Loaches Online Forum

scratching indicates many things, among them ich or velvet. they both have the same treatment. its normal for all fish not to be infected, ich is always present, those with suppressed immune systems will fall victim to it. if you're afraid of medicating the other fish, use small doses and gradually build up to the ideal range. also, you should quarantine the infected fish.

if it is scratching now, and has no external evidence of ich, it might show signs in about a week. iirc, thats what happened to mine. the parasite starts doing its thing before you can visually see it. if it were my fish, id begin medicating now. heck some people medicate for ich with no symptoms for new fish as a precaution. quarantine if you're afraid of hurting other fish. start with small dose, gradually build up (cupramine) good luck

Hey Wendi --
Since one of the factors in your kubotai problems was elevated nitrites, I thought I'd describe a similar problem in my tank. I have a group of 14 kubotais, & two of them occasionally used to go into flashing mode. None of the others have ever done so. The first time it happened, I played the safe-card, as fusQer suggests, & treated them all for ick, along with frequent partial water changes. The flashing ended so I thought I had nipped ick early & was glad. I maintained tx for 7 days more, just to be certain. A couple weeks later, the same two fishes were flashing again. Water check: ammonia = 0, nitrites = 0, nitrates = 40. Big water change. The flashing stopped. After a couple rounds of this intermittent flashing by the same two fishes, always before the weekly water change, I added some emersed plants to draw out the surplus nitrates. Seems to be working. No more flashing for over a month now, either before or after water changes, & the emersed plants are a really nice addition to the aquarium areas! Since untreated ick is a sure disaster in a group of kubotais, I think I'd go with fusQer's suggestion & treat for it, but also get that nitrite reading down to 0 asap! Best wishes on the treatments & be sure to keep us posted on how it goes.

I finally saw some spots on one loach so I guess it's back to the coppersafe. I'll start adding doses again tonight. I had set up a new filter so I'll remove that first.

What about adding a tiny bit of salt???

just cupramine i donno coppersafe and cupramine diff tho