Loaches Online Forum

My prized Angelicus Female has somehow managed to scrape skin off her tummy and isn't doing well, she's been swimming erratically and I am afraid to try to catch her in case she does more damage. What sorts of medications can I use to help her?? I have PimaFix and MelaFix not sure if those would help and I think I read somewhere that they don't react well to Aquarium Salt, Please Help these Angelicus Loaches are my babies....
I only have 2 and if one dies I may not be able to get another to replace this one they are so hard to find around here

Thank you

I would be tempted to catch the fish and put it in a smaller tank or container and get some Melafix in and leave the fish there for a while to allow the Melafix to get into the wound and make sure no bacteria gets to work in the wound.

You could try putting a jar or something similar in and hope that the loach goes into it and then put your hand over the open end and lift it from the tank if you dont want to risk stressing the fish by netting it.

Hope it picks up soon

LoachFiend wrote:My prized Angelicus Female has somehow managed to scrape skin off her tummy and isn't doing well, she's been swimming erratically and I am afraid to try to catch her in case she does more damage. What sorts of medications can I use to help her?? I have PimaFix and MelaFix not sure if those would help and I think I read somewhere that they don't react well to Aquarium Salt, Please Help these Angelicus Loaches are my babies....
I only have 2 and if one dies I may not be able to get another to replace this one they are so hard to find around here

Thank you

Hi there,

I love and have angelicus also and am sorry to hear about her injury. When did you first notice this scrape? When you say swimming erratically do you mean in circles or back and forth or just darting around. I ask this b/c I lost 2 fish to what I think might have been swim bladder, however, their skin literally was coming off. Also, have you added any new fish to the tank recently?

I am new to fishkeeping in general but sadly have had my share of diseases and fish loss.

How are your other fish behaving? Like you, I have heard that they do not like salt and I don't use it in my loach tank. Melafix has worked wonders for me in the past, however, I am concerned about the "erratic" swimming, as this MAY indicate some type of infection as it did in my case, or it could simply be the injury.

I hope I can help, let me know some additional info and if I can't help, there are others on here far more experienced than myself, however, I feel they would need this additional information also.

Good luck,
Kris

Hi there,

I love and have angelicus also and am sorry to hear about her injury. When did you first notice this scrape? When you say swimming erratically do you mean in circles or back and forth or just darting around. I ask this b/c I lost 2 fish to what I think might have been swim bladder, however, their skin literally was coming off. Also, have you added any new fish to the tank recently?

I am new to fishkeeping in general but sadly have had my share of diseases and fish loss.

How are your other fish behaving? Like you, I have heard that they do not like salt and I don't use it in my loach tank. Melafix has worked wonders for me in the past, however, I am concerned about the "erratic" swimming, as this MAY indicate some type of infection as it did in my case, or it could simply be the injury.

I hope I can help, let me know some additional info and if I can't help, there are others on here far more experienced than myself, however, I feel they would need this additional information also.

Good luck,
Kris

Hi, thanks for the replies so far

I first noticed the scrape this morning when she wedged herself in the corner of the tank with her tummy pressed against the glass, it's pretty raw and red at this point and she is refusing food. As far as her swimming around erratically, she has been darting back and forth as well as swimming up and down like she's trying to escape her own shadow, I don't think it's a swim bladder issue as she doesn't have any problems swimming she's just doing it like she's a Loach on speed LOL.
I also noticed that on a few occasions she was also rubbing her tummy on rocks, luckily I only have smooth ones in the tank so she can't cut herself more but I guess it must be bugging her so she's rubbing the wound. The only other fish currently in the tank are another Angelicus and 2 Hillstreams all of whom are acting perfectly normal, they've been tankmates for almost a year and I haven't added any other fish or plant to it. I changed the substrate not too long ago to a finer sand like one because I used to have regular gravel and it wasn't safe for them with the amount of digging that they do, but if anything that should have prevented injury, not caused it.

Just to be on the safe side, I treated the tank with half dose of salt and full dose of Melafix.
She has stopped swimming like a nutbar now and has taken to hiding so I'm not too sure how she is doing. I'm wondering if I should keep the light off in the tank? Normally I keep them on for 8hr cycles b/c it's a planted tank and they haven't been shy but maybe she would do better if the lights were off?

Well she's still alive, hasn't accepted food yet but she isn't swimming all crazy anymore and he dark colour has returned so I'm hoping she's feeling better since the addition of the salt and Melafix.

I found a fish store that has a couple more so once she is better, if she gets better I'm going to go get them and then my 30gal won't seem so empty LOL.

hello, i noticed you lived in BC, where abouts??

do you have anything sharp (ornaments, rocks, bogwood, etc) in the tank that would cause the loach to scrape its belly skin off?!

loaches do not react well to pimafix, but i think they are fine with melafix...not sure about the salt though, but i hear it helps most fish to heal up...

-brett.

i had a pleco do something similar. i added stress coat and after a few days the scrape cleared up. i could see the meat on his stomache and it looked very feathery and muscle like and pink. he then ripped open his tail as well. stress coat cleared up this as well.

LoachFiend wrote:Well she's still alive, hasn't accepted food yet but she isn't swimming all crazy anymore and he dark colour has returned so I'm hoping she's feeling better since the addition of the salt and Melafix.

I found a fish store that has a couple more so once she is better, if she gets better I'm going to go get them and then my 30gal won't seem so empty LOL.

Just checking in on your girl. I hope things are better.

Kris

Thanks for keeping her in your thoughts

She's still alive and is on the mend, however I am still concerned about her swimming abilities as she appears to be darting about the tank rather than swimming. I have frequently also seen her laying completely on her side and then righting herself all of a sudden and darting about the tank again, the only way that I can really describe how it looks is, it's as if she is being held back by an unseen thread of something and is fighting against it to move forward so she darts rather than swims in a smooth calm even flow. I've been looking at her fins and there doesn't appear to be any damage to any of them, including the pectorals which was my first thought so now I'm kind of stumped as to why she would be doing this
She started eating yesterday so she must be feeling better but the swimming issue is quite troubling

Any thoughts?

Possibly the movement of those swim muscles is painful to maintain so she gives a burst and lets the forward motion carry her. It may subside in time as she heals.

Just a thought. I don't even want to get into the 'do fish feel pain' debate.

And -- botiine loaches will lay around on their sides for fun and relaxation. I wouldn't worry about that much. She has a good reason to stay off her stomach area anyway.

shari2 wrote: Just a thought. I don't even want to get into the 'do fish feel pain' debate.

ha...if you want ot get philisophical, You or I can't really prove other humans feel pain either or having a mind....

fish doesn't have facial expression or a language so they can't communicate pain but does that mean they can't feel pain?

falling tree in a forest type analogy.

I think she's going to make it!

She has been doing very well last couple of days and is eating like a piggy. Her sore is healing quite slowly but she is no longer swimming all funny, just once in a while she will lay on her side but then springs right back up and goes about her business which doesn't worry me too much because loaches are funny that way anyways. I finally managed to get a good enough pic of her which shows some of the damage to her belly. I've re-united her with her buddy and they have been inseparable since day one so that's a good sign too since she was hiding from her mate when she was really sick and she wasn't happy in the quarantine tank either so I felt bad and moved her. Since going back into the other tank, even her colour has improved and she's not bleached out any more.

Anyways here's a couple of pics, they're not extremely clear but should give you a general idea of what she looked like a couple of days ago. It's half as red today and looks even better but the batteries died on the digital so I can't show you an updated pic at this point.

ugh! That's quite a nasty wound! No wonder she was having trouble moving. Glad to hear she's doing better. Do post pics as follow ups. It's always nice to document success stories.

Ooh man, that looks nasty. Good to hear she's on the mend though.

Martin.