Loaches Online Forum

So today I did a huge tank cleaning with the help of my awesome boyfriend. He's such a huge help when it comes to lifting those heavy buckets.

So before I started the cleaning I took out a few pieces of wood and rock from the tank to vacuum and I found my 4 CL's hiding under a rock. 2 of them swam away and joined the other fish on the opposite side of the tank. 2 didn't even move. I swirled the water around them gently with my finger just to see if they were just being still cuz they were sick. But no. Neither of them moved.

I scooped them out carefully and immediately began to cry. My boyfriend hugged me and told me not to give up hope with the other Loaches. I always thought I would cry if any of them died from this Ich, but I can't believe I actually did. I feel like a wretched fish keeper. I've lost 5 fish so far. I really won't be able to handle loosing any of my other Loaches or Rams.

I did an awesome water change for them to try and get rid of some of the salt (slowly like I was advised to do) and vacuumed their tank within an inch of it's life.

It already looks 10x better, to me at least. Lol.

And everyone seems to be enjoying the new arrangement of rocks and wood.

I just hope it doesn't claim anymore of my poor fish.

I have a question now. Since I'm trying to do such frequent water changes to rid the tank of as much salt as possible, can I use the meds that I bought for Ich? Or should I just keep doing the water changes and raised temp?? Would it be safe or more harmful??

I can't stand to loose anymore fish.

A piece of advice a little too late. When you find fish that have expired, do not toss them immediately unless they show signs of decomposition.

Have your Q tank set up and put them in there. I have had several fish including two B. striata that showed no signs of life and looked perfect. They didn't move, I couldn't see any breath, and when I picked them up they did not move. I thought they were dead. I put them in the quarantine tank, and in a couple hours they perked up enough that I discovered they weren't dead. They were too compromised in the main tank to move or show other signs of life. This happened to my B. striata two years ago, and they are still going strong today.

Please post your water readings and let us know if you reduced the water in the tank to increase the air.

As soon as I get home tonight from work I'll do a water test. I cleaned the tank really well today and all the fish seemed to be a lot happier afterwards.

I did drop the water level last week and I still have it lowered about 1 1/2".

Good. Keep up the work. During ick you could do water changes everyday to suck up as much of the ick as possible.

I'm really sorry some of your loaches died!

I cried when I lost my first fish to ich, so I know how sad you can be, and it is NOT foolish to be sad about it!

don't give up. It will get better!

PLUS, you have a beautiful tank and fish!

Thanks Glenna. I just feel terrible for what happened. I don't ever want it to happen again! lol.