Loach rescue operation

[fishnose]

My two kuhli loaches, one golden and one normally colored, had always been out from under their rock when I put anything remotely edible in the tank, but for some reason I hadn't seen them for a week and a half by tuesday. I thought it was my bumblebee cat, as there was no sign of either one, but he is only 2 inches long, tops.

I finally found them in the filter what a surprise! As soon as the current had been turned off, they zoomed down into the impeller/moter part. I have an aquaclear filter, so I couldn't really see where they were but they took turns sticking their heads out to look around.

20 minutes, 4 months worth of blood worms, and a gigantically messy tank later, they were out. Yay!

This morning I had a closer look at them and found them a bit squashed and they had some scrapes. The scrapes were white in color but not fluffy, they were level with the skin and it didn't look like anything disease-ish but I added half a dose of melafix and half a dose of stress coat and some aquarium salt just in case. Are white splotches normal? should I do anything else at this point?

They spent a while jammed in there, and based on where they were, the only way they could have gotten there was through the intake and past the impeller . they seem fine, however and I don't want to overmedicate. Suggestions?

[shari2]

Cover the intake with one of those aquaclear sponges designed for their filters, or any other aquarium safe wide bore sponge. Just slice an X in one side and slide it on. Until you get one, put something over the intake like a pantyhose foot with a rubber band or something.

As for medicating? What you've done sounds like it should be fine. Keep an eye on them, and do frequent small water changes.

[fishnose]

Will do, thanks for the advice. Would that slow down the flow rate too much? I once had part of an old net around it to keep it from getting clogged with plants parts, and it deacreased the output.

[grizzlyone]

Think about it...

The aquaclear sponges are designed to let water flow through them, so no, its not going to significantly slow the flow so to speak. They do need to be cleaned once in a while the same way you clean the ones inside the filter.

You'll find you have to clean the one inside alot less. In fact, I just use filter floss inside the units rather than the sponges.

I use them on both my HOB filters since I don't want any eggs that might come my way from my hot to trot sewilla, to meet mr impeller.


Cheers,

Kevin