HELP my loach PLEASE!!!

[Pugwinkle]

I turned on my light to my tank this morning to find my little 1 - 1.5 inch clown loach attached to the intake tube of my AC300

I got him off the intake tube and he fell to the bottom of the tank. I thought he was dead. I cupped him out of the tank and saw that he was still breathing. I don't have a hospital tank set up so I took some of the water from the tank he was in and put it in my 2 gallon hex tank and put a heater in the tank along with my poor little loach.

The poor thing is curved badly and he cannot swim at this time. He is on the bottom of the tank but he does appear to continue to try to swim however so far he has been unable to do so. At one point he was upright but it didn't last long and for the most part he lays on his side and trys to move his fins to swim. I just went over to his little tank and talked to him and it's weird cuz he seemed to hear my voice and he tried desperately to swim. He was upright for about 30 seconds.

I just don't know what to do for the poor thing. Should I be putting him out of his misery or do you think there is hope for him??

If you feel I need to euthanize him, please let me know how I can do this humanely. I do not have any clove oil here.

 

[Menagerie]

It's hard to treat when you don't know what's wrong. My 3 small clown loaches all died within a month of each other. I would find them in the morning None of my other fish showed signs of illness.
Watch how your little one is doing over the day. IME, once they go upside down, their is little hope, but I usually wait to see (we just lost a fish this weekend, I didn't have the heart to put it down and I was hoping it would pull through ). If you decide to put it down, the method I use is to put the fish in some water and place it in the freezer. From what I know as a biologist and reading this board, that is a humane way.

 

[hisc1ay]

Laying on his side doesn't mean he's in trouble. I freaked out when I saw mine keep laying down, but I found out from folks on here that it's normal. Not that he's not in trouble, but I'm saying don't just base it on the fact that he's laying down. Upside-down may be a different story...

I hope he can get back to normal soon. Good luck. Give him a little time to recover, but watch him.

-j

 

[Menagerie]

Being attached to the filter intake is a big sign of trouble IME.
Pugwinkle, how is the loach doing?

 

[Pugwinkle]

Being attached to the filter intake is a big sign of trouble IME.
Pugwinkle, how is the loach doing?

Hi Menagerie, thanks for asking. My little guy passed away this afternoon.

 

[hisc1ay]

doh.

-j

 

[Menagerie]

I'm so sorry. I was pulling for you, especially after we lost our fish.