Escapee Weather Loach!!!

[2cvbloke]

Me and my mum were clearing a space for the xmas tree this evening and I found what looked like a dead slug, only itwas one of the Weather loaches from the tank!!! 8O

Anyway, I quickly scooped him up and popped him in a tub of tankwater, and about an hour later he's still not recovered....

He's breathing slowly and every now and then twitches and wriggles, but is on his back most of the time...

How long does it usually take for a Weather loach to recover from escaping and hibernating in the open?

 

[theotheragentm]

I had a Gourami that jumped and I heard him and put him back immediately, but he didn't make it. I think he landed on something hard. Mine flipped out and kept jumping into my glass covers over and over. He didn't even make it an hour for myself. Give your fish some time. Hopefully he will pull through.

 

[black hills tj]

I'd keep him separate like you are and maybe hit him with some stress coat(i think that's the name of the stuff).

 

[2cvbloke]

Thanks, he's still breathing, I've put him back in the tank, but I'm afraid that he may be attacked by the other fish as they'd see him as dead meat...

Here's hoping...

 

[Zagz]

Depending on what the other fish are he should be fine if he has places to hide. I've had mine escape more than once. You really have to cover all the spots in the tank with those guys.

 

[black hills tj]

Anne, was it you that had a discus go carpet surfing and survive?

 

[2cvbloke]

He didn't make it through the night, I positioned him under the driftwood (the favourite loach hideout), but I just found his body by the filters, stiff as a board...

I think I was too late in finding him, but, in almost 2 years, 1 escape isn't too bad, if only it wasn't one of my favourites...

 

[Leader of Men]

That's too bad...

But you did what you could.

 

[2cvbloke]

That's too bad...

But you did what you could.

Thanks, I'm just glad I knew what to do with escaped loaches as my mum thought it was dead, the twitches proved otherwise, but unfortunately I think he suffered some sort of injury on his way down to the carpet. It looked like he slapped himself against the table (I can see where he hit as he left a "clean patch" in the layer of dust behind the tank) that the tank is on before he landed on the carpet, then worked his way behind a few boxes until I found him...

I think I'll just leave the tank as it is critterwise, it is technically overstocked, but I have 2 good filters going so it's doing well as it is, but as for securing it, I think I'll have to look into building a new lid...

 

[theotheragentm]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[black hills tj]

Sorry to hear that. It seems odd that a loach of all fish would go carpet surfing. I recently lost one of my favorites as well

 

[2cvbloke]

Sorry to hear that. It seems odd that a loach of all fish would go carpet surfing. I recently lost one of my favorites as well

Thanks, but as I like to say, death is a fact of life, it happens whether you like it or not...

One of my mum's cats is probably to culprit, he's taken to trying to "catch" the loaches at the side of the tank, in turn scaring them, so the fish was probably startled and managed to escape through a gap at the back (temporarily remedied by sliding the lid back as far as I can get it and by placing a wood strip over the larger front gap), but from now on, Dave the cat is being told off for playing with the fish....

 

[rubysoho]

Sorry to hear you weren't able to save the loach.

 

[2cvbloke]

Sorry to hear you weren't able to save the loach.

Thanks, I hope it doesn't happen again...