Adopting loaches - will it work?

[ey]

My friend just informed me that he doesn't have as much time maintaining his tank and offered to give me his loaches.

I was just wondering if I could adopt them based on my tank stocking as well as compatibility with my current loaches.

For starters, he is giving me 4 yoyos which he's had for 2 years, they are roughly 8-10cm HT, but are very plump and tall. He is also giving me his only clown (the other 2 died of skinny disease), he has kept the clown for over 3 years and it is roughly 10cm HT. During this time he has kept the loaches in a planted 2ft tank with lots of rocks and driftwood for hiding spots. He noted that the last clown has become quite inactive and shy since the other 2 clowns died in the last month or two.

My current 95g tank stocking is as follows:

- 18 clowns (ranging from 5cm babies to 12cm)
- 8 yoyos (recently got them, they're 6cm)
- Rummynoses and Cardinals

I'm just not sure if adding them will cause my tank to be overstocked. At the moment, I'm doing 35% water changes twice a week. The filtration includes a large canister and AquaClear 70 HOB. I'm sure I'll probably need to do more water changes if I adopt these loaches. I'll be adding more driftwood/rocks and plants to my tank this weekend.

My other concern was compatibility. There was recently a thread where a member added a 6' yoyo to their tank and found a dead clown the next day. I just hope that by adding the 4 yoyos and 1 clown, that it wont create any heightened aggression to the tank.

If I do adopt, I will most likely quarantine first, but the problem is, I'm not sure if my 90L quarantine tank is big enough for the loaches, they might get stressed and get ich instead.

Any suggestions?

[ey]

I forgot to add the water parametres of my tank; it's basically zero ammonia and nitrite, nitrate is consistently around the 15-20 ppm mark. pH i 6.2, not sure what the pH of my friend's tank is.

[Diana]

Set up your Q-tank to match your friend's water parameters (GH, KH, pH) and adopt the fish. His Yoyos do sound larger than yours, and this might or might not be a problem. If your main tank has lots of hiding places, and there are some caves, arches or whatever not in use it may well work out OK.

[ey]

Set up your Q-tank to match your friend's water parameters (GH, KH, pH) and adopt the fish. His Yoyos do sound larger than yours, and this might or might not be a problem. If your main tank has lots of hiding places, and there are some caves, arches or whatever not in use it may well work out OK.

Thanks Diana. What are the potential risks of adding the larger yoyos? Will they be a thread to the existing clowns or yoyos? Or both?

I'm going to add a lot more driftwood (mopani) and rocks etc this weekend and see how they existing loaches respond to it.

[plaalye]

While you have them in the Q-tank, I would treat the addoptions for the possible causes of the "skinny disease" that killed your friend's other clowns. You can find some threads on this in a search. Look for levamisole, flubendazole, praziquantil, Kanamycin. There's also an article about Levamisole in the articles section. Good luck!

[chefkeith]

I'm not sure if my 90L quarantine tank is big enough for the loaches, they might get stressed and get ich instead.

Any suggestions?

That's the point of quarantining. Ich should never ever be in your main tank. You want to kill Ich or any other parasite while it is in quarantine.

[helen nightingale]

i had 2 yoyos, theymust have been 3-4", and 8 striata, varying in size from about 2 - 4", when i got 2 BIG yoyos. when they arrived at Emma's shop, they fought, so she put them in separate tanks. When i got them home, there was a bit of fighting with the alpha striata which lasted a few days. in the end, the striata won, and all get on happily together now. the big yoyos just ignored the little striata, just nudging them out the way if they want the food sometimes.

I cant say there isnt any risks, but i am sure other people here will have had good experiences too. definately quarantine and treat, and then after a month or two, when you are safe to move the new fish over, rearrange lots of the wood and decor, to try and reduce the existing fish being protective over their houses and hidey holes. they can all find new hidey holes together then.

[ey]

While you have them in the Q-tank, I would treat the addoptions for the possible causes of the "skinny disease" that killed your friend's other clowns. You can find some threads on this in a search. Look for levamisole, flubendazole, praziquantil, Kanamycin. There's also an article about Levamisole in the articles section. Good luck!

Good idea plaalye. The only problem is that Levamisole is the not the easiest to get over here (the last time I checked). Is it recommended to treat the clown for skinny disease if the last clown is not suffering from it?

I guess what I want to ask is if skinny disease can be transferred to other clowns? The yoyos were not effected at all.

If I do decide to go ahead and treat, will the Levamisole effect the other fish in the tank such as the large yoyos as well as some corys and tetras?

I'll do a search in the mean time for more info.

[ey]

I'm not sure if my 90L quarantine tank is big enough for the loaches, they might get stressed and get ich instead.

Any suggestions?

That's the point of quarantining. Ich should never ever be in your main tank. You want to kill Ich or any other parasite while it is in quarantine.

chefkeith, how long should I quarantine the loaches for? If, say that ich or other parasites show up, then is it safe to assume they are OK to go in the main tank? How can you tell if there are parasites?

[ey]

Hey Helen,

Thanks for the reply. I've seen pics of your large yoyos before and they do look lovely. Funny you say that because I called up a LFS that I had not been to before and they said they recently sold 2 large yoyos for A$100, which is not a bad price at all, considering their size - 12cm long and very girthy and plump. The guy said it had been sitting in the tank for a long time before someone finally bought it last week, he thought it was a good price and I don't disagree with him considering that most yoyos sold here are around $10-$15 but at a very small size (4-5cm).

Anyway, he said that quite often people would bring in their adult yoyos because they get too big and too active for their tanks. I wonder if the 'active' translates to them being boisterous?

Glad to hear that your yoyos got on with life after the initial fights. I expect the same if and when I do put the yoyos in, but I don't know if I'll be seeing the large yoyos fighting with my current yoyos or fighting my existing large clowns (who are around 10-12cm), I have witnessed a clown and yoyo fighting each other.

When you say risk, do you mean losing my current batch of loaches? Would it be possible to take the yoyos out of the large tank if they show too much aggression to the others immediately? I guess I still have some control over the outcome if I take them out before it gets too late right?

A very good idea about rearranging the wood and decor before adding the loaches in though! Thanks.

i had 2 yoyos, theymust have been 3-4", and 8 striata, varying in size from about 2 - 4", when i got 2 BIG yoyos. when they arrived at Emma's shop, they fought, so she put them in separate tanks. When i got them home, there was a bit of fighting with the alpha striata which lasted a few days. in the end, the striata won, and all get on happily together now. the big yoyos just ignored the little striata, just nudging them out the way if they want the food sometimes.

I cant say there isnt any risks, but i am sure other people here will have had good experiences too. definately quarantine and treat, and then after a month or two, when you are safe to move the new fish over, rearrange lots of the wood and decor, to try and reduce the existing fish being protective over their houses and hidey holes. they can all find new hidey holes together then.

[Diana]

Skinny disease is not a specific disease organism, but a combination, and could be any of several parasites or bacteria. The net result is that the fish is too overwhelmed by various diseases to put on weight. The organisms that cause the problem might linger in an untreated fish at a low level, then explode when they find new fish that do not have immunity to them.
The general treatment is to assume both parasites and bacterial infection, and treat with broad spectrum antibiotics and worming medicines. (Alternate the treatments, clearing the water each time- do not combine meds)

If it takes three weeks to properly alternate the medications, then start counting quarantine time the day after the medicines are cleared from the water. Then keep the fish in quarantine for a month. (Total time in the tank will be, in this example, 7 weeks)

[plaalye]

I'm pretty new at this too ey and am really only repeating what I learn here, so hopefully one of the more experienced folks will chime in. "Skinny disease" is just a blanket term for many possible conditions that cause the fish to waste away. Whatever those 2 clowns died from was in the tank with these fish you are adopting. They were likely the weak ones and succumbed to the problem but they all were exposed and could be carrying whatever it is. I think everyone will tell you to quarantine for at least a month.

[ey]

Skinny disease is not a specific disease organism, but a combination, and could be any of several parasites or bacteria. The net result is that the fish is too overwhelmed by various diseases to put on weight. The organisms that cause the problem might linger in an untreated fish at a low level, then explode when they find new fish that do not have immunity to them.
The general treatment is to assume both parasites and bacterial infection, and treat with broad spectrum antibiotics and worming medicines. (Alternate the treatments, clearing the water each time- do not combine meds)

If it takes three weeks to properly alternate the medications, then start counting quarantine time the day after the medicines are cleared from the water. Then keep the fish in quarantine for a month. (Total time in the tank will be, in this example, 7 weeks)

Thanks for the explanation Diana, its much clearer now to understand why quarantine is so essential. What are the recommended medicine/s for the treatment?

[chefkeith]

chefkeith, how long should I quarantine the loaches for?

If you have a valuable collection of fish in your main tank, then you might not want to take any chances. You should have a very thorough quarantine procedure if your goal is to prevent any future parasitic outbreaks. Time varies. One month is standard, but for a tank with so many loaches, you may want to double that.

If, say that ich or other parasites show up, then is it safe to assume they are OK to go in the main tank?

If parasites show up, then you should take extra measures that the parasites are eradicated. A standard one month quarantine for new fish is sometimes not enough.

How can you tell if there are parasites?

It was a hard lesson for me to learn, but the only way I know of to guarantee that unseen parasites do not spread to the main tank is to do some prophylactic treatments for the most common parasites.

You might want to think about this seriously if you want to give these loaches a long healthy lifetime, which could be 20+ years.

It's your choice though on how protective or proactive you want to be.

[Graeme McKellar]

Hi Ey, Levamisole is not hard to find in Aus. - it comes as a pig-wormer called"Levasol" made by Pittman-Moore. It can be bought from Rural Stores or Vet's can also get it for you.
Cheers Graeme.