Loaches Online Forum

The petstore closest to me did not have an ammonia testing kit, but they did have kits for nitrite and ph. Nitrite level is 0.1 mg/L, and the ph is 7.1. I did a water change last night.

The smaller loach did die =( But the bigger one still looks ok, no redness around his gills, no rapid breathing ...

Thank you shari2, I'm going to be following everyone's advice, if I can't save the loaches then I will get my tank properly cycled before trying again.

The fishstore (a small local one) did not give advice about what to do with new tanks. When I asked what I should feed the clowns, he wasn't even ...

Ok, now you're just being RUDE. I came here looking for advice, and while you gave it, you didn't have to be so condescending about it. This is a place where people come for Help, not to be ragged on for being a fish torturer.

Would high ammonia levels cause the discolorations I'm seeing though? They are hard to see from the picture, but it's almost like a film/patch.
Thanks again.

Are the clowns the very first fish to go in this tank? Has it been cycled already?

Most likely no.

Mikev and adampetherick, the tank ran for about a week with nothing but water and plants, then the 2 clowns were introduced. I'll test the water tommorow, if this is an ammonia/nitrate problem ...

I've had 2 clown loaches for 10 days now. Starting today the smaller of the two has been hiding, breathing very rapidly, very red gills and fins, red around the eyes, white mouth, and has discolorations. Click on the pic to get an idea of what I mean.

Could this be velvet maybe? The discolorations ...