Kuhli Loach illness

[Kayantai]

This morning I noticed that one of my kuhli loaches had lost colour on his tail area, and was swimming like he was paralyzed on that colourless part. I really have never seen anything like this before, the lack of colour in an area and the paralysis. When I came back tonight, he was even worse =( The colourless patch is spreading, as is the paralysis. This morning his fins in this damaged area were fine, by now they seem to show signs of finrot. At the rate this seems to be spreading, he might not be saveable but I am willing to give this a shot.

His tank buddies all seem perfectly fine. They include another Kuhli, 3 black phantom tetras, some ottos and some amano shrimp. Water quality and everything is fine. This is a 10gallon, planted with live plants.

What I really am looking for here is what this is, and if it is treatable. I would much prefer to treat him soon and hope that he will recover, if possible. I am just really not sure what this is.

Here is a picture I took of him this evening, not the best shot, but it was the best I could do. (http://pics.livejournal.com/acerbus_ira/pic/000qfk97)

I would appreciate any help or advise on what I should do for this poor guy.

[mikev]

Seems to be an infection, and a fast working from what you said. The nature of it is not clear, but flex is a possibility, something fungal is another... Does not look good.

Unless you can diagnose this better, you have two options:

1. Treat the tank with a drug that may be effective and is not likely to mess up the cycle. I'd go with Furan2 or any furandazole-containing drug. A variation is to mix in Kana, this *may* damage the cycle but will make for a more potent drug mix if this is a bacteria.

2. Isolate the animal into a qtank or even a bucket with an airstone (use the tank water!), and hit it with multiple drugs. (This cannot be done in a tank since your biocycle will be erased). A good combination is furan2+salt+mal green. In situations like yours, I usually used Ich Guard (salt+mal green) at 0.5-0.75 dosage + furan2 (normal dose) rather than make my own mix. Notice that I'm not suggesting this is Ich or a similar disease, simple Ich drugs have a much wider action. Addition of meth blue will make for even more potent mix.
A full water change will be required daily and aeration must be maintained. If your pH is low, one kuhli will not generate enough ammonia in a 2.5g bucket to matter. Feed little.

Good luck.