Zebra Loach Death

[wolverine2031]

Two days ago I bought two zebra loaches from the local tropical fish shop.

My tank is a Fluval 80, and holds approx 26-29 gallons.

After getting home I acclimatised them both in a cycled tank with the tank light off.

Both appeared lively and eating for the last 24 hour, however one of the loaches appeared to be digging the corners of the tank out. The substrate is sand.

I came in tonight after spending a afternoon at friends and noticed that one of the Zebra Loaches was laid in the corner of the tank with its bottom rear third of its body spilt as if it had just split open or been cut.

It cant have happened long as the that end of the tank was quite busy with substrate and waste floating / moving round, I also noticed that 4 of my guppies in the same tank had their tails shredded, and this has not happened before.

My tank currently holds about 8 young guppies, 2 albino cory's, and 2 x bristlenose plec's ~(approx 2 month old)

Heater is 200w fluval, and filter is a fluval 3 plus.

The tank had a 20% water change about 5 days ago, and all parameters seemed ok.

What do you think could have caused this. The guppies retaliating to being nipped, the loach already having a infection, or the loach over feeding on snails which were in the tank.

I am out of work and as the loaches cost £8.95/loach I really dont want to lose my other one.


I initially bought the two loaches to help me reduce my snail population after my tank was starting to get too many after adding some plants.

Kind regards

LJ )

[Katy]

I am a newbie here, and to loaches, myself, but I think if you giv \e a bit more information the experts will be more able to help you.

I think there are two different kinds of loaches that are commonly called "zebra loach" -- one is the botia striata, the other I think is a kind of shistura??? Might help if you look in the species index, or post a photo, so people know which kind you have.

It is also helpful for the experts to know all of your water parameters, Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, GH, KH, TDS etc and as many details about the tank set-up as possible.

I am sorry I can't help you myself, and I am very sorry for the loss of your fish!

[chefkeith]

Without knowing any water parameters, I'd guess that it was an acclimation problem. I'd check the TDS, KH, GH, and pH of your tank water, your tap water, the fish store water, and the bag water (if possible).

When fish are moved from one water source to another and those water parameters don't match, especially the TDS, then osmotic shock is a huge possibility. Several unfortunate things can happen during osmotic shock and depending on the severity of the shock and the fishes initial health, the fish may only survive a few hours to up to a few weeks. In the most sever cases, the gills will rupture and fish will die rather quickly. In less sever cases, the gills will only be damaged, but the internal organs, such as the swim bladder get damaged, get infected, stop functioning, fill up with fluids, and eventually rupture.

Fish may show much distress when they are going into osmotic shock. They may swim frantically in a corner and dig like it did in your case. A common symptom of swim bladder malfunction is that they'll have swimming problems where they either float to the top or sink to the bottom uncontrollably. Sometimes they may need to swim in a constant circles.

More about water parameter issues:

-Smaller tanks (under 55 gallons) are most problematic with old tank syndrome because they can accumulate TDS quicker. An acidic pH (<7), rocks leaching, and evaporation will drive up the TDS rather quickly.

-Some fish stores may salt their tank water in attempt to treat or prevent parasitic diseases. This will greatly increase the TDS of the water without changing the GH, KH, or pH. That's why it's very important to know the TDS of the fish store water and the bag water when you get new fish.
An acclimation procedure may need to be several weeks in this case.

-New fish should be quarantined for at least 3 weeks. The quarantine tank water should match the fish stores water or the bag water.

-When buying new fish, make sure the fish get bag water from the tank that they were in if the tanks aren't on a central system. Some new employee's at the fish stores may fill the bags up with water from a different tank, then put the fish you want in that bag. Don't let this happen. If this happens, the fish may already be in osmotic shock or already dead before it gets to it's new home. This has happened to me a few times when I started fish keeping.

- Ask employees at fish store how long the fish you want has been in that tank. Make sure they didn't just move the fish into that tank from another tank. Some fish stores are known to move loaches around from tank to tank to control snail problems. Also, if they just the got the fish in, you may want to avoid the purchase. You need to see how they acclimate to the fish store water. Scout your fish before you buy them. Try to find out as much as you can about their history.

- New fish are strangers to your home. Don't ever trust them. They may bring you misfortune. Quarantine them for at least 3 weeks.