Yoyo Loach, skin change, loss of barbels and lethargic.

[joel_tomkins@hotmail.com]

About two weeks i had an outbreak of some kind of bloat disease which killed about half of my fish and left me with 3 BN, two rosy barb fry, a guppy and a yoyo/pakistani loach. He lost his colour and was very lethargic, laying on his side, but he seems to have recovered a little. Although his skin was as if someone had rubbed sandpaper on it and smudged his pattern. ( ill try get a photo in a second). He also has been hiding under a log for two weeks and he no longer has any barbels. He was quite happy until this happened. Water parameters were all ok, i got them checked at the lfs and they all seem to be doing ok still except one BN who is bloated again and the loach who is still very lethargic and shy, and still without barbels. any help would be appreciated! thanks in advance!

[joel_tomkins@hotmail.com]

Here is a few pics. His skin looks alot better than two weeks ago. HE hardly moved when i had my hand in the tank trying to get him into photo range. His movement is in fit like bursts and he always has his body twisted as you can see in the photo. He also seems to lean a little to one side all the time.

[chefkeith]

Lone loaches usually will be lethargic and shy even if they are well.

I might be able to help diagnose a cause for the bloating.
I'd like to know more about the water quality and water chemistry. Did you or somebody else do a tank cleaning and large water change just before the bloating started?
Please describe the maintenance schedule.

Were any new fish added to tank before the problem started? Please describe quarantine and acclimation procedure.

Please describe the aquarium, how large it is and how long it's been set-up.

As for treatment, the best thing for a sick fish is rest, good water quality, and consistent water chemistry.

You need to monitor the KH, GH, pH, Nitrates, Nitrites, and Ammonia of your aquarium and tap water. It would be good to get a TDS meter also so that you'll have more precision with the water chemistry.

[joel_tomkins@hotmail.com]

Hey thanks for your reply. I replaced my filter 12 hours before and changed one bucket of water when doing this. Otherwise once a week 20-30% water change and gravel vac is done. The water parameters i know are temp 25c., PH is about 7.8 (high i know, but i have had no sucess lowering the PH of the local water in the last 12 months i have had fish) but atleast its stable. I went to the lfs and they did a nitrite test and there was none showing on the test. The tank is 25 gallon and has been setup for about 6 months. The fish in there had all been in there for atleast a month, and all seemed happy. The yoyo doesnt seem interested or is too scared to eat, and a small population of snails has started to appear in the tank - something that he had well and truly under control 3 weeks ago.

[chefkeith]

If you changed the filter, then maybe there was some water quality issues shortly after, where the ammonia and nitrites spiked to toxic levels.

IMO, it's wise to have at least 2 filters on a tank, that way when you clean or remove one, the other will should still be keep able to keep the water quality at safe levels.

[joel_tomkins@hotmail.com]

well the first BN to show symptons showed them within 4 hours of changing the filter, so i think that is a bit too quick to be the only cause. i checked the nitrite levels less than 16 hours after the filter change and no nitrites showed. THe BN has been bloated on and off for the last two weeks since so iv been told to try some avitrol plus, so im off to the LFS again!

[chefkeith]

good luck!

[Jacob]

There are many fishing techniques or methods for catching fish. The term can also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs (shellfish, squid, octopus) and edible marine invertebrates.

[Diana]

Ammonia is NH3.
Ammonium is NH4+
Nitrifying bacteria remove these. About half the bacteria in most aquariums live in the filter media. When you change the media you lose those bacteria, and the ammonia (both sorts) can appear. In water with higher pH ammonia (NH3) is present in larger amounts. This one is toxic to the fish.
Nitrifying bacteria turn ammonia (both sorts) into nitrite.

Nitrite is NO2.
Nitrifying bacteria removes this, too. Again, if you remove the bacteria (for example throw them away when you toss the filter media) you can see ammonia and nitrite in the water tests. The bacteria that remove ammonia recover first, they are faster growing, so yes, you can see both, then the ammonia disappears as the bacteria recover, but the nitrite may linger for a few days. Usually the recovery is pretty fast in a well established aquarium. These toxins can linger, though, long enough to stress the fish, perhaps cause problems, or make other problems worse.
Nitrifying bacteria turn nitrite into nitrate.

Nitrate is NO3.
The bacteria that remove this cause other problems, so we do not want them in our aquariums. Plants can keep the nitrate low (they use all these forms of nitrogen). In a non planted, or lightly planted tank water changes are the best way to keep the nitrate low.
In a well cycled tank there should always be
0 ppm ammonia
0 ppm nitrite
low nitrate. Keep it under 20 ppm with water changes. Test the water to be sure you are doing enough water changes (frequency and volume) to keep the nitrates low.

If you do not yet have a water test kit you can take samples down to the store, but the water can change a bit during the trip. Also, you do not always know that the person at the store knows how to do the tests, and the results may not be accurate.
Write down the name of the test and the results, do not just accept their opinion that 'everything is OK'. Test tank and tap. The tests that I would do in this case, and the optimum results or range for most Loaches:
*Ammonia (0 ppm)
*Nitrite (0 ppm)
*Nitrate (<20 ppm)
#GH (3-9 German degrees of hardness)
#KH (3-9 degrees)
#pH (6.5 - 7.5, though many fish will handle a wider range)
#TDS (100-300 ppm, and, yes, there are other units, not just parts per million)
^Salinity (if you use salt or a sodium exchange water softener) (should be 0 unless you are medicating)

What to do about these tests:
* Toxin, water changes to keep these under control. Monitor these to keep track of how the nitrifying bacteria are doing.
# Water chemistry item that needs to be kept stable. Small changes are usually OK, but large changes can kill the fish.
^ ought to be 0. Salt has some medicinal benefits, and you want to monitor it closely if you are medicating the fish with salt. Keep it stable, then remove it slowly when the need is done.

Tap water can change, too. Especially seasonally, if the water company gets the water from surface run off, snow melt, or a shallow aquifer that is affected by surface water. When the new water for a water change is a lot softer (lower GH, lower TDS) than the aquarium water the fish can have a really hard time. This can be one cause of lethargy, resting on the bottom, and swimming or resting in awkward positions.