AVERAGE AGE OF WEATHER LOACH?

[hudsey23]

HI DOES ANYONE KNOW THE AVERAGE OF A WEATHER LOACH PLEASE?
THANKS HELEN

[Gary Herring]

Hi Helen,

Weather loaches can live up to about 10 years old. They grow to between 5 and 8 inches long in an aquarium, but can reach 20 inches in the wild! They are a remarkably hardy fish, who are unfussy of water chemistry and temperature (5 - 25c) and will eat almost anything. Weather loaches have interesting and active personalitys, and are said to be able to sense changes in barometric pressure, hence the name.

Hope this is helpful,

Gary

[Graeme Robson]

I agree with Gary. 10 years plus if kept in quality waters.

[hudsey23]

Hi Gary well mine died today it floated around on its back for 1 day and didnt seem to have much energy left last night.He would swim occasionaly put only on his side. i think he was only around 5 yrs old thats why im just wondering if my other fish are going to take ill as it was a young age.
I have 3 goldfish 1 blackmoor and another weather loach.

[Gary Herring]

Im really sorry about your loach Helen.
Like i said they are usually really hardy fish. Is your water quality ok? ie have you checked for ammonia and nitrite, etc? Also keep a close eye on your other fish for signs of disease.

[hudsey23]

No i havent checked the water. to be honest i just let the fish get on with it. Hoe should i check it?

[Gary Herring]

When any fish dies unexpectedly, the first thing to do is test the water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If you dont have a test kit, take a sample of tank water to your local fish shop, and they will test it for you (some charge a small fee). How long has the tank been set up? Do you know all about tank cycling? if not there is a good article at http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk Look on the forum, general information, its called 'cycling and how to avoid new tank syndrome' by Alien Anna.

[TammyLiz]

Another good article to read on water quality is this one on old tank syndrome
http://www.bestfish.com/oldtank.html

Basically what it says is that if you don't do regular water changes your water will all go to crap and stress your fish, eventually to death. If you're into details and want to know what is actually going on, it is very good reading.
For the first few years I kept fish I didn't know about this. Unfortunately now that I know I think some of my fish's deaths were from early stages of this problem. If you just let the fish be and don't do weekly water changes, it is likely that this is going on in your tank to at least some degree. This is why it is important to keep your water fresh.

If this is the problem, start slowly doing 20% water changes, getting as much junk out as possible with that amount of water but no more, so you don't shock everything in the tank. Then be consistent in your water changes weekly or you may be able to push it to twice a month depending on how heavily your tank is stocked. Your fish will love you for it and live long lives.

I'm sorry to hear about your weather loach. I hear they are quite the characters!

EDIT: I noticed your other post, I just didn't know what to say. My first thought was "Man, its too late for that guy", but I didn't really want to tell you. Sorry I didn't think to add something to help your other fish. Its good that you posted again. Welcome to the forum! I'm new here, too.

[flamingonhot]

Yeah, you'd definitely would benefit from testing your tank and trying to find the problem. The reason is because weather loaches are extremely hardy. My cousin has a 5 year old one too that was his first fish and it went through countless ammonia spikes, heater malfunctioning and killing all his fish except the water loach, and a whole lot of other things and it's still growing....