Dojo just died from Ich....or at least i think

[liquidpaper420]

A while a go i noticed that one of my dojo's was having a hard time not floating, i thought this was silly for a while and made jokes about it. I did not read up about possible diseases that could being causing this until 3 days ago. When a large swell appeared underneath his belly i got worried. So yesterday i put this dojo into and isolation tank and started him on blood worms. Early this morning tho it seemed he was seizing and could not control his body movements. about an hour or two ago he stopped all movement and has stopped responding to touch. ive had this particular loach for about 3 years now. he was around 7 inches long. his two buddies will miss him. sorry, just had to vent. Anyone own dojos here that want to talk about how awesome they are? or post pics of their dojos?

[valkyrie]

Sorry to hear about your Dojo. I hope the others do not fret to much. I know how attached one can get to there fish. I have had my loaches amongst others for 6 year and would be devastated if I lost one. Again condolences.

[soul-hugger]

I am very sorry to hear about the loss of your loach. I also keep weather loaches, and they are wonderful pets. I consider my loaches pets and the others, just fish, though I love them as well. I was attracted to the loaches from the moment I saw them, but when I got them, I had no idea just how much I'd grow to love them. They are full of personality and every day is different. My three-year-old daughter calls them the "Snakey Fishies" and she made that up all on her own. I have never encouraged her to like them over the other fish, but she talks about them every day, and makes me draw them for her to colour. It puts a smile on my face, as I hope it will for you too.

soul-hugger

[soul-hugger]

Sorry, it's me again.... I just thought of something else.

Sounds to me like your loach may have had a problem with his swim bladder. The swim bladder is what helps to keep a fish or loach balanced while swimming, so this would explain the erratic floating-swimming, and then later, the bloating. I believe it is a rarer problem than something like ich, so you couldn't have known. I'm not sure what would be an appropriate treatment if it were to happen again, but I do know it rarely results from anything you are doing wrong. I'm sure if you look up swim-bladder malfunctions, you could learn more. There is a diseases section right here on LOL, that pertains to loaches.

Bye for now but not for long,
soul-hugger