Kulhi loach white spots along sides and back

[partick]

Hi there, I have a Kulhi loach I'm worried about at the moment, it has some white spots along it's back and sides and is the only loach in our tank that has this. We're new to aquarium keeping and I'm wanting to know what we can do to help our little loach here! I've attached some images that Ive gotten of it today. Is this ich? Or is this damage to the skin of the loach from the gravel we have in the tank?

What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).

One Kulhi loach has white spots over it's sides, not really just tiny dots but larger white areas, I'll attach some pics of it that I got today... We are planning to remove most of the gravel and replace it with sand for them to dig in and to not damage their skin some time this week, but is this damage already? Or is this an illness?

What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.

0 ammonia, 0.5 nitrites, 5.0 nitrates, 24 c, 7.2 pH

How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?

36L tank than has been set up just over a month now, still going through a cycle and testing parameters daily.

What type of filtration are you using?

Using an internal filter with sponges and bio media, not quite sure the gph.

How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?

Four Kulhi Loaches, two honey gouramis and three guppy's (two adults, one juvenile, half an inch)

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?

Changed water yesterday and two days ago. We're still going through a fish-in cycle and have no ammonia but some levels of nitrites that we're doing partial water changes for, usually about 25% at a time. We have some mess in the gravel between the plants that we haven't vacuumed up, and they like to hang around in the dense plants if that is related to this!

How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?

Had them for two weeks now, we just sat them in the water in their bag for half an hour then placed them in.

Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?

Some river stones from a local fish store stacked to make small caves for the loaches. We have added two honey gouramis and the adult female guppy just four days ago now.

What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

Mainly JBL Novotabs broken in to small portions every other day and small amounts of fish flakes that have fallen to the bottom from the other fish

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

The fish is really skinny and covered in excess mucous. It is stressed out and probably has an underlying health issue (possibly intestinal worms).

You could try deworming the fish, (see directions below). You should also add frozen and possibly live foods to their diet. Frozen brineshrimp and bloodworm are useful, as is raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp. If you have live shrimp in the tank, then use cooked prawn for food so you don't introduce a disease that can kill the shrimp.

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TREATING INTESTINAL WORMS IN FISH
Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well but losing weight, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And use Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

In the UK look for:
eSHa gdex contains praziquantel that treats tapeworm and gill flukes.
eSHa-ndx contains levamisole and treats thread/ round worms.
NT Labs Anti-fluke and Wormer contains flubendazole.
Kusuri wormer plus (contains flubendazole) - sold mainly for discus, comes as a powder which is quite hard to dose in smaller tanks
Sera nematol (contains emamectin)

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.