Skinny Horsehead Loach (Final verdict)

[starsplitter7]

I know there have been several threads on skinny horseheads -- basically a head with a string of a body. I picked up the last three at my LFS before they closed their doors. They didn't know they had these fish. They were buried. Two are about 4" and normal weight. One is a thread and 3". They were in different tanks.

I know most die when they start out this thin. What is the best recommendation for treatment? The two healthy ones remain hidden with the rest of my HHL. The skinny one is out all the time sifting the sand, and when I see him I throw him flakes and sinking foods. So he is getting fed a few times a day, and he is still extremely thin but doing better. Should I feed him a month or so and get him stronger, and then treat him with levamisole and maracyn to clean him up?

He lives with the Kuhlies, male guppies and temporarily displaced hatchets.

[soul-hugger]

Hello...

I'm not sure how to respond because I have never kept HHL. I hope someone who knows more replies to help you decide what to do. I think I would be more likely to try to think which approach will involve the least stress. If he is already settled and living with the others and seems to be improving, you may not want to uproot him again to quarantine him if you haven't already. If you feed him for a month and he gains weight, you may find it unnecessary. I know fish are totally different from dogs, (and this is under completely different circumstances,) but when I watch shows like animal cops, they find thin animals and the only way sometimes to tell if they have been starved by their owners is to feed them and see if they gain weight. Then can begin the process of elimination. If he doesn't gain the weight, you may certainly want to treat him for parasites. If you are treating him, you may want to treat the other newcomers as well. Chances are if the LFS didn't know he was there, he may not have been getting adequate food. Perhaps whoever lived in the other tank with your two healthy horsefaces had more similar feeding requirements, less boisterous tankmates, or other such circumstances. If all else fails, maybe you can do a little detective work and ask your LFS (if you can find someone who used to own it or work there) a whole bunch of questions, if you haven't already, about who was in the tanks before, etc.....

Sorry, I think that is about the best I can do, without getting in over my head and out of my range of experience....
Good luck, and hope he recovers!!

[Ashleigh]

I have always found horse face loaches very difficult to get weight on. I guess part of the problem lies in treating for parasites since they sift the substrate.

Do you feed frozen foods to them? I have found that cyclops and lobster eggs are fondly accepted. I drop mine down a pipe once defrosted near to my loaches to make sure that they get a good fill, but I found weight gain very slow. Id try feeding a bit more frozens and see if that makes a difference. If not Id go ahead and treat-better safe and sorry and it won't do any harm. What did you treat with before? Did you give prazipro a go? Also remember to treat for secondary infections-I only saw an improvement in baby clown loach after their bacterial treatment.

Hope this helps


Ashleigh