How do you quarantine loaches?

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Feihu
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Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:45 am

How do you quarantine loaches?

Post by Feihu » Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:25 pm

Ok. So I have gone through 12 loaches and it looks like these last 3 loaches aren't going to make it.

Basically, my loaches died because of ich, and perhaps how I was treating them. I am thinking Melafix is not good for loaches. Not sure if its the ich or the treatment (I used ick attack, and quick cure) itself that killed them.

Basically I completely cleaned my main tank with bleach, rinsed it out, and starting from scratch. So my main tank should be free of ich. It will take at least 4 weeks for the bio filter to rebuild, in the main tank.

I am going to set up a quarantine tank... So what exactly do I need to do to the loaches in the Quarantine tank?

1. I treat them for ich for a week. And what else??? How would I treat them for ich?

Feihu
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:45 am

Re: How do you quarantine loaches?

Post by Feihu » Wed Mar 20, 2013 4:25 am

If it helps they are clown loaches. I woke up to three loaches dead. Now they are all dead.

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DainBramage1991
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Location: Northern New England

Re: How do you quarantine loaches?

Post by DainBramage1991 » Wed Mar 20, 2013 12:12 pm

Sad to hear it.

The best treatment, in my experience, for ich on loaches is to get the tank up to 86 - 87 F as quickly as is reasonable (no more than a degree every few hours), and add salt, starting at about a tablespoon per 10 gallons (added over the course of a day or two) and then slowly increase if it doesn't seem to be helping. Perform frequent partial water changes (daily or every other day), making sure to vacuum the gravel thoroughly each time.
Avoid using any medications with loaches whenever possible. Loaches are far more sensitive to meds than most other fish, and it's entirely possible to kill them while trying to cure them.
Leave the tank at 86 - 87 F for at least a FULL TWO WEEKS after the very last symptom of ich is seen. Then slowly (over the course of several days) lower the temp down to 81 - 82 F and leave it there permanently. The salt level can be returned slowly to normal through normal partial water changes.

Diana
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Re: How do you quarantine loaches?

Post by Diana » Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:10 pm

1) Test the water in the bag, or even better, ask at the store before you buy the fish.
2) Make the quarantine tank water match the GH, KH and TDS of the store water. Temperature, too.
3) Q- tank: Bare bottom. Just a couple of rocks or plastic plants to hide behind. Sorry, NO caves or tunnels. Since Ich is an ongoing problem, I would set it up with a UV sterilizer. If you are quarantining no more than about 1" of fish per 10 gallons of water, then a bio-filter is not quite so critical (you will have to stay on top of water changes). However, if you can have a cycled filter ready that would be best. You can buy bottled bacteria. Look for Nitrospira species of bacteria, and do not waste your money on anything else. You can do the fishless cycle to grow the bacteria in the filter, too.
4) Drip acclimate the fish, then NET them out of the bucket. NO store water to enter the Q-tank (this is one way Ich enters your tank). I know netting Loaches is no fun. When they are stressed they stick out that knife! Perhaps use a perforated plastic scoop like a colander.
5) As suggested above, heat is a great way to control Ich, unless you have the heat tolerant variety. Raise the temperature in the Q-tank above 86*F. Make sure there is plenty of aeration so the oxygen level is very high.
6) Do a water change daily or every other day and vacuum the floor of the tank especially well. Ich falls off the fish to breed, and if the fish had any Ich on them from the store (this is one way Ich gets in your tank) then frequent vacuuming will remove these breeders. Hopefully before they release baby Ich organisms.

Melafix does nothing for Ich, just gives the fish another stressor. Skip it.
I have heard more "It did not work" stories about Ich Attack, and very few positive ones. Do not use any meds while you have the UV running. Salt and heat is all.
If you need to use a medication for Ich, try Rid Ich (after the UV is off). Many people here have used it for Loaches.

After 1 week, turn off the UV. Watch like a hawk!
After another few days begin to reduce the temperature, perhaps 1* per day until the Loaches are in water that matches the main tank temperature.
If your main tank has a different GH, KH and TDS than the store water, then every water change on the Q-tank should alter the mineral level a little bit until after about a month the fish are in water that matches the main tank. Slow, steady change in mineral levels.
After you have turned off the UV, then I would treat the Loaches (and other bottom fish like Cats) for internal parasites. Wild caught bottom feeders seem to pick up these parasites quite easily, then the stress of capture, shipping and so on allow the parasites to really get going.
If there is any hint of skinny disease, then alternate antibiotics with anti parasite meds.

If an aquarium held fish that dies with Ich, then you do not have to go to such extremes to sterilize the tank and equipment. Ich dies in just a few days without a host. I would do one water change that includes deep vacuuming the gravel, 100% water change. Get pretty aggressive cleaning the filter. Use this chance to really get tough with algae. Replant the plants.
Then keep it running, adding ammonia to keep the nitrifying bacteria alive. Run it without fish for at least a week if the temperature is in the upper 70s, longer if you turn off the heater and run it at room temperature.
You will have the fish in a quarantine tank for a month anyway, so just keep the main tank going with no fish for that length of time. Have a look at the fishless cycle for more details.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

mehtab_gill
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Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2013 7:18 pm

Re: How do you quarantine loaches?

Post by mehtab_gill » Sat Apr 27, 2013 6:20 pm

best way of quaranting loaches is to raise temperature higher than normal 84-89F
Loaches can handle the higher temperatures a lot better than most fish.
This will stop ich reproductive cycle.
Also be sure to add plenty of oxygen in the control tank by creating bubbles (air stone) for them to manage to low oxygen levels due to higher temperature.

quarantine for 1 1/2 - 3 weeks.

This is the least stressful and perhaps the most effective way of getting rid of ich/quaranting new specimen.

edit: for even less stress/problems, get information on ph and water hardness to match the fish's specific needs to the control tank.

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