Loaches Online Forum

75 gal tank, established as is for 2+ years
5 clowns (4"-6"), 1 siamese algae eater
amm = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 5-15 ppm


A few weeks ago one of the clowns died suddenly. One evening I came home from work and noticed him hiding in the plants at the surface, breathing hard. Barbels were red, blood in the bottom of the colored part of both eyes, and the sensory pores over one eye were swollen and red... next morning, he was dead. I treated melafix for 1 week. The other loaches looked fine. It's now been 2 weeks since I finished the melafix treatment, 3 weeks since the death. This morning, all 4 of the other loaches are acting strange and don't seem to have eaten as much as usual. No very obvious symptoms, but I think the barbels on a couple might be red and some are breathing hard.

I live in a rural area, and I don't think I'll be able to get meds before this weekend. Nothing I have on hand is recommended for bacterial infections other than the melafix. But here's the list of what I have- see anything here that might do enough good to be worth trying?

- pimafix
- Jungle parasite tablets (praziquantel, chlorophenyl, metronidazole, acriflavine)
- Jungle fungus tablets (nitrofurazone, furazolidone, potassium dichromate)
- malachite (without formalin)



I've heard metronidazole can help with infections, but what about the other stuff in the parasite tablets? Would I be doing more harm than good there?

Medicines of all sorts put a stress on the fish. When you know what you are treating then the stress of the medicine is offset by curing the problem.
When you do not know what you are treating, or the meds on hand are the wrong ones it is better to treat only with an extra water change or two, fresh (well rinsed) activated carbon in the filter and other ways to remove anything toxic or stressful from their environment.

Your nitrates are good and low, but I think I would do a water change that emphasizes a gravel vacuum just to be sure.

Thanks for the reply, Diana. My last water change was only a day ago, and the tank is gravel-less. I agree with you about meds in general, but in this case, based on the fact that I always keep my nitrates low and I've already lost 1 loach, I doubt that the others will recover with nothing more than extra water changes.

Any other opinions? Any diagnosis guesses, other than a bacterial infection?

It sounds alot like what is happening to my loaches. I made a thread a few days ago. Unfortunately I'm down to 4 loaches compared to 8. The other 4 loaches seem fine, but the other 4 were breathing hard and red before they died.

Every loach that had died was extremely bloated. Its getting really frustrating because I've tested the water and nothing seems out of the norm.

I've been treating my tank with maracyn-two for bacterial. Unfortunately that stuff is expensive and I'm treating my whole tank for it. I think my algae eater is recovering - I love that little guy.