The Loach Gang and me saying hi

[Kaja B]

Hi there, i have been reading in here for a while and finally thought i had reason enough to post something
You see, yesterday i got myself 6 baby kubs from the lfs, and i have to say, i havent regretted getting these magnificent fish since
I have been reading alot about botias, and these little guys are non stop.
When they aint eating or exploring, they are doing the loachy dance in their fav corner
They are about 1,5 cm, only one being about 2 cm, which seems to be selected the leader loach.
I bought some frozen bloodworm aswell, because of the botias.
They seem to love it, although their tiny mouths need a while to get it down
Didnt feed my fish frozen food before, but seeing how much they like it im not stopping here.

My tank is a 112 litres, but im planning and most certainly getting a larger one in time.
I have had an aquarium for about three years now, and this being the biggest tank ive ever had,
i was starting to think i where imune to the "need much more litres syndrome"
But then there was the botias...
I have made my mistakes, and i know i still have a long way to go, but i do hope i have learned something.
Otherwise it would all be for nothing, and i dont like the thought of that at all.
Luckily i started out in just the right lfs, and they sent me straight out on the fishforums, so the biggest mistakes where avoided.

My tank setup is mostly driftwood and java moss, and im very happy with all the roots working with me to get the ph low and water soft for my babies.
And yes, they are my babies
Doesnt take long until they are a part of the family
Some of the other fish in the tank is 15 danio frankei, also known around here as the jumbo jets.
I need to be smarter when trying to get the bloodworm past these small size piranhas.
I also have three amano shrimp, five kuhliies and a L144.
The kuhliies ive had for two and a half years, how old do these get?

Anyway, i was wondering, should i treat my loachies for skinny disease, if they are in good shape and eating well?
My lfs is very good with their fishes, and they wherent very skinny or anything when i bought them.
Nothing a meal of bloodworms couldnt fix
They are most probably captive bred too, guessing by their similar size?

I have also noticed one flashing a few times, not alot, about two times since i bought them.
He only does it once or twice, and then hes back to normal.
I dont know the english word for it, but do you guys think he might have parasites in his gills?
Thats where he is trying to scratch.
I looked at him until my face was flat because of the glass, but i cant see anything there.
Could it be a sand grain stuck or something?
Mine become very eager when feeding time, and sometimes the bloodworm comes out by the gills
I cant really stop worrying about them, with all the nasty diseases lurking about
Maybe you pro's can give me some advice, being the loach newbie i am?

Kaja

[raving_wayne]

hiya and welcome m8,

i think some pics would be nice if ya got some lol and there is a easy way to get ya bloodworm passed the danios use a peice of pvc pipe and attach a T peice then you can pop ya bloodworm and such in one end and it will only go down the tube which the loaches can swim straight into and getit, if ya feed in just one corner you could go for a pvc corner peice and leave it in ya tank all the time so its just like part of the tank, however i would recommend that if you do this you would defo need to camoflage it in some way


Rave

[Kaja B]

The pictures are a bit on the low side atm, my camera is crap, my loachies dont want to get their pic taken and are far too fast,
plus my laptop and digi cam are now conspiring against me and refuse to transfer even the bad pictures i got.
The little fella is scratching more now, again aiming for his gills.
He is more calm than the others, and he eats slow and not as much as his friends.
What medicine is loach friendly and works on gill parasites?
I know that i havent seen "it" yet, so i have no idea what it is, but i cant stand the thought of losing him/them

[Emma Turner]

Hei Kaja, welcome to Loaches Online!

It is up to you whether to treat for skinny disease (a.k.a. Chronic Wasting Syndrome), but if it were me, I would do so before moving the loaches to a larger tank. You can use either Levamisole hydrochloride (which you may have to obtain from a veterinary surgery) or Flubendazole. The latter is sold by Kusuri as Wormer Plus and is available to buy on eBay.

Emma

[tender]

Hi Kaja!
Great to see yet another fellow countryman(woman) on LOL.
Levamisole is impossible to obtain in Norway. You can purchase Wormer Plus (illegally) from www.plymouthdiscus.com. It is not possible to purchase via E-bay when you live in Norway because of shipment restrictions. Another option is Praziquantel which is legally purhased at TAM-shops under the name Dactymor.

And: kult å se nok en nordmann som har fått sans for denne fantastiske fisken

[LeStat]

My Norwegien is poor but, it is indeed cool to see more people who have a love of this magnificent fish.

[Kaja B]

Ok, im going out today so ill try to get Dactymor for the little guy that scratches.
They dont seem to have skinny disease, so ill wait and see before i treat for that.
One isnt supposed to mix medications either, and the scrathing is more urgent atm.

[Kaja B]

I managed to get some pictures, although they are almost too bad to be shown in public, i felt like you needed to meet my gang


Just being cute

The loachy jump of joy

Dont move, shes looking at us again

Staying close

Out exploring

And these where the good ones
My digicam is so slow they have moved away long time before it has taken the picture.

[Keith Wolcott]

Welcome to this great forum. Thanks for posting the pictures. We like all pictures and it is clear that you have very beautiful loaches.

[Kaja B]

After talking to the lfs ive decided to wait for a few days incase its just the different water parameters causing the scratching.
"Thats gonna be one pricy botia", she said, as the medicine seems to cost quite a bit.
So i figured we could wait a few days to a week, but not more.
I'll pay extra attention to the little guy too, to make sure he does okay.
He got his bloodworm stuck in his gill again today
Bothered him alot as he jumped around trying to get it back out.
Is it normal for them to get i wrong a few times?

One of the others greyed out today, when they where having a little arguement of which to be second in line exploring after the leader loach.
And of course, a piece of cucumber left for the L144 is a perfect place to play hide and seek in
When they landed on his nose he swam away looking a bit offended.
"Kids nowadays, always playing with their food..." he seemed to grumble
My botia babies are always up and about, and the part of shyness and nocturnal they seemed to miss out on.
Not that im complaining

[Kaja B]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZajwhlqOyaA
Hes still doing it as i type, and he started a few hours ago.
Never tired it seems

Im starting to get the hang of pictures, heres two that didnt turn out so bad like the last ones.

[chefkeith]

The loaches look great.

[Joe Khul]

Those are some lovely looking Loaches Kaja! Welcome to Loaches online

[Kaja B]

[Edit] Im not sure if i am allowed to post pictures of other than loaches in this forum, can anyone tell me if i am or not?
I'll of course delete this post if not.

[Kaja B]

Hi again, my loaches is doing good and the little one have stopped scratching completely
Im very relieved it was the water and not some nasty parasite.
They are eating alot and are generally very healthy i think.
And they have grown quite a bit too!
I'll see if i can get some new pictures soon, so you all can see.
Their bars are starting to get lines between them, and a few are getting a top gray undercolor that i dont really know what is.
I read about someone else having that, but im sure its just colors of the fish, and nothing nasty i need to worry about
They are better at eating bloodworms too now, and they dont get them in the gills anymore, which i think they are pleased about.
Didnt look very comfortable.
They are still always out and about, i think the only time they went to hide was when i had my hand in to move a piece of bogwood.
I had a some pest snails before, which i didnt really mind, but after these guys came home i havent seen a single one.
I've even seen them eat one though, they are really effective
Must be fun hunting down their own food.
The danios are growing fast too, and im very happy with the number of them now, not too few and not too many.
Both botias and danios seem to have settled down now, and sorted out their stuff and living side by side peacefully.
The danios gave one of the botias a kiss the first day, just to make sure it wherent missing out on a bit of food, but seemed to understand quickly and never touched any again
The botias sometimes chase the danios for fun, not too much, but it seems like they dont mind playing along.
They also whisker the kuhliis when eating, thinking it to be one of them.

Well, that was my wall of text for now, hope you dont mind me making this a bit of a loach diary

Kaja