Yo Yo Loach: Help Please!

[Zora Genin]

Greetings,

I'm a new fish hobbyist, just got my first tank this Christmas, great
fun. It was cloudy for a while, and our local fish guy said it was "new
tank syndrome", i.e. a build up of ammonia. That seems to have settled
down now and my tank had cleared up.

I have four fish:
1 Yo Yo Loach
3 Blue Gouramies

I had two Yo Yos but one has died.

Now I'm worried because my remaining Yo Yo is displaying odd behaviour.
It's sitting under its little bridge, with mouth and gills moving
extremely rapidly, almost as if it were hyperventilating.

I'm worried because these fish are my responsibility and I want to be a
good fish owner.

Any ideas? One thought I had was that it might actually be female and
laying eggs?

I've tested the ph and it's at 7.5, and the water temp. is 77 deg. F., in a 20 gal. tank.

Any ideas on my Yo Yo's unusual behaviour?

Many thanks,

Jared

[worldrallynut]

Most people on here will tell you that a 20 gal is too small for a yo-yo loach. On top of that it sounds like you have a new tank. Even after the ammonia goes down, Nitrites and and Nitrates will spike (just as harmful). Once all of these go down, then it is safe to start slowly adding fish. Just keep in mind that each time you add a new mouth to feed, you have to give the biological filter time to adjust. Basically, the fish release waste which contains ammonia. A bacteria will grow that takes the ammonia and produces nitrites. another will take the nitrites and produce nitrates, etc. It takes time for all of these things to happen.

Loaches like alot of water movement and oxygen in the water. Gouramis like calmer water. I would take the loach back to the store and ask for a refund or store credit. Also have them test your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

[worldrallynut]

Now I'm worried because my remaining Yo Yo is displaying odd behaviour.
It's sitting under its little bridge, with mouth and gills moving
extremely rapidly, almost as if it were hyperventilating.

this is a sign of stress

[LUVaLOACH]

Greetings,

I'm a new fish hobbyist, just got my first tank this Christmas, great
fun. It was cloudy for a while, and our local fish guy said it was "new
tank syndrome", i.e. a build up of ammonia. That seems to have settled
down now and my tank had cleared up.

I have four fish:
1 Yo Yo Loach
3 Blue Gouramies

I had two Yo Yos but one has died.

Now I'm worried because my remaining Yo Yo is displaying odd behaviour.
It's sitting under its little bridge, with mouth and gills moving
extremely rapidly, almost as if it were hyperventilating.

I'm worried because these fish are my responsibility and I want to be a
good fish owner.

Any ideas? One thought I had was that it might actually be female and
laying eggs?

I've tested the ph and it's at 7.5, and the water temp. is 77 deg. F., in a 20 gal. tank.

Any ideas on my Yo Yo's unusual behaviour?

Many thanks,

Jared

Jared,

Have you tested your amonia and your nitrites? How are the gouramis behaving? When did your other fish die and what were the circumstances? Are these new additions to the tank? Need a little more info, would love to help.

Kris

[LUVaLOACH]

Jared,

I will have to agree with Jeremy on tank size, however, let's try to keep this guy alive for now.

How often do you do water changes? What percentage of water are you removing when you do them?

As Jeremy said, the fish is obviously stressed, we just need to figure out why. I would not wait, I have saved many fish by doing a simple water change.

Kris

[mikev]

Jared,

A tank that has been set up on Christmas with typical lfs-recommended products (Cycle et al) is probably not cycled yet (4-6 weeks). It even may not be through with the Ammonia leg of the cycle yet. Cycling with loaches is not a good idea.

OK, at this time the best thing to do is to get the Ammonia and Nitrite test kits immediately to know where you stand. Post the results. While you are at the store, pick up Prime (or if they don't have it, Ammo-Lock or Amquel+), chances are that you will need it.

If the fish looks distressed now, try to increase the aeration and drop a very small amount of aquarium salt in (this will help if you are in a nitrite spike).

hth, good luck.

[LUVaLOACH]

Jared,

A tank that has been set up on Christmas with typical lfs-recommended products (Cycle et al) is probably not cycled yet (4-6 weeks). It even may not be through with the Ammonia leg of the cycle yet. Cycling with loaches is not a good idea.

OK, at this time the best thing to do is to get the Ammonia and Nitrite test kits immediately to know where you stand. Post the results. While you are at the store, pick up Prime (or if they don't have it, Ammo-Lock or Amquel+), chances are that you will need it.

If the fish looks distressed now, try to increase the aeration and drop a very small amount of aquarium salt in (this will help if you are in a nitrite spike).

hth, good luck.

Jared,

The test kits are a must, and Mikev saved me from a nitrate spike just last night by suggesting the use of the PRIME. If you read on the bottle you can add up to 5 times the normal dose to neutralize the nitrite and it worked for me.

I don't use the ammo-lock as I am lucky enough to have a specialty shop in town that carries a product called Aqualife complete that completely detoxifies the amonia and does not give you the false readings that you get ( or at least I get) from the Ammo-lock, but the ammo does work.

I would guess you are having an issue with your water quality, at least that is the best place to start.

Let us know if you need any more help, hope it works out.

Kris

[Zora Genin]

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your fast replies, I really appreciate it very much, as does my Yo Yo.

To answer some questions:
- It's a 20 gal. tank, the gouramies are doing fine.

It sounds like I have a water quality problem, and that the new tank cycle has not yet completed.

I need to get amonia/nitriates test kits and test right away.

It was recommended (by a friend) that a touch of salt be added. So I added a teaspoon.

As soon as I get home from school (I get home at around 4:00) I will be
changing a 1/3rd of the water. After my water change I'll add in 1/3 of a teaspoon more of salt.

Then I get to my LFS (Big Al's) and get an ammonia and a nirate test
kit.

Okay I have a list.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions, I really hope my Yo Yo (Fast Eddie) gets better soon.

I really appreciate all your help and peppy replies. I'll keep you all posted.

- Jared

[helen nightingale]

Hi Jared

i would reccommend you get a nitrate AND a nitrite kit. ammonia is produced by the fish, which is then turned into nitrite by bacteria. the nitrite is then turned into nitrate by different bacteria. both ammonia and nitrite are very toxic to fish, and high levels can cause long term health problems even if you dont notice any obviuos signs of distress. nitrate is toxic to fish too, but in general fish can tolerate slightly higher levels of nitrate than ammonia or nitrite. ammonia and nitrite should be 0 ppm.

when i cylcled my last tank it took a long time for both types of bacteria to colonise the filter media - so i had zero nitrate - great - but then on testing ammonia i found levels sky high. only after i got the ammonia down could the bacteria for breaking down nitite could start to grow. if i hant have used all 3 test kits i may have put fish im too soon and killed them.

good luck with solving your problem

[LUVaLOACH]

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your fast replies, I really appreciate it very much, as does my Yo Yo.

To answer some questions:
- It's a 20 gal. tank, the gouramies are doing fine.

It sounds like I have a water quality problem, and that the new tank cycle has not yet completed.

I need to get amonia/nitriates test kits and test right away.

It was recommended (by a friend) that a touch of salt be added. So I added a teaspoon.

As soon as I get home from school (I get home at around 4:00) I will be
changing a 1/3rd of the water. After my water change I'll add in 1/3 of a teaspoon more of salt.

Then I get to my LFS (Big Al's) and get an ammonia and a nirate test
kit.

Okay I have a list.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions, I really hope my Yo Yo (Fast Eddie) gets better soon.

I really appreciate all your help and peppy replies. I'll keep you all posted.

- Jared

Jared, I can't suggest strongly enough grabbing the ammo-lock and the PRIME for sure, and with the water tests IMHO the dip test sticks just don't do the trick. I suggest getting a master test kit where you can test for everything. I have the master kit by Aquarium Pharm. Works great for me.

If you are having an amonia spike the ammo will get you through that and the if it is nitrite, as it was in my case, then the PRIME will take care of that.

Good luck and keep us posted,
Kris

[LUVaLOACH]

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your fast replies, I really appreciate it very much, as does my Yo Yo.

To answer some questions:
- It's a 20 gal. tank, the gouramies are doing fine.

It sounds like I have a water quality problem, and that the new tank cycle has not yet completed.

I need to get amonia/nitriates test kits and test right away.

It was recommended (by a friend) that a touch of salt be added. So I added a teaspoon.

As soon as I get home from school (I get home at around 4:00) I will be
changing a 1/3rd of the water. After my water change I'll add in 1/3 of a teaspoon more of salt.

Then I get to my LFS (Big Al's) and get an ammonia and a nirate test
kit.

Okay I have a list.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions, I really hope my Yo Yo (Fast Eddie) gets better soon.

I really appreciate all your help and peppy replies. I'll keep you all posted.

- Jared

Jared, I can't suggest strongly enough grabbing the ammo-lock and the PRIME for sure, and with the water tests IMHO the dip test sticks just don't do the trick. I suggest getting a master test kit where you can test for everything. I have the master kit by Aquarium Pharm. Works great for me.

If you are having an amonia spike the ammo will get you through that and the if it is nitrite, as it was in my case, then the PRIME will take care of that.

Good luck and keep us posted,
Kris

I just re-read your post. If you don't get the master test kit the I would suggest getting an amonia test kit and a NITRITE, not NITRATE kit, as the amonia and nitrite are what is more toxic to the fish. Nitrate is important, but IMHO it's the amonia and the nitrite that will kill them.

Kris

[newshound]

skip/quit the salt

[Zora Genin]

Sunday 8:15 I put my sick loach into a hospital bucket (a bucket filled with treated water and a few comfort items(a few pebbles and his bridge))
Sunday11:35 I checked on Fast Eddie and found that he was moving around alot and no longer hyper-gilling
Sunday 11:38 I write this post

I would like to thank you all for your brilliant ideas and moral support, without your help i doubt that Fast Eddie would have gotten better

In a few days I will be moving Fast Eddie into his original tank (providing he stays not sick)

Once again lots of thanks

-Jared

[chris1932]

Jared

If you can find it pick up Marineland BioSpira. It will shorten your cycle time quite a bit. I would recomend doing a large water change 50% or so then add the BioSpira. Continue to test for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. When you do your water changes gravel vac only as much as is required to remove waste. I didnt see if anyone pointed it out so I will say it here, do not clean all of the media in the filter at one time. If you do you will remove all of the good bacteria you are trying to establish. What type of filter are you running on this tank? What do you expect your final choices of fish to be? How many of the final choices of fish?

[LUVaLOACH]

Sunday 8:15 I put my sick loach into a hospital bucket (a bucket filled with treated water and a few comfort items(a few pebbles and his bridge))
Sunday11:35 I checked on Fast Eddie and found that he was moving around alot and no longer hyper-gilling
Sunday 11:38 I write this post

I would like to thank you all for your brilliant ideas and moral support, without your help i doubt that Fast Eddie would have gotten better

In a few days I will be moving Fast Eddie into his original tank (providing he stays not sick)

Once again lots of thanks

-Jared

Jared, so gald that Fast Eddie is doing well, and hope we helped a little. There are some very wize people on here with excellent advise.

Good luck,
Kris