Loaches Online Forum

have had a small gastro in with a juvenile bristlenose. Never noticed how similar the two look. the two 'play' all day and are inseprable. it will probably end when the BN grows up but for now I will leave them to it. a short vid of one of their dinner time punch ups. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...

strangley enough the Bristlenose also develop something similar to 'patchy'. they get ulcers that start with patches then these start shedding from the middle so the wounds look a little like an onion ring pattern. Again this can be treated with tetracyclene. There is little if any info on this dise...

I noticed something very odd on a few of my loaches before they died of something like patchy (the ones in the tank with the livebearers). on the gastro's there seem to be two small barbels on the underside of the lip near the top of the mouth. before they got to the 'loosing strength' stage I notic...

I am unsure of any aluminium tests. I simply check levels through a local water suppliers website. they usually have water quality reports for each week and ammounts of chlorine present. I thought it might have been the clorine causing the problem but over several months noticed the problems were wo...

How about the use of aluminium compounds as de-floccing agents in your water supply (usually in summer) these are normally safe but become toxic to fish at low PH. I found loaches are particularly sensitive to this poisoning. An interesting note on patchy disease. I was keeping some loaches in a tan...

There is definitly something amiss with our supplied water. Besides chlorine at a high .77 my guppies have come down with something, this sickness is slower but appeared a few days after I posted. symptoms exactly the same as nitrite poisoning ( lethargy, gasping at surface). I have around 4 tanks t...

Hi I was wondering if anyone could help explain the loss of some yoyo loaches. Had them around 4 months. they have been happy and healthy with no sign of illness up untill their death. water parameters. ph :6.8-7 ammonia:0 Nitrite:0 Nitrate: .10-.25 55gal tankmates: guppies, endlers, angels, clowns,...

A few of our LPS have just got in the Ugliest clowns I have ever seen. they are longer and skinnier than usual with a pale yellowish, orange, stripes about 1/3 thinner than usual, these end just before they reach the belly, the stripes also arnt quite black and have a dirty grainy look to them, they...

so how do you tell a 'dilutic' from a sick/stressed one.

guppies are definitly not advised. they are usually the first targets for a beating. A lot of friends of mine keep them with any cichlid not big enough to eat them.

they seemed a little different in patterning (thicker) than the usual loaches we get in plus they had a more orange caudial. possibly a 'less' collected regional loach? mine certainly have never acted this way.

Strange as it may sound over here in Aus we have had a few shipments of small clown loaches that have taken to plucking the eyes out of other fish. First I saw was a tank of angels and clowns (only two species in the tank) at a LPS where the owner had lost 15 angels overnight , all with both eyes re...

I have mine in with yoyo and clowns, he schools with the yoyo I suppose because of the very similar tail and body markings. there are occasional shoving battles between the clown and pictus when resting but never anything serious. The pictus is 3/4 grown and still no guppies lost.

My yoyo's have been competing for a few days, lots of 'chasing and nipping' and something I have been calling the 'fish slap dance' where they go side by side and wriggle back and forth, slapping at each other, fins spread and colour a pale grey all over. After this they will start biting each other...

I found this article about a supposed clown loach span in a home aquarium. Any truth?

http://www.clownloach.info/breeding.php