Can’t keep Kuhlis alive :(
I really need some help. Apologizes in advance for the length of this post but I’d really appreciate anybody’s input. I have gotten two batches of Kuhli loaches now and almost all of them have died and I really don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I would like to be able to keep a healthy group of them so my few survivors can be in a comfortable numbered group but I cannot seem to get it right. I feel so guilty about their deaths.
Several months ago I was setting up my first aquarium, it’s a planted 75 gallon. I cycled it with just my plants, snails, and cherry shrimp until my parameters were good and then I got my first group of fish and introduced them. I brought home six kuhli loaches, three banded three chocolate. After two days one of the banded Kuhlis died. I went to the fish store in a panic and they said it was likely just one sick fish and not to worry. After a week passed, one chocolate and one banded were also found dead. I went back to the fish store and they said maybe my tank wasn’t cycled enough even tho I had good parameters, and said to wait to get any more fish but there wasn’t much else I could do. I hadn’t really seen any of my Kuhlis out much since getting them bc I have lots of places for them to hide, so I was afraid after I didn’t seem any more for two weeks that they had all died. Surprisingly after a while I noticed my two chocolate Kuhlis come out and then after nearly a month of assuming it was dead, my lone surviving banded kuhli showed its face too.
It’s been a few months since all this and I’ve gotten a few more fish that have all done well and now even have a proper quarantine tank set up for new fish. I decided to try again with Kuhlis and brought home a group of 13 banded Kuhlis and also the six more panda corydoras that I had ordered. I placed all new fish in my 10 g quarantine with the sponge filter I had had running in my main tank so it was already cycled.
I followed the advice of a video by aquarium co-op and used a single dose of ich x, Maracyn, and paracleanse with plans to let that sit for seven days, and then only lightly feed them on the third day, and then after day seven do a water change. I’ve tested my water parameters several times and they’re all fine.
Morning after buying them I found one kuhli dead. That night I found another. Today is two days after and nine of them are dead with the other ones all looking very very bad too. All my corydoras look fantastic. My lfs suggested the meds may have killed them bc Kuhlis don’t have scales and are more sensitive so they typically only do half doses for them of any meds. I did a 50% water change in hopes of saving any of the remaining ones but I’m not hopeful.
Is this just a case of bad luck, two careless mistakes, or could I be missing something else? Literally any advice appreciated. I want to eventually try again so my remaining Kuhlis aren’t lonely but I want to make sure I don’t mess it up again and accidentally kill more fish :(((
Water parameters for both tanks ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate <10, temp 77°
