Sick Dojo

[Olivia]

First of all, hello. I'm new here and I wish I weren't here for such a morbid reason.

I've got a wonderful golden dojo (weather) loach in my tank who has recently taken ill. I've spent the past 40 minutes searching to try and find out what is wrong, but I can't find anything quite like this. He's always been a very healthy, happy, and active loach but last night he was lying on his back. Now I've seen my other loaches (clown and yoyo) do this but only for a moment. He spent the entire night like this except when I fed him his favourite food, at which time he began swimming erratically upside-down to try and get the food. He's become even more lethargic since and I'm very worried and not quite sure what to do.

Some basic info: This is a well-established tank (properly cycled for over two years now) with a number of other fish in it. I've got a variety of species but they've all gotten along and I haven't added any new fish in a few months. I've had this loach for over a year so he isn't new to the tank. All the levels are fine and the water and tank are kept quite clean. None of the other fish show any signs of illness.

What has me most confused is that there are no physical signs of illness on the loach. He looks perfectly normal aside from his behaviour. He did have some problems just over two months ago with a large piece of gravel stuck in his gill but the vet removed it only two days later and he was kept on loach-approved antibiotics in a hospital tank for a week afterwards. The gill has healed fine, but I wanted to mention this in case it may have something to do with it.

I'd really appreciate any advice/input that could be given as I'd really like to save my loach. Thank you in advance for any replies!

[Ashleigh]

Hi Olivia,

Welcome to the forum, Im sorry that you are having problems with your Dojo although you are certainly in the right place to try and figure out what is wrong.

If possible could you provide a few more details of your tank setup;

Water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH etc) - the actual numers if possible
Your maintance on the tank; how often you carry out water changes/filtration/water temp
Size of tank and other tank inhabitants


Do you currently keep the Dojo loach in with your clown/yoyo loaches? If so, Im afraid this is not a great mix due to the different temperature ranges that are ideal for each species.



Ashleigh

[Olivia]

Hi Olivia,

Welcome to the forum, Im sorry that you are having problems with your Dojo although you are certainly in the right place to try and figure out what is wrong.

If possible could you provide a few more details of your tank setup;

Water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH etc) - the actual numers if possible
Your maintance on the tank; how often you carry out water changes/filtration/water temp
Size of tank and other tank inhabitants


Do you currently keep the Dojo loach in with your clown/yoyo loaches? If so, Im afraid this is not a great mix due to the diffnerent temperature ranges that are ideal for each species.



Ashleigh

Thanks for the reply, Ashleigh.

The tank is a 40 gallon tank with mostly tetras and mollies (the two-inch variety) in it. Aside from there there are a number of Corydoras, two Plecos (both of which are two inches long) and three danios. My other two loaches are in there but only because they were bothering my young corys in the other tank. I plan to move them back once the corys are larger.

I clean the water about once a week depending on the water chemistry and how much they've eaten/not eaten. The water is kept at an even 78 degrees farenheit (25 celsius).

As for the parameters:

GH - 60
KH - 40
PH - 6.5
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 20
Ammonia - 0

Unfortunately the water wasn't cleaned this weekend which is probably the reason for the higher Nitrates. I'm nervous to do it right now, however, unless necessary since I don't want to stress my loach more than necessary.

Thanks again.

[Ashleigh]

Hi Olivia,

The only problem that I can see so far is that you have a reading for nitrite (0.5). In a cycled tank there should be no reading for nitrite at all so that could be the source of the problem, especially with loaches being somewhat sensitive fish.

Right now I would preform a water change; only 25% max to begin with and keep an eye on your nitrites-try to keep them as low as possible, even if it means a water change every day, hopefully you should see a positive change in the loaches behaviour.
Although in the long run you will need to try and figure why you have a reading for nitrites in the first place-the tank has been setup for 2 years so there should be no cycling going on because of a new tank etc. It could possibly be down to heavy stocking, not enough filtration or heavy feeding.

Is the loach breathing rapid at all, are their any signs of physical damage, reddened gills etc?



Ashleigh

[Johanski]

Remember that you shouldn't feed while you have nitrites, as this may be the reason you have it in the first place, but also because it makes it worse.

[paperdragon]

If there are no breathing problems, redness around the gills, or other similar symptoms, then there's a possibility of it being neurological damage from an injury. From what I've been reading the erratic upside-down swimming is a very common symptom of neurological problems.

[Olivia]

Thanks for another prompt reply, Ashleigh.

I did a water change like you suggested and I'm giving the water time to cycle through before testing the chemistry again. I'm rather confused about the nitrite reading as well seeing as it wasn't there when he fist started acting this way, but I double checked the test (two separate testers) and it is correct. I'm planning to bring a sample in to the local pet store tomorrow just in case, but I doubt they'll find any differently.

The tank shouldn't be over-stocked with the number of fish in there, but I'm not ruling out anything at this point. The water is well filtered and aerated though.

There are absolutely no signs of physical damage and he's actually breathing slower than normal.



Johanski,

Thanks for the reminder. I was aware of this, but the nitrites only just showed up so it hasn't made anything worse yet.



Paperdragon,

I'm not too sure about that seeing as it's been a couple months since his injury and he's acted fine up until now. Also he is barely swimming and mostly lying on his side or upside-down on the bottom of the tank.


Thank you all for your replies.

[Olivia]

Well I changed the water again this morning, a slightly smaller amount so I wouldn't stress the fish, and the nitrites seem to be gone. Unfortunately my loach is just getting worse. He's not even swimming now except for very small distances when badly disturbed.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong and what I can do to help him? Any and all input is greatly appreciated.