Mystery kuhli loach illnesses. Please help
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 3:25 pm
Hello, I currently have 2 mystery illnesses with my kuhli loaches and i'm having a tough time getting information on what I should be doing. I only have snails, shrimp and kuhli loaches (now down to 5 p. semicincta and 10 p. cuneovirgata) that were transferred into a 20 gallon long at the beginning of May. Maybe the 2nd week of May I got a few more. I made a timeline to make it easier than paragraphs.
June 23: One of the female kuhlis I got in May out of nowhere had no barbels left and was breathing very rapidly
June 26: Found the female kuhli dead, no symptoms other than barbel loss and rapid breathing
May 31: My order of black kuhlis came into the store
June 1: I went in to get them but didn't as one was on death's door when a red ulcer on it's belly, one other didn't look good (apparently only 3 in total died from that shipment)
July 10: I went in to get 5 black kuhlis since they were there for almost 6 weeks with no deaths
July 17: Black kuhli was laying out in the open in qt with labored breathing, red ulcer on belly, bit of pectoral fin missing, bloody tissue protruding from above where pectoral fin meets the body, scratch next to eye, opaque mucous on caudal fin (that you can only see in water), 2-4 opaque areas on sides. He had seizure-like movements and died 15 mins later.
July 18: Started treatment with Kanaplex (+ Seachem StressGuard), 50% water change every 48hrs with new dose
July 22: 3rd dose of Kanaplex, remaining 4 black kuhlis doing wonderful
July 24: In the middle of a water change on my main kuhli tank, while adding water back in, one of the kuhlis I had gotten back in May was corckscrewing around the tank uncontrollably (like if you turned your index finger around in a circle). 2 other kuhlis were out during the water change and were fine. I had a red light on so couldn't see anything until I picked him up in a net. I noticed he had 2 scrape wounds on his back (you could see where something rubbed very hard on him), pale black bar on his side, red anus, underneath his eyes/above his mouth was bloody underneath the skin.
Quarantine info: 6 gallon sterilite bin, used ceramic media from my main tank and put it into a box filter, pool filter sand, catappa leaves, clay pot cave, was doing 35% water changes every other day until Kanaplex treatment, will be doing 2 rounds back to back of Kanaplex
Main tank info: 20 gallon long, 20% water changes every week and nitrates never go above 10ppm due to plants
I've been using seperate equipment for the quarantine and my main tank. I've been bleaching the siphon and bucket I use for the quarantine after every water change.
I have no idea if i'm missing any information or not. I'm being told it's columnaris but others tell me it's definitely aeromonas (for the black kuhli death). I would love anyone with loach experience to help a fellow loach keeper out. I have no idea what to do moving forward, especially with the most recent death in my main tank. I've been so stressed out and anxious over disinfecting anything I use for the quarantine, anything I touch, the water changes, and being paranoid over cross-contamination. I'm about ready to give up.
Here are some pictures of the black kuhli that died:
June 23: One of the female kuhlis I got in May out of nowhere had no barbels left and was breathing very rapidly
June 26: Found the female kuhli dead, no symptoms other than barbel loss and rapid breathing
May 31: My order of black kuhlis came into the store
June 1: I went in to get them but didn't as one was on death's door when a red ulcer on it's belly, one other didn't look good (apparently only 3 in total died from that shipment)
July 10: I went in to get 5 black kuhlis since they were there for almost 6 weeks with no deaths
July 17: Black kuhli was laying out in the open in qt with labored breathing, red ulcer on belly, bit of pectoral fin missing, bloody tissue protruding from above where pectoral fin meets the body, scratch next to eye, opaque mucous on caudal fin (that you can only see in water), 2-4 opaque areas on sides. He had seizure-like movements and died 15 mins later.
July 18: Started treatment with Kanaplex (+ Seachem StressGuard), 50% water change every 48hrs with new dose
July 22: 3rd dose of Kanaplex, remaining 4 black kuhlis doing wonderful
July 24: In the middle of a water change on my main kuhli tank, while adding water back in, one of the kuhlis I had gotten back in May was corckscrewing around the tank uncontrollably (like if you turned your index finger around in a circle). 2 other kuhlis were out during the water change and were fine. I had a red light on so couldn't see anything until I picked him up in a net. I noticed he had 2 scrape wounds on his back (you could see where something rubbed very hard on him), pale black bar on his side, red anus, underneath his eyes/above his mouth was bloody underneath the skin.
Quarantine info: 6 gallon sterilite bin, used ceramic media from my main tank and put it into a box filter, pool filter sand, catappa leaves, clay pot cave, was doing 35% water changes every other day until Kanaplex treatment, will be doing 2 rounds back to back of Kanaplex
Main tank info: 20 gallon long, 20% water changes every week and nitrates never go above 10ppm due to plants
I've been using seperate equipment for the quarantine and my main tank. I've been bleaching the siphon and bucket I use for the quarantine after every water change.
I have no idea if i'm missing any information or not. I'm being told it's columnaris but others tell me it's definitely aeromonas (for the black kuhli death). I would love anyone with loach experience to help a fellow loach keeper out. I have no idea what to do moving forward, especially with the most recent death in my main tank. I've been so stressed out and anxious over disinfecting anything I use for the quarantine, anything I touch, the water changes, and being paranoid over cross-contamination. I'm about ready to give up.
Here are some pictures of the black kuhli that died: