Loaches Online Forum

We have problems with our hillstreams, as you can see in the pic. We've just set up a 450L tank, and somehow the temperature was 30*C, so we've tried to lower the temperature by changing some of the water with cold water, and we've managed to lower the temp to 27*C. We've also set our heater as low as it'll go.

But today we saw that the hillstreams had patches on their bodies, some more than others. They are also pretty inactive and seems a little lethargic. We rarely see them as well. The pH is slightly above 7 and the kH is around 3*. I know that hillstreams can get a disease which will turn up as patches, but does it have anything to do with the high temperature? As I don't expect an answer the very second I'm posting this, we're going to start medicating with Sera Bactopur, since I saw the article on the homepage where a bacterial medicine was used to battle the disease.

This Patchy Disease that I wrote about has usually been caused by a bacterial infection.
However, not enough is known about the patchy color symptom itself, to rule out that it is a sign of any general stress.
That being said, I would certainly treat them for an infection.
Good luck!
Keep us posted!

Keep working to lower the temperature, too. A degree or so per day is good, until you get the temperature more into the proper range for the fish you want to keep. Increasing the water movement to improve oxygenation will really help these guys, too.

Diana wrote:Keep working to lower the temperature, too. A degree or so per day is good, until you get the temperature more into the proper range for the fish you want to keep. Increasing the water movement to improve oxygenation will really help these guys, too.

We're at around 26.5 now, so the temps are dropping. The first medicine cycle is finished tomorrow, so then we'll change the water with the new water at around 24-25* to compensate for rising temperatures. We've also opened the window next to the tank, and that seems to have lowered it a bit, but most of all keeping the temperature fairly constant.

We've added an AquaClear 110 (3700lph), and all the loaches LOVES it! The bala sharks seems a lot happier now as well, they can really stretch out now, compared to the 120L we used to keep them in. We have a LOT of surface agitation so we probably have a lot of oxygen in the water. We also added a Fluval U4 for extra filtration, and we are using the venturi on that so we'll get even more oxygen in the water. Just need to lower the temperature a bit. I'll post pics of the tank tomorrow in the loaches forum if you're interested.

I'm always interested in seeing others setups.

Has the normal coloration returned?

Jim Powers wrote:Has the normal coloration returned?

I don't think so, they are not out that often so it's hard to say. We intend to continue with another bacterial med. cycle, so we'll se if they return to their regular colors.

We still can't manage to lower the temperature, so the plan right now is to do more, but smaller changes every week, say 3-4 10% changes per week so we can get in cooler water. This is turning in to a pain in the be-hind.

Just a thought, but are you sure your heater is working properly?
You might want to unplug or remove it and see what happens. Most of my hillstream tanks are unheated and stay in the proper temp. range due to the heat generated by the pumps.

The heater is, and have been disconnected since we added the fish basically. I can't understand it, the ambient room temp is lower than the water temp! Then again, like you said, pumps will heat the water along with lights, etc. But why does the temp want to climb to 30?

I can't imagine why.
You might try using a fan to blow air across the surface.

I might just try that. I'll give it a go tomorrow I think. We've also started leaving the window slightly open and we've closed both doors in to the room so the air-temperature is pretty low in there. We're also only using one of the ramps (there are 4 lights, but we're only running 2).

I use a small fan on a timer to blow air accross the UV sterilizer return line and it drops the temp. about 2-3 degrees. It does increase the evaporation rate too, of course.
I hope this works for you and your fish. Good luck!
How are they looking and behaving?

The fan trick worked! Now we're down to 25* with the windows open and a large fan standing on the tank, blowing hard on the surface. All fish except the hillstreams are fine. They (not hillstreams) seemed distressed when the temp crawled to 30, but at 28* they're fine. The hillstreams usually comes out when the temperature is below 26.5, otherwise they just hide.

That's good news! Now it will be interesting to see how the hillstreams respond and if the color returns.