suzanneisalive

Shoot. I think you're right, I had a feeling it wasn't a parasite because I've had her so long & haven't introduced new fish but the people at the aquarium store who gave me advice seemed so sure-- I'll stop the prazipro and metroplex right now. We've been feeding them normal fish flakes and occasionally veggies and algae pellets. Since she's become sick I've read that the flakes might be to blame since they absorb water and then cause blockages. Is there a type of food that you'd recommend I switch to? I've read that soaking the fish flakes prior to feeding may also help. I have been feeding them very little since she got sick because I was worried it wasn't actually a parasite and read you should let them fast for a few days if it's a blockage-- I've only fed them cooked & peeled peas and a very small amount of fish flakes once every couple days, that pretty much only gets eaten by the other loaches & guorami since they are more mobile than the sick loach. So basically she has only eaten peas in the past 6 days. A couple questions/options I am considering for next steps: - Should I move her to an isolation tank and start treatment for bacterial infection of the swim bladder? Or is it too late for this to help? 😞 - Should I just stop the fish flakes, continue doing water changes to keep the water quality perfect and hope it resolves on its own? - Should I leave her in the tank she's in and treat that tank with bacterial infection meds? If so, how many 40% water changes do you think I should do before the prazipro/metroplex is completely out of the tank and won't react negatively with the bacterial infection meds? - If she doesn't get better, how long should I wait before it will be cruel to keep her alive/ or can she live with a good quality of life with some swim bladder issues? I don't want her to be suffering, but I also don't want to euthanize her if there's any chance she can get better or live a good life with some mobility issues. Ah! If you can post a link to the post in which he talked about this please do, or if you can ask him to send me a message or reply to this post that would be awesome. Thanks so much.

Oh and as for rapid breathing she has been breathing a little rapid, and is making really weird twitching motions with her head.

I don't remember the specific parameters but the pH was lower than it usually is, ammonia levels were slightly elevated along with nitrate and nitrite, but weren't so high that any other fish were showing any symptoms, I have had the loach for 3 years, (introduced a new plant somewhat recently before symptoms started but I did a hydrogen peroxide dip to try to avoid any parasites getting into the tank) I haven't noticed any white stringy poop or a sunken belly although she did look a little bit bloated up until the past couple of days. As for spitting out food-- loaches tend to spit out food (especially the peas I've been giving them) and then they eat it again so yes I have noticed that, but she is still eating.

Hi everyone, please give me any advice that you can!! I have a dojo loach in a community tank that has an illness and I am unsure if I am treating her properly based on her symptoms. Her initial symptoms were moving erratically around the tank, even jumping out once, and having buoyancy issues (laying upside down in tank, floating on the surface, swimming sideways). I explained her symptoms to some employees at a fish store and they said it seems like she might have a parasite - so they told me to dose the tank with metroplex and prazipro simultaneously, which I have been doing for about 6 days. I am concerned that it is maybe not a parasite however, and actually a bacterial infection/swim bladder issue, so I have also been feeding her skinned cooked peas as I read that it can help with swim bladder and constipation issues. Her symptoms have gotten somewhat (?) better in the past couple days, she is not longer stuck lying on her back, her bloating has gone down, and she lies on her stomach like normal or on her side, but she is still swimming sideways and seems to have little energy/interest in swimming around. Her appetite is still normal, and has stayed the same since she's gotten sick. I am wondering if I should continue with the parasite treatment, or try moving her to another one of my tanks and treating her for a bacterial infection. The tank she is in is a 45 gal community tank with 3 other dojo loaches and a big dwarf guorami. The water conditions are good, although they weren't so good when she initially got sick and I've worked hard to get it back on track, and the temp is appropriate for dojo loaches. All of the other fish are 100% healthy and have no symptoms. I am hoping to move them all to a larger tank eventually. Any suggestions are so, so appreciated. I didn't get much of a response on the last post I made but I really, really want to see her get better, and worry that I am pursuing the wrong treatment for her condition-- but at the same time I don't want to switch treatment plans if there is a chance it's working. I can post follow up information or pictures if needed.

Hi everyone! One of my dojo loaches named big mama has come down with an illness and I need help diagnosing it and figuring out a treatment plan. I have had a lot of trouble sorting through conflicting advice on other forums, so I'm hoping to get some clarity on here. She is a large loach, about 7-8 inches. The tank she is in is a 55 gallon breeder tank and it has 3 other smaller dojo loaches and a dwarf blue guorami. She has definitely outgrown the tank and I am trying my absolute best to get a larger tank, but it's been hard to find a 75-100 gal tank that is within my price range. The water parameters are: Nitrate: 25 ppm Nitrite: 0 ppm Buffer: low, 40 pH: between 6.4 and 6.8 My house does have pretty hard water Chlorine: 0 ppm (I'm doing another water change after I post this to get nitrate down again) I started to notice the illness when she started having these crazy bursts of energy about a week and a half ago in which she would shoot across the tank and splash in the water, and it escalated to her jumping out of the tank, which has never happened before in the 3 years that I've had her. After she jumped out of the tank I did some frequent water changes because the PH had gotten somewhat low and I assumed a decrease in the water quality had caused her behavior, and now the water chemistry is somewhat better but she is exhibiting new symptoms. She has been floating around the tank and generally acting like a depressed loach. When I got my first dojo loach, I didn't realize how social they were of creatures and it kept playing dead (floating listlessly), so I did a lot of research and got more dojo loaches to keep it company--after that the loaches rarely played dead. She is exhibiting this same behavior, so at first I wasn't sure if she was sick or if she was depressed/unhappy in her tank and needed more space. However, in the past couple days she has been also laying upside down or on her side in the tank which is very concerning to me and indicative of a serious illness. She has no visual indicators of illness on her body as far as I can tell, but she has absolutely no energy and has been laying in these strange positions. There was one day in which she was floating a ton and it appeared to be a swim bladder problem as she kept floating back to the surface and it seemed like she couldn't control it, but that was just for one day and now she's back to laying at the bottom of the tank on her side or upside down (pictured). I've been trying to do as much research as possible and I've read that loaches can have adverse reactions to certain bacterial remedies/treatments as well as not doing well with aquarium salt, so I haven't treated her with any medications yet because I don't want to make her condition worse. I did read that feeding loaches peas with the skin taken off can help with constipation and ease swim bladder disorders, so yesterday and today I fed all the loaches including her peas, and they all enjoyed them. This morning she was laying upright for a while so I thought maybe it helped, but alas she is back to laying upside down. I have also not fed any of the fish in the tank their usual food for the past two days since I don't want to make her constipation (if that's what's going on) any worse. One other thing that may be relevant to diagnosing her: around the same time she started exhibiting weird behavior I did introduce a new large plant to the tank, but I did a hydrogen peroxide solution dip to try to eliminate introducing any disease to the tank. It's possible the hydrogen peroxide dip didn't 100% work, but I thought I did it properly. My question is basically-- is this how a swim bladder infection usually presents in dojo loaches? Should I move her to an isolation tank and treat with a specific medicine? Or should I just continue with frequent water changes and feeding peas? The only isolation tank I have is only 20 gallons and I worry that tank will be too small for her/it will be stressful for her to be moved. Thank you so much in advance for any advice, I appreciate it so much! I really want to help her recover and see her doing well again.