Starving hillstreams!(recovered & re-homed)

[fain]

A few months ago I got a group of Gastromyzon Ctenocephalus and one that I beleived was Gastromyzon Aeroides. They went through 2 treatments of Maracyn-Two due to concerns for Patchy disease and have been doing well ever since. I left for two days for a vacation and left them about a weeks worth of algae (just in case). I came back to a dead loach (the Aeroides) and all but one sunken in with hunger. All of the algae has been cleaned out of the tank. I removed the body and did a large water change and added more food. This new amount should have lasted them at least two days, but they cleaned it overnight and still look sunken in. I'm going to go with another round of Maracyn-Two with 30% daily water changes, but I'm not sure what is wrong with them. No new fish have been added and the water is consistently cleaned twice a week (about 30%-40% per change) This drastic turnaround from healthy and plump to starving in just two days with plenty of food has me confused and worried that they won't be able to make it.

Does anyone know what I can do? The starving ones are so thin after three days that I'm beginning to think they won't make it even with treatment.

[Jim Powers]

Sorry to hear about that.
I can't imagine why they would become thin so quickly. I have left hillstreams for 5-6 days without feeding and not had this happen.
Maybe there is a problem with parasites in the fishes gut. That would be my only guess.

[KittyKat]

Was there ever any chance of introduction of internal parasites? Keep in mind that other animals, anything added to the tank and unclean hands all have potential to be carriers for some species, so think along the lines of "is the tank lid tight enough that insects can't get in?", "did I do anything in the garden/a pond/a stream and not wash my hands with soap before dipping them in the fishtank"? Aquarium plants are most likely candidates after new fish and most other sources are quite unlikely.

Also, how do hillstreams act when preparing to breed? Some species of fish hoover up food like there is no tomorrow.

[fain]

I'm afraid it may be from the algae tank I have in my backyard.(it will be getting a 60% water change as soon as I am able to) It is a 50gal. tank in my backyard and has a 2" koi and 2" goldfish in it. They haven't shown any health problems, but it is possible that something got into the water that only affected the loaches. It is where I keep a variety of rocks, broken pots and tubes that I grow algae on. The top is a metal mesh screen (think reptiles) so some small insects are able to get in. After posting I did a 60% water change in the loach tank, treated it with Maracyn-two and added a large amount of fresh algae. The loaches were active and swam to the food almost immediately, so there is some hope, but seeing them so sunken in and frail just makes me feel ill. T__T

[KittyKat]

It is possible that goldfish and koi are affected, but not yet showing the symptoms. I think the most likely potential for infection would have been through bird poop into the algae tank and transfer on algae into the loach tank.

For the moment, feed the loaches well and check for worms (especially to see if any are visible sticking out from the hillstreams' butts.

[Menu]

I think your fish could have intestinal flagellates.
It is very difficult to cure infected fish.
Even if he eats enough, he becomes progressively thinner.
Look here: http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21987
Iris has had the same problem.
I hope it helps you a bit.

[fain]

I'll keep an eye out for white feces, but I hope that isn't it. Thank you for the link Menu.

[KittyKat]

Recently, some fish were successfully treated against flagellates, on my recommendation, by having their food soaked in the medication, on top of the medication which was added directly to the water. Up to the point when they started ingesting the medicated food, most of the people watching the thread thought the fish were beyond help, but the fish showed signs of recovery within hours of ingesting the medication. The biggest downside to this method is that (as with all medications we use for fish) the medication is harmful to fish as well as the flagellates, which is why weak fish do not always survive treatment, but the idea is that it is much more harmful to the flagellates than the fish.

[fain]

I would gladly soak the food as well, but the loaches only eat algae. I can't get them to even look at prepared foods. Luckily, the algae sits in the tank for a full day before I replace it (to make sure they get plenty fresh food while the hopefully recover) so it might be absorbing some of the medicine...

I've been watching them closely and there is nothing unusual about their feces yet. It is the same size and color as I have grown to expect from them, so it might not be flagellates. *crosses fingers* They are still active and eating, so I'm still hoping for a recovery.

[fain]

Well, I kept up with the meds, water changes & daily food rotations and there has been a noticeable improvement in two of my loaches. One looks much less sunken in and the other (my largest) looks to be almost fully recovered. The other two are still very thin however they look a "little" less skeletal. I have high hopes for their recovery over the next two weeks.

I still don't know what happened, but am very relieved that the worst seems to be over. I'm considering stopping the Maracyn-2 treatment on Thursday and just relying on the water changes and food rotation, but I am worried that may be too hasty. There still hasn't been any sign as to what was wrong with them so I don't know if the meds are doing anything more than destroying the biological filter and increasing their loachy appetite.

Thoughts?

[Ardillakilla]

Assume that intestinal parasites will consume a fraction of the fishes' food intake. Assume the worst case scenario is that they consume 100% of it. What's that the equivalent of? That's right, starvation. Would a fish without parasites become skeletal after just a few days without food? No, so something else must be going on.

[fain]

It took a while, but they have since recovered and moved on to a new home. I still don't know what happened, but they are back to normal and settled in with their new owner. This fiasco definitely cemented in my mind that my current living situation is not what these fish need to do well. I'll stick to my Histrionica and Striata for now.

I still don't know if it was internal parasites or not. There was never anything unusual in their feces, and after a while of intense care they just got...better.

[Jim Powers]

That's interesting. I'm glad they are doing well.