 6.2. It's been that way since day 1, so I'm not sure that the low PH could do this since he's been in that environment for about 2 years.

As of this morning, when I checked in on him, he was not looking better - in fact, he was looking worse. I'm not sure if he'll even be alive still when I get home from work. I'm hoping so, but I just don't know. He did not look well at all. His gills were very red when I removed him from the main tank last night, and I know he's struggling. I did not add any further salt (and I sure hope my cories are OK with the 6 TBS I added ot the 46 gal last night). Everyone seemed OK when I went to bed last night, and I did not check the main tank this morning, since the lights don't come on until afternoon on that one (they're on a timer). The angel in my QT tank was still doing well this morning. His light is on twice daily since I am feeding him twice daily. I have it set to turn on about the same time my alarm goes off, and then it goes off an hour later, and then back on about the time I get home from work, and back off about bed time.

Anyway, I'll update when I get home, but hopefully in the meantime someone can ID what is going on with him so I can stop at the LFS on the way home for appropriate meds. I don't want to just start dumping stuff in there and hoping for the best, since I probably will just make it worse, and I don't really want to spend $$ unnecessarily on meds that aren't appropriate.

I'll check back on the thread before I leave work for the day and hope that someone has seen this before.
 
Sorry for your troubles! I'll try to help but have questions.
How often were you doing your normal water changes?
What is the ph of the water coming out of the tap?
What is your substrate and did you disturb it much when you did the water change and move?
Are you planted?
Did you move things around on the bottom?
Are you seeing any tiny salt like bumps on the sick loach at all or is it just that milky white shedding sort of thing going on?
 
Well first - the loach is dead. Came home and he's gone. :(

As for the rest of the questions - hopefully this will help prevent another problem in the future...

How often were you doing your normal water changes? Every other weekend. (usually around 20%), if I did one more frequently for whatever reason, it was usually only about a 10% change.
What is the ph of the water coming out of the tap? Out of the tap it's 6.2 as well.
What is your substrate and did you disturb it much when you did the water change and move? Substrate is gravel with a very small amount of crushed coral spread throughout (about a handlful).
Are you planted? Yes - Java moss, as well as a few others that are not readily identified.
Did you move things around on the bottom? No more so than usual, I gravel vac'd, but did not move any ornaments or anything around. I moved the tank to this house in June, so it was very recently completely cleaned out (filter remained in the bucket with the fish, so it did not have to cycle again.
Are you seeing any tiny salt like bumps on the sick loach at all or is it just that milky white shedding sort of thing going on? No bumps. Just milky white (and now somewhat fuzzy) spots, though the shedded skin was a reddish color (the loach was brown, so I imagine it was pretty close to skin color for him).

All the fish in the 46 gal still seem fine. Cories are good, Oto is good, Diamond tetras are good. Haven't seen the other kuhli yet today, but will keep looking. Also haven't seen the (hopefully) remaining yoyo or angelicus in days, so I hope they are OK as well. I'm not sure if I should tear apart their tank looking for them or not??
 
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