Kuhli Loache losing pigment?

[Pshaw00]

Hello there, I'm writing this post because after returning from vacation I've found that my kuhli loache is losing his color.



The only thing that has been different in the tank is the addition of a chinese algae eater and an additional cory cat, and a new dechlorinator named aquasafe (http://www.aquatics.co.uk/products/tetr ... etank.html)

Their isn't anything that I've read as harmful to kuhlis in the aquasafe but I've done a complete water change to the tank to be sure. However he doesn't appear to be regaining any color yet (been a bit less than 2 days since the water change) so I'm going to the store today to get some Maracyn Plus to treat for bacteria.

Other forums that I'm a member of weren't much help so I figured I'd see if anybody here has seen anything like this. Please let me know if I should take some sort of action I haven't taken yet.

[Graeme Robson]

The poor chap looks like it's been nibbled at during the night. Remove the chinese algae eater!!

[Pshaw00]

I was worried about that, but the algae eater has been in the tanks for about 3 weeks now and this only just occurred within the last week. I've seen the algae eater chase around my cory cats but he's always pretty much left the kuhli alone (at least when I'm up and looking at the tank.) I'm going to start treatment with maracyn and maracyn 2 for now but if I don't see any improvement he'll be going back to the pet store.

Edit: He has actually come out of his favored cave a bit today and he seems darker I just noticed this after I added the maracyn. He's even llaying right next to the algae eater, piling on top of him and so on and the algae eater doesn't seem to mind at all.

I'll add another picture and you can tell me if I'm just imagining things, or he just looks darker since he's in the shadows.

[PASoracco]

Remove the chinese algae eater!!

I second this notion, or move the kuhli to QT. I used to have a CAE, and it eventually got tired of eating algae and started bullying fish out of food. fine as a little fish but ended up being a menace when he got larger; quite territorial.

[BotiaMaximus]

I would say it's the CAE! They are psychotic evil menaces and can't be trusted! I think your Khuli was over next to him begging for his skin back. Poor little guy.

[Pshaw00]

Been awhile but I figured I would post what I've found out for other people having this problem in the future.

My khuli made a complete recovery with nothing more than a complete and total water change to the tank that happened when I moved the tank out of my dorm. Since then he's been happy and healthy and I've avoided using the aquasafe dechlorinator. However now that they've been moved into my new apartment weekly water changes are something the tank has to go through so I decided I would try it once more, now 2 days later his color is pale and starting to get splotchy. Needless to say I will be going to the pet store right after this to grab a different dechlorinator and then do a complete water change again. I use tank buddies tablets for when I do complete water changes and that has never caused a problem so that seems to be safe for him.

So TetraAqua(tm) Aquasafe Water Conditioner can be potentially unsafe for khuli's it seems or at least my Khuli has a bad reaction to it.

Does anybody else use this with fine results? I assume fish like people can just be allergic to just about anything so maybe this is just something my fish has a problem with.

[starsplitter7]

I always use Prime and my fish have no problems with it.

I am not sure if the declorinator is causing the reaction or if the declorinator is not doing its job, and the fish was burnt by the chlorine/ammonia in the water.

I also agree. Chinese Algae Eaters shouldn't be sold, except to people who just want to keep them on their own. They stop eating algae and really damage the fish they are with. I worked in a fish store, and worked hard to try to keep the owner from ordering them, and when he did order them to keep them out of the tank with other fish. Otherwise I was removing the other fish to quarantine to recover from their injuries.

[chefkeith]

A few years ago something like this use to happen to some of my kuhli loaches. It wasn't burning, it was the loaches tiny scales popping off. It was due to osmotic shock, which is an acclimation problem caused by a sudden change in water chemistry. Common causes of this is evaporation/topping off the tank, or something leaching in the tank, or fertilizers being added to the water, and then doing large water changes when the tap water chemistry doesn't match the tank water chemistry.


The solution for me was to keep the KH, GH, and TDS steady. Usually small frequent water changes can help achieve this. A maintenance schedule of two 20% weekly water changes is what I usually recommend.

Rocks that were leaching were removed from the tank also.

If there is a lot of water evaporation, a tighter fitting lid on the aquarium helps. You may want to top off the tank daily with distilled or RO water instead of topping off with tap water.

[FishyLady]

I have used Tetra Aquasafe with my fish and had no problems with it, but I don't have kuhli loaches.

Val