Loaches Online Forum

Hi, I've had two hillstream loaches for about a month now. They both seem healthy and active, but I've notice one is very pink on it's underside when I see it stuck to the glass and he was not that colour when I got him.
I was wondering if anyone knows whether this in anything to worry about?
Thank you

What species is it? Pictures??

What are the conditions in the aquarium?
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
GH
KH
pH
Temperature
How much water movement?
Tank mates?

Have a look in our articles under the 'Disease' heading (look for it on the left of the screen). There is at least one specifically about Hillstream Loaches.

many wild-caught fish can bring in parasites with them, and this is a good reason to quarantine and treat new fish before placing them in the main tank.

I have noticed that female Psuedogastromyzon cheni develop a pink color on the belly, so it may be normal. Pics would help.

Sorry about the late reply, it is tricky getting fish to pose for pictures.
I only having water a testing kit that tests for nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and pH, but they are all fine.
The temperature of the tank is 19 degrees celcuis and it's got a strong filter so there's plent of current.
It's a 2 and a half foot long tank with 5 goldfish as tank mates.

I have no idea what type of Hillstream loach they are. They are both about the size of my thumb and a plale brown colour. Once has black polka dots all over him and the one who's going pink has darker brown stripes like a tiger.

Ok, this is a photo I took a few weeks ago. The one who's upside down (Garth) already looks a little pink compared to his friend (Ruto):


But I'm finding it difficult to get a photo of him now as they tend to come out at night and scuttle under pebbles when I turn on the light and peer in the tank.

Look in the species index under the various Gastromyzon species.

Waow, there's so many!
Ruto looks pretty much like the first one on that list, Gastromyzon ctenocephalus, except he's a bit paler. But he's got little black polka dots on him.
But Garth doesn't look much like any of them. His stripes are darker than his body, whereas these guys all have yellow coloured stripes.
I wish they weren't so hard to photograph.

Pics would definately help.
I am curious though, you say the spotted one has dark spots?
Ctenocephalus has yellow spots on a dark background.

Yeah, they are yellow on a dark background, I just see them so little I have the wrong mental picture of what they look like.

Ruto is definately either the Gastromyzon ctenocephalus or the Gastromyzon scitulus. It is difficult to see the the difference between those two.
Garth I'd say is probaby Gastromyzon zebrinus.
Man, I need to photograph them more when they are out and about.

I tried again to get a photo of Garth's pink underside, but it doesn't show up much in the photo.



If you compare him to the photo above though you can see that he's a much pinker colour than Ruto when he used to be pretty much the same colour.

(Also, please ignore my pathetic looking plants, this summer has been far too hot over here and has caused an algae growth spurt which attacked my plants )

I don't think I would worry about the pink color as long as the fish is active and feeds. It may just be normal. Taking a quick look at some of my gastros, I notice pink also.