Hi, I am new to all of this, and am quickly getting hooked
I recently aquired 2 RHSLs and just today noticed the area directly below their mouths were more white than I remember them being yesterday. One in particular seems more pronounced than the other one. I've tried googling "ventral view" and "anatomy" trying to compare (and find out exactly what I'm looking at!!). Below is the copied and pasted questions from the health section. Any help would be appreciated.[img]C:\Users\Jenn\Pictures\KODAK%20PICS\06-22-2012[/img]
[img]C:\Users\Jenn\Pictures\KODAK%20PICS\06-29-2012[/img]
[img]C:\Users\Jenn\Pictures\KODAK%20PICS\06-29-2012[/img]
Type of fish that are affected (common name and latin name if possible - common names vary worldwide, latin names don't!). – Purchased from LFS as “Reticulated Hillstream Loach”(RHSL)
* How long has the tank been set up for? – 1 month (did fishless cycling with ammonia in 2 weeks) – lots of brown algal growth on lower portion of sides
* Size of tank (dimensions and volume). 15gal (24x12x12”) “quarantine tank” {Waiting to transfer to 50g (30x20.5x18”)with eheim350 canister and a powerhead (5 bleeding heart tetras, 1 juv BN pleco, 1 ghost shrimp, 2 java ferns, 3 Anubias)}
* How is the tank being filtered? 2 x hanging Whisper PF10 filters
* Water temperature. Currently 79F
* Your maintenance regime - Have been doing 30%WC 1 – 2 times weekly. Have yet to clean filter.
* Has anything new been added to the tank recently? (fish, plants, live food, decor etc). – 10 days ago added 2 RHSLs, 6 Red Fire Shrimp, and 5 aquatic plants (red tiger lotus, crypts, swords). 7 days ago added food clip that was in container outside to grow algae (opaque plastic with water treated for chlorine/chloramines, pinch of food added). Had some duckweed and 2 anubia plantlets already in there.
* What other fish are in the tank? These are the first. Oh, there were a bunch of clear tiny snails when I set up, but removed manually, and haven’t seen new ones for several days now.
* As detailed a description as possible of the symptoms the fish are exhibiting (remember a photograph can speak a thousand words). Can anyone tell me if the white area directly under the mouth is abnormal? I don’t remember seeing so much white yesterday.
* How long ago the affected fish were added to the tank, and how long the fish have been displaying symptoms. Added 10 days ago, just noticed white is much more pronounced today.
* Your current water parameters – ammonia -0, nitrite 0 , nitrate 10-20, pH 8.2 (very hard Cambridge, ON water). I have been feeding shrimp pellets, algae wafers, tropical fish flakes. I have only seen the shrimp eat from the wafers, not the loaches. They do seem to move around more after adding the shrimp pellets. I tried a slice of blanched zucchini (my BN pleco loves it!), and they ignored it. They also have not gone ONTO the food clip – just behind it. They do go on everything else including the substrate.
