Loaches Online Forum

Scary, all these posts about sick and dearly departed CLs.

I'm afraid I have my own post.

I just purchased 3 CLs, 2 of which didn't last 2 days.
They both developed a bright red and swollen nose/mouth.
These are babies, 1 1/2 to 2" in length.
What happened?
Could they have bruised themselves while being caught at the fish store by running into the sides of the tank?
Did I squish them while trying to net them out of the bag?
Why is the third one doing ok? ( crossed fingers )

I put them in an established 10G qtank from which I had just removed 2 slightly larger CLs that had plumped up quite nicely over the course of a couple of months. There are 5 tiger barbs in the tank that are doing just fine. I do weekly 50% water changes with a gravel vac. I did a good job acclimating the fish to the new tank by floating the bag for quite a while in the new tank followed by slowly mixing some of the tank water into the bag. I didn't mix bag water with tank water. I netted the fish out of the bag and placed them into the tank so there is minimal risk of contaminating the tank from the bag water. I have to admit I don't know what the tank water parameters are. I'll have to do the tests when I get home tonight.

I'd like to think that if I get any replacements from the store that they won't suffer the same fate.

update:

The water was 0/0/7/7.6 Am/NI/NA/PH so there doesn't seem to be a problem there.

The replacement CLs are doing fine. They're a bit larger and stronger than the previous two. These two are doing the loachy dance up and down and all around so they seem happy.

The survivor is hiding most of the time, but has poked his head out a few times and tried to join in the loachy dance. I don't know if he's weak, or just too timid. I'll have to keep an eye on him.

The 7 small tiger/green barbs that are also in the tank are doing fine. But then they were doing find before this all started also!

While getting the replacement CLs I also got 7 very small checker barbs. I couldn't resist at $0.99 each. So small, about 3/4 of an inch! They also are doing fine. Exploring the entire tank and munching on food where ever they find it.

I'm not sure what happened. So disapointing. It always seems to be the oddball marked ones that are the hardest to keep alive. I'll keep an eye on the tank for a while, but I think things are going to be ok.

*sign*