Beaniezotzim
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2016
- Messages
- 4
Answer these Qs to ensure we have as much information as possible about your ailing fish and its environment:
1~What type of fish is afflicted? weather loach. Begins about a week and a half ago: Started with tail floating up and seemingly having issues staying down. Then very erratic behavior including a seizure like spasm, swimming to the top and deficating a slimy bowel casing? Then general lethargy, not swimming around like her usual self, wedging herself between aquarium equipment and/or decor. Now she still seems lethargic, but I'm beginning to see little white spots on her tail, her barbs, and the back of her body.
I assume this is ich? But I really am new to all of this. I've read to naturally cure ich you should raise the temp in your aquarium to 80-85 degrees. Well I don't have a heater. So i have ordered a ich med that is supposed to be more gentle on loaches because of their lack of scales?
I do have pictures of her with these spots pretty clearly visible, but I don't know how to post them to this thread.
Just hoping someone can give me some specific advice. Please be kind. I may not be doing everything right, but I am taking a step in the right direction by asking. I want my loach to make it, I love her, she is a part of our family. I didn't ask for the whole aquarium set up, I became the fish keeper when my husband (with good intentions) came home from the local petsmart with a three gallon tank, a million pounds of gravel, 800 fake plants, a pirate boat, 2 gold fish, and a loach. I am trying to do this right, but there is an unbelievable amount of information and I am learning as I go.
2~What are your tank parameters: I am super new to this process. Here is my interpretation of the tests:
NITRITES: 0 ppm
NITRATES: closest to the 5.0 ppm, maybe less
AMMONIA: 0 ppm - .25 ppm
PH: not sure if I'm doing this one right. The kit comes with pH and high pH. When I test with the pH kit it shows at 7.6. Then I obtain a new sample of water and test with the high pH and the test looks to come out close to 7.8-8.0 (I would say closer to 7.8 by color)
TEMP: I don't have a thermometer (well I do, but it no longer works). I do not have a heater, and the temp in our house stays around 73• f
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
20 gallon regular (I am aware that this tank is too small for the fish and will be upgrading to a larger 40-50 gallon tank in the next couple of months) this tank has been set up for a little over 1.5 years
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
Whisper power filter 20, if i remember correct, it filters 20 gallons per hour. I also have an airstone attached to a whisper 40 air pump. Not sure if that is the info you need?
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
1 weather loach approx 4 inches long and one common pleco (new as of 1 month ago) approx 2 inches long
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
Today. I vacuum the gravel every time. I have been doing water changes every second or third day since she started showing signs of sickness of anywhere from 25% to 50%. I was doing water changes of about 50% every two weeks before she became sick.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
I have had this loach for about 2.5 years
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
New pleco fish about 3 weeks to 1 month ago
(I know these ones get big also, as I have learned. Me to the girl in the pet store "would a pleco be okay in my 20 gallon with a weather loach?" Girl at pet store "oh yeah, that would be fine"). So, yep, I know I need a larger tank. I know.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? A variety of freeze dried blood worms, Algea wafers, shrimp pellets.
1~What type of fish is afflicted? weather loach. Begins about a week and a half ago: Started with tail floating up and seemingly having issues staying down. Then very erratic behavior including a seizure like spasm, swimming to the top and deficating a slimy bowel casing? Then general lethargy, not swimming around like her usual self, wedging herself between aquarium equipment and/or decor. Now she still seems lethargic, but I'm beginning to see little white spots on her tail, her barbs, and the back of her body.
I assume this is ich? But I really am new to all of this. I've read to naturally cure ich you should raise the temp in your aquarium to 80-85 degrees. Well I don't have a heater. So i have ordered a ich med that is supposed to be more gentle on loaches because of their lack of scales?
I do have pictures of her with these spots pretty clearly visible, but I don't know how to post them to this thread.
Just hoping someone can give me some specific advice. Please be kind. I may not be doing everything right, but I am taking a step in the right direction by asking. I want my loach to make it, I love her, she is a part of our family. I didn't ask for the whole aquarium set up, I became the fish keeper when my husband (with good intentions) came home from the local petsmart with a three gallon tank, a million pounds of gravel, 800 fake plants, a pirate boat, 2 gold fish, and a loach. I am trying to do this right, but there is an unbelievable amount of information and I am learning as I go.
2~What are your tank parameters: I am super new to this process. Here is my interpretation of the tests:
NITRITES: 0 ppm
NITRATES: closest to the 5.0 ppm, maybe less
AMMONIA: 0 ppm - .25 ppm
PH: not sure if I'm doing this one right. The kit comes with pH and high pH. When I test with the pH kit it shows at 7.6. Then I obtain a new sample of water and test with the high pH and the test looks to come out close to 7.8-8.0 (I would say closer to 7.8 by color)
TEMP: I don't have a thermometer (well I do, but it no longer works). I do not have a heater, and the temp in our house stays around 73• f
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
20 gallon regular (I am aware that this tank is too small for the fish and will be upgrading to a larger 40-50 gallon tank in the next couple of months) this tank has been set up for a little over 1.5 years
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
Whisper power filter 20, if i remember correct, it filters 20 gallons per hour. I also have an airstone attached to a whisper 40 air pump. Not sure if that is the info you need?
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
1 weather loach approx 4 inches long and one common pleco (new as of 1 month ago) approx 2 inches long
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
Today. I vacuum the gravel every time. I have been doing water changes every second or third day since she started showing signs of sickness of anywhere from 25% to 50%. I was doing water changes of about 50% every two weeks before she became sick.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
I have had this loach for about 2.5 years
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
New pleco fish about 3 weeks to 1 month ago
(I know these ones get big also, as I have learned. Me to the girl in the pet store "would a pleco be okay in my 20 gallon with a weather loach?" Girl at pet store "oh yeah, that would be fine"). So, yep, I know I need a larger tank. I know.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? A variety of freeze dried blood worms, Algea wafers, shrimp pellets.
