Golden dojo loach with possible finrot

sick dojo loach

I just rescued 2 golden dojo loaches from PetSmart during a weekend-only sale, to eventually keep my other lone one company. They didn't look so good at the store, but I hope if nothing more, they'll at least get a comfortable death in my quarantine tank. But that's worst-case scenario! I hope to get them healthy, but I'm not quite sure if they'll make it, as one of them is very pale (near white) and likes to float upside-down on the substrate and doesn't move around as much.

Right now, I'm focused on saving my little buggers, one of which might have fin rot. Part of 2 of the fins are shorter and one is frayed, and that's all that I can find wrong with them. Aside from that and the aforementioned paleness and laying upside-down, I can't see anything else physically wrong with the one (the other looks fine but is paler than the one I already have), so I'd like to pretend I'm Dr House and use treatment to prove my diagnosis.

I put them in my cycled 20 high quarantine tank that I previously had ADFs in. I did a water change with Prime right before drip-acclimating them, and then added Vita-Chem. I've heard that since loaches are scaleless, they're sensitive to medication, so I was wondering what medication I could use. Would the dose have to be smaller? Or should I forgo medication until I see evidence of more deteriorating finnage? I've never had fin rot before, nor a sick loach, so I'm completely clueless!

Water parameters:
Ammonia: 0
NitrIte: 0
NitrAte: 20
temp: 76

 

Good morning MissJuniper,

For fin rot:

Pristine water conditions is highly recommended. Nothing beats fresh water for your fish.

Adding Garlic Juice from minced garlic (links below) or Garlic Guard onto the fishes food will help to boost the fishes immune system.

minced garlic in a jar..just an example for those needing it


I also recommend adding Vita Chem for additional vitamins onto the fish food and into the tank directly. Follow the directions on the bottle: (Good that you are already doing this!)



Stress Coat or Nova Aqua + added to the tank to reduce stress and add body slime will also help.

I haven't used medications to treat fin rot.

Best wishes for a full recovery.

Ken

 

No one in my town sells Garlic guard, and any containers of minced garlic I find all have citric acid in them. Would it work to drain/rinse a jar of minced garlic and put in plain water and use that liquid?

I knew I was forgetting something! I just got a new bottle of Stress Coat too. It's usually the first thing I think of to add...whoops :-[

Thanks Ken

 

Missjuniper,

You could actually make your own garlic juice if you want from fresh garlic.

Follow the directions under Benefits of Garlic:


Ken

 

I don't know if it's fin rot anymore. The sicker loach passed away last night, and the other one was looking really good, swimming more, eating, etc, but now I think it's paralyzed. It's breathing heavily and appears to only be able to move its head, not the rest of its body. Its tail fin is deteriorating though. It looks very frayed. The vent also looks a bit red, and I found the same thing while inspecting the other after taking it out of the tank.

Water parameters:
NitrIte: 0.25
NitrAte: 10

My ammonia test bottle #2 disappeared so I can't test that, but yesterday's tests were 0/0/20, so I'm not sure where the nitrites came from. (Maybe I missed some food while vacuuming, or the dead loach was too much for the bioload over night?)

If anyone has any idea what I can do to help the loach, or any idea what it's sick with, please share. I'm already doing 40% water changes daily with Prime, Vita-Chem, and Stress Coat.

edit: About 1/3rd down from the head it looks like there is a ring around the body that's a little flaky, reminiscent of flaking skin. I've observed it trying to swim a couple times, and it moves its head, but the other 3/4ths of the body stays straight.

2nd edit: Upon closer inspection of his underside, his vent is extremely red and there's a large clump of lumpy gold dots between his bottom fins and vent. The sides of the body seem to have very small brown or grey scattered dots, like pepper.

 

The loach died. But before it did, it became fully paralyzed, only able to move its gills. It was equally strange and saddening... I still don't know what it had, but it probably had a lot wrong with it. I'm guessing it was fin rot, velvet (due to the brownish to yellow spots), and something else. I found a few other posts through google searches from people describing similar paralysis symptoms in dojo loaches, but none of them had any explanations.

I guess I'll continue to do some research in my spare time so I can figure out what exactly happened so I'll be prepared if this ever happens again to me or someone else. If someone reads this sometime and thinks their loach has similar symptoms, PM me and I'll share whatever I've learned.

 

That's so sad. I'm sorry for your loss. I love my dojos and they love evryone else too(most people don't like their ell look and dislike my 30 gallon lol). Maybe you can wash it out and try with some differnt fish. Dojos really arnt made for a tall 20gal. But some other fish might do better.

 

I had them in the 20 gallon to quarantine, like I now do with all my new fish. Back in August I got a 55 gallon off craigslist and there was one golden dojo loach in it, so when I saw petsmart having a rare sale on their golden dojo loaches, I got 2, hoping to put them in with my other loach after the 4-6 weeks. I'm glad that I decided to quarantine, seeing as the healthier-looking loach got sick and died in just 2 days (and I only got them 4 days ago).

 

Awsome!(wish I had a 55)