Loaches Online Forum

Nitrates of 20 are still pretty high, I'd do a 20% water change every other day or so until they're down to <5. The other unexplained fish deaths without obvious cause are also concerning. This could be internal parasites or slow moving/ low-level bacterial infection, hard to tell without a lab. Hav...

I find with gastromyzon the two most important things are pristine water (very low nitrates) and high dissolved oxygen. This behavior could be because of low DO, especially if he's hanging out in a low flow area. Do you have a qt tank you could move him to? To encourage eating, I would try live/froz...

Thanks, Nancy! I'm about an hour and a half from Lansing but let me know the next time you're in Michigan and I'm sure we can work out a meet. I'm more than happy to share. I'm passionate about conservation so I'd be thrilled to see more people successfully breeding these, and other, loaches.

Austen

They've been spawning pretty regularly since the fall. I've never seen eggs but I have watched the male dig out the nest ( pic below). http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r786/atmichaels/image_zpsyq1owggw.jpeg This shows the fry/juvies from at least 4 different spawns. The newest, only a couple of d...

Excellent, you should be good to go! Good luck with your loach.

Hi Squid-I need to clarify what you have. Is it 10% soluble or 10% concentration? If what you have is just levamisole powder, without additives,then it should be the former (concentration usually refers to a liquid solution). Solubilty refers to how much of the medication (levamisole powder) will di...

Did you read this?

http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/l ... chloride-1

Welcome! You can start on the main site here:
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-histronica

Austen

So how many fry are there now? From, what, 3 or 4 batches, I lost count? Awesome, Austen! At least 24 from 3 groups. Thanks! I stare at this tank several times a day and every few days I count more and more fry. The newly hatched ones are really good at hiding! I think I may have witnessed spawning...

Short video update. The fry are about 6 weeks old now and I tried to zoom in on one of the new 2-week olds.

http://youtu.be/Rcg_V3x-9D0


Austen

Honestly, I would be more concerned with the high nitrates rather than the high pH right now. (By the way, there are several pH reducers sold for aquariums with the main ingredient being....sulfuric acid. It only sounds scary). Another thought on the unexplained deaths- could be low dissolved oxygen...

RO/DI is great because it gives you a blank slate (very nearly pure water) to work with but the problem is you then have to add everything back to it. Lots of work involved. You'd also need a large storage tank for the RO/DI water to accumulate in, it's not an instant process. Plants are very useful...

Agree with Dianna's suggestion of setting up water source for your tank changes. However, to get a truly accurate reading of the nitrates in your tap water you should let it off gas for 24-48 hours and then check it. There are a lot of additives in city water that can impact the pH that breakdown wi...

I will add a freshly recharged Purigen to help keep the nitrate down, as well as a 75% water change, less feeding, and I've been thinking about getting Seachem Hypersorb or Renew. Rather than adding more "stuff" to remove nitrates I would focus on reducing the cause of the high nitrates in the firs...