Loach Diseases
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Loach Diseases
I have 4 loaches in my 40 gallon tank (which is a community tank) I just noticed that 2 of my loaches have small white spots on their tail fins. I am not sure if this is a disease or if it is normal. I was searching on line and didn't come up with anything. Help.
Hi, Denise, Welcome to Loaches 
Small white spots makes me think immediately of Ich. It might be something else, though.
Loaches in general get Ich very easily, and unfortunately are very sensitive to most medicines that kill Ich.
Ich looks like salt or sugar has been sprinkled on the fish. The first day you see it the spots might not look raised, but by the next day you can tell.
I have seen some good pictures here of Ich, have a look around, and I am sure someone who knows how to find these pics will come along very quickly.
In general, Ich is a parasite that burrows under the fishes' slime coat, feeds on the fish for several days to a week (depends on temperature) then falls to the bottom of the tank to reproduce. Without knowing what the problem is the safest thing to do at this point is a water change that emphasizes vacuuming the bottom of the tank to remove any fallen Ich that could try to re-infest the fish.
If it is not Ich, but some other irritant, the water change will help, anyway.
Small white spots makes me think immediately of Ich. It might be something else, though.
Loaches in general get Ich very easily, and unfortunately are very sensitive to most medicines that kill Ich.
Ich looks like salt or sugar has been sprinkled on the fish. The first day you see it the spots might not look raised, but by the next day you can tell.
I have seen some good pictures here of Ich, have a look around, and I am sure someone who knows how to find these pics will come along very quickly.
In general, Ich is a parasite that burrows under the fishes' slime coat, feeds on the fish for several days to a week (depends on temperature) then falls to the bottom of the tank to reproduce. Without knowing what the problem is the safest thing to do at this point is a water change that emphasizes vacuuming the bottom of the tank to remove any fallen Ich that could try to re-infest the fish.
If it is not Ich, but some other irritant, the water change will help, anyway.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.
Happy fish keeping!
Happy fish keeping!
Loaches
Hi Diana
Thanks for the information. It is in fact Ich and I did a water change and just added the Rid-Ich into my tank, the pet store told me to only do a half a dose tonight and check on them. Where there is only one out of the four of my loaches that is infected I hope that I can save him and not infect the rest of my fish. I also hope that they all survive. I have a rope fish, a red tailed shark, flying fox, red-eyed tetras and a neon tetra as well.
Thanks for the information. It is in fact Ich and I did a water change and just added the Rid-Ich into my tank, the pet store told me to only do a half a dose tonight and check on them. Where there is only one out of the four of my loaches that is infected I hope that I can save him and not infect the rest of my fish. I also hope that they all survive. I have a rope fish, a red tailed shark, flying fox, red-eyed tetras and a neon tetra as well.
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... sc&start=0
here is one of the better ones.
Scroll way down to a post by Chefkieth, a quote from Dr. Eric Johnson about Ich.
here is one of the better ones.
Scroll way down to a post by Chefkieth, a quote from Dr. Eric Johnson about Ich.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.
Happy fish keeping!
Happy fish keeping!
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