Sluggish yoyo after so much energy

Hello, I have a yoyo loach problem. I have 2 of them and they were completely happy and playing 2gether, then I had an ich problem with some neons (loaches showed no sign of ich). I used half dosage bc of the loaches the ich was gone but one of the neons died and I saw a loach eating him. Then all of a sudden my one loach had a red mouth almost like lipstick. went to lfs with a water sample and they said nothing to be concerned about. They then told me to get melafix the redness has cleared up but the fish is sluggish, and constantly being chased by the other loach. I have not seen him eat and its been almost 2 weeks since I noticed he was not normal. seems as if some of his bristles are shorter then the other one. He def lays down a lot and I know he is not dead bc he keeps popping up and has gill movement. is he a goner or is there something else I can do to help him? tank is 45 gal, multiple hiding caves, other fish are tetras and dwarf neon rainbows. if I somehow lose this one should I try to find more and would zebra loaches be ok with the king of the tank healthy yoyo.

 

I would get back to your LFS as soon as possible and either get your own liquid testing kit (recommended) or have them test samples of your tank and tap water but insist on seeing the results and write down the numbers!

What did you use to treat the Ich? What kind of substrate? What is the temperature of the tank? Filtration? How long has the tank been set up?

And welcome to the forum

 

I know I need to get my own testing supplies. I have a white rock substrate I know I prob should have sand with these guys but the other one digs in the rocks just fine. Temp is set at 80, filterstion is a biowheel till I can get a canister for xmas,tank has been running for 6 months have had yoyos for almost 2. I used an API brand treatment.

 

Did you buy the substrate for aquariums or was it something in a garden centre? The rocks could be eroding the loach's feelers or injuring them and the one who's not doing so well has developed an infection there.

How much water do you change and how often? Do you vacuum the gravel frequently? What size/model of Biowheel do you have?

 

I am not sure on that the substrate came with the tank. Looks to have pieces of shells seashell in it tho. Maybe it could be eroding its feelers??? I change a 5 gal buckets worth weekly with the pump vacuum. Not exactly sure what size biowheel I bought the 45 gal bow front from someone's dad who was moving.

 

Did the tank come with the fish? Was the filter biowheel kept wet during the move?

I would be changing a lot more than 5 gallon a week. In a tank that size I would try for at least 20 gallon per week. If cycling you may have to do smaller water changes every day or every other day!

 

I actually bought the fish bc I started having a snail problem when my brother gave me snails. They have done a great job controlling the snail population. I don't think the biowheel kept wet during the move does that make a difference?? ohhh I just figured as long as I vacuum every week I should be fine. 2night I will do 20 gal change bc I'm done with the melafix treatment. question bc I have a baby guppy thing hanging on the side do I have to take all 20 gal out before I put in the new 20 gal or can I do 5 gal take out then put 5 new and repeat 3 more times. I can't let the water get low bc of the baby guppies. thank you for all your help by the way

 

Chances are that since the setup is new that your tank may not be cycled. I was hoping that you had got a running tank with fish that was already cycled. I would remove the guppy fry tank and place it in its own bucket of tank water so you can do a good water change.

Please get your water tested as soon as possible!

 

hmmmm that could be the case well the tank I got had 30% or so water from before and it came with 5 fish. 2 of which I still have and the 1 rainbow shark I took to pet store bc wife didn't like its aggressive behavior. I can remove the guppy thing that would be a good idea. The 2 groumis died bc my heater died when I was on vacation and my brother replaced it for me and the temp change killed them. which water test do you recommend buying??

 

Most of your nitrifying bacteria adhere to surfaces and are not free-floating in the water. Most of them grow in the filter media so if you kept the media wet between the old place and the new then some of the bacteria likely survived.

Sorry to hear about your gouramis!

I like the API Master Test Kit and a lot of other people here do as well. It's not too expensive up front but you get all the main tests you need and it's cheaper and more accurate in the long run than strips. There are other brands but that's the one I'm most familiar with.

 

Thanks for the info that is good to know now. I will run out to the store and get the test kit, I noticed a lot of people on forums use this. Is there any meds you think I should use on the loach? How long can he survive being chased and not eating? I was thinking of adding in 2 more loaches but now I'm scared to do it.

 

You have to be careful with loaches and meds because they're scaleless and so extra sensitive. That said, I don't know what meds are safe so can't advise you there. Perhaps CindiL can help.

I would recommend getting yourself a QT to put any new fish in for a few weeks so you can be sure they're healthy before putting them in your main tank

Did you get the test kit yet? Post the results when you do! And don't forget to shake Nitrate bottle #2 really really hard

 

yes, I know I have to be very careful and if I ever put anything other then prime and easy balance in my water I do extensive research on what the loaches can handle. They both seemed ok during the treatment of ich its just after the treatment the one started acting up. He is still alive after about 2 weeks of acting like this and not eating. For the qt tank do u have a complete separate tank bc I don't think my wife would go for that. I ordered the test kit online last night bc it was cheaper ha. I also did a nice big water change and cleaned out the filter. I have never seen the fish so scared and most of them lost color but they soon regained it back after everything was settled. Is there any other products you recommend me to use other then prime and easy balance plus?

 

Had to look up the Easy Balance. It adds to the KH but I'm leery of so-called "pH balancing" products. I wonder if CindiL has any experience with it.

Yes, a quarantine needs to be a separate tank. It doesn't need to be as large though since it's not the final home for the fish. It also is better without substrate. You can run an extra filter on the main tank, I like sponge filters for this, so when you do need to set up a quarantine you have a cycled filter on hand.

 

thanks for the info on that. So I was looking up stress coat, do u think that might help my loach? Have you ever used it before and what are your go to products for the best fish health?

 

I only use Prime in my tanks, plus tannins (either the extract or leaves/driftwood) and crushed oyster shells to maintain sufficient KH.

I don't use Stress Coat because I don't know what the effect of Aloe Vera is on fish.

 

Hi, welcome to the forum

I'd found out your GH and KH (general hardness and carbonate hardness) of your tap water as its possible you don't need easy balance. You can take a sample to the pet store and ask them to test the GH/KH and write down those numbers. You might need your own test if they're low but we'll wait and see.

What I don't like about Easy Balance is they don't really tell you exactly what its doing and how much is doing it. They don't list the ingredients and it seems really vague how they describe it. I prefer a product like Seachem Alkaline buffer and Seachem Replenish. One raises KH and holds PH steady and one raises a low GH.

As far as medications, what are his current symptoms? Is the redness gone from his mouth? Do you see anything else going on with him?

 

Thanks, his symptoms are not eating, not active, gets picked on by the other loach. another problem just happened as I did a nice water change last night and I have 5 neon dwarf rainbows and this morning all the fish were fine and my wife just called me and told me one of them died and one is at the top of the tank. I used prime and easy balance with the water change. my cousin told me easy balance is the best stuff. what could be the cause of death after the water change and replacement of new filter cartridge on my hob filter? I love my fish but fish keeping is getting hard one min they are fine then the next they are not.

 

I would stop adding the Easy Balance until you can get both your tap and your tank water tested for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, GH and KH. Also be sure to test the pH of your tap water both immediately out of your tap and after letting it sit for a couple of hours in a bucket with an air stone.

 

^^ I agree.

Also, you don't want to throw out filter materials until they are literally falling apart because you are basically throwing out your cycle along with the filter cartridge. One thing you can do if one needs to be replaced is just cut the foam/floss off of the frame, dump the carbon and just put the old floss next to the new cartridge for a week so that it seeds it. After that you can throw that out.

 

I found a way to use the master test kit
Ph in tank 7.8 ph tap 7.4 ammonia both 0 nitrite both 0 nitrate in tank 5, 0 in tap. The test kit doesn't test for Kh?? Could it be the shock of the water change that killed the fish and possible skinny disease wearing down the loach??

 

It doesn't look like there was much to shock the fish during a water change unless you really sloshed the water in, or perhaps the hardness or temperature was wildly different. Unfortunately the KH/GH test kit is a separate purchase. You can get a good idea of it from test strips though if you want to take a sample to your LPS. They usually use strips to test your water for free, just be sure to write down the actual results. If the strips say you have low KH then you may want to invest in the liquid test kit to be more accurate. I did because my KH is pretty much zero:-\