Loaches Online Forum

Well,

This moring my female dojo would not eat and it seems like her gills might be swollen. She has labored breathing and is either very still or racing up and down the side of the tank...not looking good. The angelicus are flashing and rubbing against the substrate and rocks and one of them will just stop occasionally and lay on the bottom of the tank.

I did a water change this am and everything is fine except an elevated ph up from 7.0 to 7.6 or more. The other fish are acting fine...plecos (2) and rainbows (2) but one of the rainbows has had a whitish growth on his mouth for weeks...was concerned but never saw any white spots come up on his body...was worried about coluramis (sp).

Now I am really freaking, I don't know if it's the ph or if they are really sick and I need to medicate. Also, the angelicus have faded in color. Any suggestions as to what this might be or what meds to use or if it is the ph? This is my favorite tank...I am freaking here!

Kris

Sorry to hear about this, Kris.

Can you tell us the exact readings of the following please:

ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte and temperature.

In what sort of timeframe has the pH increased from 7.0 to 7.6? Do you have a good amount of oxygenation and water movement? Anything new added to the tank recently?

Emma

Emma Turner wrote:Sorry to hear about this, Kris.

Can you tell us the exact readings of the following please:

ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte and temperature.

In what sort of timeframe has the pH increased from 7.0 to 7.6? Do you have a good amount of oxygenation and water movement? Anything new added to the tank recently?

Emma

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
And yes, with new test kit my normal odd reading of nitRate 0

It is a 20 gallon with 2 filter systems so there is lots of water movement and I keep the water a little low to increase oxygenation. The ph has been elevated for at least 2 days. New additions 3 weeks ago, 2 angelicus.

Temp in the tank is 68.

As for the columnaris on the rainbow...he just has a white growth on his mouth, he is not acting odd at all and no other lesions or spots have been seen. From what I have read about this disease, it would not so much be a growth but rather an eating away of the mouth area.

Maybe it's just the ph, I dunno.

Thanks,
Krista

Hi Kris,

That temperature is too low for Botia kubotai (angelicus loach), which is likely to be responsible for their behaviour and colour. If kept at too low a temperature, this could bring about whitespot (Ich) which could be on it's way if the fish are rubbing themselves. Unfortunately, with weather loach in the same tank, you are never going to be able to create ideal conditions for everything. You really do need a separate tank for the tropical loaches and the cooler water loving weather loaches. Depending on the species of Rainbowfish, they may not be too happy with the low temps either.

Is there any decor in this tank that might be responsible for the pH creeping up? Most sands and gravels sold at aquatics stores are inert, but not all are. A good example of this is the coral sand/gravel sold for marine tanks which will increase hardness and pH of the water (not recommended for tropical tanks unless keeping hardwater species such as Malawi cichlids). Do you have any rocks that could be leaching minerals, in turn raising the pH? (limestone, natural barnacles etc).

Emma