Sick loach- should I quarantine?

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sassyskates
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 7:40 pm

Sick loach- should I quarantine?

Post by sassyskates » Sat Jun 20, 2020 1:47 pm

Update- 6/21:
My little guy is doing much better today. I decided to leave him in the display tank> He has been coming out for feedings today and playing with the others so I think I'm in the clear.


Hello, all! Any help would be appreciated here as I'm still a beginner.

I have a 70g partial planted tank with 1 common goldfish and bristlenose plecos (both about 4 inches). The tank has been established with these two for months. A week and a half ago, I added three gold dojo loaches. One of them likes to get himself stuck in tiny places. I recently saw him a couple of times attached to the mesh intake on the filter arm. He always swam off and it was no problem. About four days ago, I noticed him doing it and I shooed him. When he swam away, I saw he had a spot from the filter which developed into a blister afterwards. He was never super-active to begin with- he prefers to lounge. The past few days, he's been hiding quite a bit more and his barbels look like they're wilting. It appears to have popped and I think there is an open wound now. I have a quarantine tank set up and running, but I'm afraid taking him out will cause him more stress. He is moving around more today and seems to be interested in looking for food occasionally. I'm trying to get advice on how to treat this or whether to quarantine him. Other info about the tank: I do a 20-30% water change weekly and I keep my tank very clean. It is also well-aerated. I have recently started trying to plant my tank, so I have been adding Flourish every fourth day and Excel & Advance every day for the past seven days (the instructions say to add Advance every day for the first ten days and to add Excel every day). I have not added it today because I'm afraid it might be aggravating the wound. Here is a link to pictures of the loach, wound, filter intake he was hurt on, and the full tank: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qRnZXJfaTRfQvRXB9 (Please let me know if link isn't working)
Any help is greatly appreciated!

My current levels:
PH: 7.6
Temp: 74
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5

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