Loaches Online Forum

Hello i am new to this forum,

i have been keeping fish for4 years , and have a probelm with my loaches mainly.

I have 2 yo yo's and a queen loach , one yoyo has died today after being poorly for 3 days and the other two seemed to get better and now the other yoyo is on his way out. I have done a 25% water change using stress coat yesterday, but seems to have not helped, i have checked water levels, everything is perfect, (ammonia, PH, Nitrate and Nitrite) Their temperature is 25 celcius due to cold weather. The remaining yoyo is swimmiing erraticaly banging into things and now has no colour, loss of balance, hiding, breathing rapidly which is what happened to the one that has died today. I realy dont know what it is.

Other fish are, 6 silver dollars, One common plec, 11 scissor tails, 2 widow tetras and one bolivian ram. The aquarium was cycled and set up a year ago using seed material from another aquarium. It is a 5ft (length) 2ft (width and height) and the largest i have, also the first time i have used sand as substrate and i churn it weekly to fortnightly. I have not done anything new everything is working. The only thing i can think of is old silk ornament?

They have maximum aeration with a bubble curtain on full and long spray bar. I am realy confused.

Cant see parasites at all unless it is internal.

Please help!

Laura x

One silver dollar has a slightly cloudy eye and that is new too in last 3 days

they are all lingering mid to botom of aquarium but look healthy

I do not know what this is, but larger and more water changes may remove more bacteria or toxins from the water. Make sure the new water has the same mineral content as the tank (GH, KH, TDS) when you do larger water changes.

When you stir the sand hover the gravel vac nearby in case you stir up something that is better removed.

I am not in favor of using slime coat enhancers. I have heard of some that caused problems with the gills. Slime coat enhancers might be useful if a fish has been netted or handled in any way that might disrupt the slime coat. But when you are just doing a water change a simple dechlorinator should be enough.