Loaches Online Forum

One of my Kubotai seems to have brought in a bit of ich with him. I've got them in a normal dosage of coppersafe. Two of the kubotai seem to be okay and I've seen no reactions to the medicine. The third kubotai seems to want to climb out of the tank. I've just added an airstone with the thought that perhaps there's an oxygen problem.

Any ideas? I know it's going to be a long drawn out affair using coppersafe but others have been successful using it.

Hi, Wendie,

No direct answer but hopefully some useful info.

1. Coppersafe: it is not clear if copper-based meds should be used with loaches. There is a number of warnings on the Web about it (but some success stories too). For example, LoachDis

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebInde ... isfaqs.htm

simply states:

Never use copper with loaches! They're just too susceptible to it

If it is Ich, there are a number of safer (and more efficient) meds around. Googling for CopperSafe+Loaches will get you many hits, some quite negative.

2. Kubotai's from Petland: I've seen them over the last week in two stores of the chain, and in both cases, they did not look good. Ich in one case, but something worse too: some were scrapping their sides against the ground and did not behave like a happy kubotai should. Since they come from the same distributor as yours, watch for something else besides ich.

(Seems to be a Kubotai season -- I've seen them in non-Petland stores too, and they looked very good...so I'm tempted to increase my herd a bit..)

hth

Hi Wendie,

Can you get hold of Waterlife products over there as I have found Myxazin to be very effective when treating ich in my tanks that contain loaches, I certainley havnt seen any adverse reactions and it seems to cure the problem pretty quickley.

Mark

Wouldn't the ich cause the scratching against the ground?

I read several of the archives, etc. I added a third of a dose at a time over several hours. They've been hiding so much that I didn't notice anything until yesterday. Thankfully there are not too many spots.

Mad Duff wrote:Hi Wendie,

Can you get hold of Waterlife products over there as I have found Myxazin to be very effective when treating ich in my tanks that contain loaches, I certainley havnt seen any adverse reactions and it seems to cure the problem pretty quickley.

Mark

It doesn't mention Ich unless I am looking up the wrong stuff. Did you use the 500ML? I can have someone get it for me and send it over.

Hi Wendie,

I buy the 120ml bottles, Protozin is actually the ich remedy but Myxazin can be used to treat ich as well and I have found it works a little better when loaches are in the tank.

To treat protozoan diseases such as ich, velvet, costiasis etc the aquarium can be treated twice a day, 12 hours apart at a rate of 1 drop per gallon.

I have used it in tanks containing clowns, kubotai, rostrata, sidthimunki and kuhli loaches.

Mark

Wendie wrote:Wouldn't the ich cause the scratching against the ground?

Might, or it might be something else. My feeling was that there was something more wrong with the fish I saw.

BTW, you are getting a strange kind of Ich: is it two weeks since you got the fish, or even more? Usually Ich would show up within a few days. May it be something else?

I know. I thought the same too. They have been hiding so much that I couldn't see them. They've only been acting strange for the past few days. I can't figure it out.

I had a sneak attack of ich on my sid tank before i knew it.
lost 2 of them
coppersafe all the way
everything is cleared up now
noted that the false horse face didn't appear to have ich at all!
I have used coppersafe with zebras, kubs, sids, false horse face, darios, and histrionicas.
the flashing could be caused by many things.
even poor water conditions.
man I'd even buy kubs that were covered with ich right now!!!!!

I thought about the water conditions too but everything checked out fine. I did do a partial change of about 20% thou just to be on the safe side.

newshound wrote:man I'd even buy kubs that were covered with ich right now!!!!!

Perhaps this link would be of help:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... d=1590&N=0

I don't know if they are covered with ich or not...

I've also used CopperSafe sucessfully with loaches several times. It's the only thing that has worked consistently for me.

I always make sure to calculate tank size taking into account gravel and decorations. I also add 1/4 dose every 4 hours and check on the fish during that time. If I'm going to be working or sleeping, I won't add it until I know I can be there to observe, and do a water change if the meds are stressing the fish.

Some may say this method is overcautious, but I know I have read more threads on forums about meds killing fish than the diseases themselves.

I rechecked my readings and found that the nitrite reading is up to 0.50 so I changed some more water and added Bio Spira. Let's see what happened.

They sure love that air stone. They are riding the current from the air stone. Noses right up to the stone.

i have a tank where one of my kubs and sidthimunki's hopped into the filter and got ich, spread it to the 8 other loaches, all sids and kubs. i started with malachite green based stuff. half the kubs were healed, half were not phased. i did the salt, 86 degrees, everything. finally after trying everything i got seachem's cupramine, IT IS A WONDER DRUG!. all fish had remarkably reduced spots after 2-3 days. and 0 spots on all fish in 4-5 days. i live by this stuff, get it!

I think I am ruling out ick as the other fish seem okay. These guys are scratching like crazy and I can't figure out what the cause is. I am currently changing more water as the nitrites are at 0.50 with the nitrates 20 and ammonia at 0. I can't figure out the nitrite spike either as this tank has been running for about 6 months.

BTW I changed the air stone for a sponge filter.