"fat" loach?

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KelKel
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 4:38 pm

"fat" loach?

Post by KelKel » Tue Nov 12, 2013 4:56 pm

Hi, I have 2 golden dojo loaches in a 55g with 2 plecos and 6 angelfish (don't worry, 3 are still babies). I recently had an outbreak of ich on one fish. First time ever dealing with it. Of course I messed up and treated it with antifungal medication because my poor angel god popeye after only a day of noticable ich
(I did the heat and a tad of salt but she got worse and I panicked) I contained her and everything but it was too late.
ANYWAYS I'm still treating the big tank with heat and salt. I put in 2 tblspoons or maybe 3. (Cleaning around 15-20 gallons a day and this was 2 days ago). I know about the plecos and loaches scales so I didn't put the 2 tbs per 5 gallon thing. But now my loach is a bit bigger than the other and im scared, is it the salt, the temp, both? Cause I here its really hard to breed loaches in tanks and I thought they were both boys. Please help. I love them to death.
Also, they wont eat the broccali. First time here can someone tell me how to upload a picture to show?

KelKel
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 4:38 pm

Re: "fat" loach?

Post by KelKel » Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:18 pm

Bump

Diana
Posts: 4675
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:35 am
Location: Near San Franciso

Re: "fat" loach?

Post by Diana » Fri Nov 15, 2013 10:13 pm

Not entirely sure how to answer, there are multiple things going on here.

1) Dojo Loaches seem not as interested in vegetables as some other Loaches. Keep trying, rotate different things, you might find something they like. Try high protein vegetables like peas. If they won't eat them, give up. Feed a good rotation of other foods.

2) Dojo Loaches are cool water fish. Angelfish are warm water fish. If you are keeping the tank warm enough for the Angels that is too high for the Dojo Loaches. Even for Ich treatment, do not warm the tank very much.

3) Pop eye is not caused by fungus. Ich is not a fungus. A fish medicine that is labeled for fungus might actually be an antibiotic because some fish diseases look like fungi, but are really caused by bacteria.

4) Ich treatment can be based on salt and heat with water changes. You can also add a UV sterilizer to this treatment.
Salt level: 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons when you are treating salt sensitive fish. Raise the dose slowly, over about 3 days.
Heat: depends on the fish how warm you can go, but mid 70s, maybe upper 70s is the max I would try with Dojos. Increase the aeration in the tank because warmer water holds less oxygen. Make more surface ripples.

Here are some reasons fish might look fat:

One eats more than the other. This might be the bossier fish, or might just have gotten lucky and a big blob of food was right there. The fish will look fat only until this meal is digested. It is not permanent unless the fish is a bully and always gorges on what ever you feed.

Female swelling up with eggs. This is most often symmetrical. In some species you can see a very slight lumpiness where the eggs are.

Dropsy. Fish can get an 'all over' sort of dropsy, where they are retaining fluid more or less all over their body, and they can get a more localized form where they are accumulating fluids abdominaly. Either way, Epsom salt can help this fish to lose some of the fluid, but often by the time you see dropsy whatever has triggered it has gone on too long. Almost impossible to treat because you do not know if it is bacterial, viral or something else.

Constipation. Epsom salt can help. Not sure what triggers it, but adding more fiber and roughage to the diet can help prevent it. Foods like Daphnia, and peas are the ones most often listed.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

Fishwife
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:37 am
Location: Eugene Oregon

Re: "fat" loach?

Post by Fishwife » Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:59 pm

You need to move the dojos to there own tank and keep it cool and fairly good movement Lots of oxygen. And keep it very clean. They will be much happier.
http://www.bigfishcampaign.org/ .... Don't buy colored or tattooed fish! Let your LFS know you won't stand for it.

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