whats up with my yoyo?!?!

[brett_fishman]

hey, well it seems i have another problem...

my one yoyo, the same one that had trouble before, is acting fairly odd...
heres everything you should know:
everyone else in the tank is acting normally
ammonia and nitrite is 0..i dont know about nitrate though (no tester)
pH is 6.2
temp is at 23º..maybe i'll turn it up to 26..

symptoms:
-he isn't swimming around, except for small bursts to the other side and back once in a while..doing so, he hits any plants or gravel in his way..but he isnt hitting the glass (thankfully)
-he is breathing EXTREMELY fast...but no one else is..
-he is all white on the bottom half of his body (horizontal)..there is usually a pattern on the bottom, now its just white...but his top half is fine
-his fins arent clamped, there are no injuries or external parasites..his body looks normal, except the color
-he isnt eating, this is worrying me, he is getting quite thin (his belly is flat, the other yoyo's is bulging, hes a piggy)


if you need any more info, just ask,
brett.

[Mad Duff]

Hi Brett, I put a post up yesterday about a B. Striata that I had bought and that also had no pattern below the lateral line, it was totally faded out. But once the fish was brought up to the temperature of my tank and I had added some of my water to the bag the pattern came back.

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=4492

I put this down to either Stress or water conditions, I would say that personally your tank temperature is a little on the low side at 73' I keep my Yoyo's, Striata, Kubotais and Rostrata all at around 78'. Even my Y. Sidthimunki have developed more banding around the belly area since I changed the heater in their tank and raised the temp up to 78' from 75'.

I would be tempted to raise the ph a little as well maybe up to 6.8 - 7

I could be way off but it could also be a culmination of things ie, low temp and low ph.

[helen nightingale]

Mark's suggestions sound very good.

when the loach is breathing heavily, is it all the time, or just after he has been swimming around?

try and get a good nitrate test kit, as although ammonia and nitrite are good, nitrate could still have good very high if there is a problem with something else

[Icewall42]

Hmmm my initial thought was an internal parasite, but yeah, it sounds like the poor guy is just too cold. I always keep my tanks just a bit warmer than most people here at 80-82F, and so far that has always worked out fine for me.

Also, how long has it been since these fish were in 6.2 pH water? Is this a new low, or have the fish been inured to it for some time? I'd raise it a little bit, but my own fish have been so used to about 6.5 pH that it's never really been a problem. It's fairly close to what most loaches prefer, I think.

[brett_fishman]

its been 6.2 since last summer...but when we get water trucked in (well runs low) then the pH is often different in each truck load...i just tested the pH, its still 6.2, i hope thats fine..

i just put the temp up a sliver (on the thermometer) and its not done yet, but i'll tell get it up to 26º

he has had full-body coloration since i bought him, but he just went white at the bottom...

i might pick up a nitrate tester...i have a lucky bamboo in the tank which is supposed to consume nitrogen products in the tank (info from AH) so i dunno..

last week i took the heater out to clean off the glass tube (covered in algae) so i might have knocked the temp down a few degrees...but i will take it to 78º (26c) right now...i hope that'll work out...

current activity:
he was breathing very quickly before, but now he is breathing moderately...he has also regained most of his bottom coloration, but its still slightly greyed-out...he is also swimming around a bit..and ate some of the shrimp pellet i dropped in...


-brett.

[Icewall42]

Hmmm is it possible that another fish (or loach) might be antagonizing the yoyo? It might be stress that's causing the symptoms you described. Also, I sort of wonder about the trucked in water you mentioned... I'm wondering if the pH fluctuations aren't healthy. But people with more expert information might be able to tell you.

[brett_fishman]

well in the summer, we use up the water in our well, so we have water trucked in in a huge tank on a truck...

the guy always gets the water from the local river, then it goes through a treatment facility, then goes into the truck..

by fluctuations, i mean just around 6.6 - 7.4 from the truck, never higher and never lower...but our of the tap it is always 6.4 - 6.8 after the filters...

-brett.

[brett_fishman]

also, upon further inspection, it seems as though he only has 3 barbels...i can see 1 stubby one too....i suspect this is from him darting into the gravel/plants..no? yoyos usually have 6 or 8?

when i got the two, they were in a tank with 'crush' gravel (not round) and they didnt have any barbels, but after about a month, they grew back completely..so..im sure he'll be ok..

-brett.

[Graeme Robson]

Water change, water change! A 10 gallon tank is no home for 2 Botia almorhae.

[brett_fishman]

i know graeme..i did a 10% yesterday and a 20% on saturday...

they are just around 2" as of now, so its not like having 2 6" yoyos...but still, they need a bigger tank, hense me going to set up a 55g.

anywho, the little guy is swimming around right now, not full-on, but just at a leisurely pace..he took a rest ontop of the cave, and FLASHED HIS SPINES!!! that was neat...they look pretty damn sharp, around 5mm long...

-brett.

EDIT: i did a 10% right now; no gravel cleaning, no filter cleaning..just water...he seems a bit more active, good news...

[brett_fishman]

temp has reached 26º and he is breathing normally..still a little greyed-out, but hes swimming around a bit...still just sitting around though..

not sitting on the gravel, he sits atop the cave...haha
he looks funny 'standing up' on his fins...

-brett.

[Icewall42]

Awww well that's good. Maybe it was just the water temperature after all.

[Mad Duff]

Glad to hear it seems ok again

[brett_fishman]

hmm..i just got home from school, and hes in his little cave...he moves once in a while, a little wiggle, but doesnt go anywhere..he is still breathing normally...all the other fish are still fine..

-brett.

EDIT: now hes in the pvc T-joint and hes doing the same thing!! just a little wiggle, but he doesnt swim anywhere...

also, he only has 2 front barbels, then one that is kinda stubby...should i treat the tank with anything to stop infection? both of the yoyos didnt have any barbels when i go them, but they grew back without any meds...

[brett_fishman]

ok, i think theres something wrong here...

hes in his cave, not moving, i shine my flashlight in there...he gets scared..wiggles around a bit, then stops...

i can tell he was trying to get away from the light, but he couldnt for some reason...almost like hes paralized...but sometimes he just swims around without any problems...

the cave and the T-joint are across the tank from eachother..and he seems to swim between them just fine...but he cant swim away from the light..

does anyone have any ideas?!

-brett.