Loaches Online Forum

I've been reading alot of posts about peopl's clowns having skinny disease and ich and every time i read each post i check my loaches frantically...at first i saw nothing but the more i looked the more syptoms i keep seeing breathing heavy,white spots(i just change the substrate to sand like 4hrs ago) and im not really sure if they have skinny disease and im second guessin my observations......what medications should i have on hand or should i treat now? if so what should i use?

ps. they are all about and eating like pigs(but then again thats what one post said and then a month later things got worse)

If you have just made changes to the substrate then there may be bits of stuff drifting around in the tank, and the fish are likely under stress because their environment is different. I would keep the light off and feed lightly for a day or two. Watch them, to be sure, but they may have nothing wrong at all.

Did you quarantine and treat your Loaches when you first got them?

To see if they are skinny look at them behind the head, along what might be described as the back of the neck (if they had such a thing as a neck). Look in this area from the top line following along behind the gills and a little farther back.
Healthy fish will be smoothly filled out, slightly bulging between the backbone and the midline, behind the gills. Think of a gently curved pair of parentheses. ( ).
A fish that is having some problems keeping on weight will have a hollow area on each side, as if the upper half of the parentheses are slightly collapsed.

Ich may show up first as flashing, or otherwise unhappy fish. Less active, perhaps clamped fins. Ich can live in the gills.
The first spots will be small, and may not look like full blown Ich. Within a day or so it will look like the grains of salt or sugar. It can be stuck anywhere on the fish, including fins. It may be grouped or individual spots.

ok ill keep the lights off and everything for a day um tomorrow was suppose to be fast day for them should i feed them instead? and no i didnt quarentine them bc they were the first fishes in the tank

ps if they do have ich i do have a bottle of quick cure ready... has anyone have any experience with this product?

Hi

Over the past few months I have gradually added some sand to my tank.

The first thing the loaches did was burrow around a lot more than before. They were enjoying the new substrate.

I then for a split second gasped because I thought id seen signs of ich.....and then I immediately realised it was just little grains of the sand occasionally sticking onto the loaches for a short while!!!! It was because I previously had small gravel and plant substrate and had never experienced small specks of sand landing on my loaches before!!

Hope this helps?!

Kaz

(i just change the substrate to sand like 4hrs ago)

This change will cause the heavy breathing, you should have removed in sections as gravel holds waste....watch your ph , do several small water changes. Eating is a good sign. Some grains of sand floats for a few hours. Read the ich sticky .....Be patient

thank you guys...im holding my breath on this one im hoping and praying its just little bits of sand sticking to them and ill try to be patient i really appreciate the in put oh and i did change the gravel in sections i did one half and i wanted to do the other half sunday but nevermind lol but ill keep you guys updated

ok update i tested my PH and it was above 7.5 so i lowered to 7 and now i just wait lol

How did you change the pH? You probably shouldn't have changed the ph unless you know the KH and CO2 level.

Loaches and most fish don't like it when you change the water chemistry. Changes needs to be done very slowly. pH is usually the last thing to worry about also. If you keep a proper and steady kH, gH, TDS, and CO2 level then the pH level will fall in line.

i changed it with the Correct PH tablets,you knwo the ones that fizz....but i read on loaches.com that the ph level for loaches have to be 6.5-7 and my PH was atleast 7.7

You don't need to use those pH fizz tablets. They aren't going to help in the long term and will do more damage than good.

Like I said before, the pH will fall in line if you have a steady and proper kH and CO2.

If you don't have plants or algae, you can achieve steady CO2 levels with low light, good surface agitation, and decent water flow. CO2 builds up in the water due to photosynthesis and fish respiration. CO2 is usually at its highest at sunrise or when the lights turn on, and that is when the pH is at its lowest. The pH will be at its highest just before lights out. You need to understand that the pH will change due to changing CO2 levels. You don't need to worry so much about pH changes that are caused by CO2 changes. It's the kH changes that you have to be more concerned with.


For KH, if you keep up weekly water changes and keep the Nitrates low, then the KH is usually steady. If the kH is low, then you may need to add some bicarbonates to the water. This kH change, if necessary, needs to be done carefully though. If you need some help on how to raise the KH, I'm sure a few people here can help.

I dont have a KH measure but i do 2 water changes a week each vary to what i feel but lately i have alternated between 15% to 25%..but right now everyone is breathing really hard but everyone is active and eating so i dont know whats up

You must have kh test. Kh works as a buffer, if kh is very low, you can have oscilations in your ph.
Also when you make water changes, you must test the new water parameters and compare with the water tank.
Water chemistry is very important.

i never really thought kh was so important and to be honest dont really understand it ...

http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name= ... nvolutions*

Here is a link to a thread I started about pH and related water chemistry.

Sorry to mislead you, I mentioned to watch the ph to avoid a crash because of the change in substrate,I meant for changes, if it drops it can be a simple indicator of a crash that can be offset by small water changes as your tank re cycles. Patience, let your tank work.....