hillstream loaches are dying

[jake13]

hi everyone, I bought 6 Hillstream Loaches on Friday from a very reputable aquarium shop in my area. I drip acclimated them over a period of 2.5 hours and placed them into a 20G long for quarantine. in this tank there already are about 100 cherry shrimp. plants, algae, good substrate. PH is about 7.3 and temp is 72F. fully cycled 6 months ago. sat morning one is dead. fine, tends to happen. this morning (Sunday morning) another is dead with read areas on its belly, now I see another with red lesions so i feel its just a matter of time before i lose my third loach. What am i doing wrong? they all seem to be low energy and not interested in any food i provide such as flakes, algae wafers, frozen brine and blood worms. 

if it was a food issue, it wouldn't take a day or two to die, and i acclimated them really slowly. they survived fine in local water from the fish shop. is this common or am i missing something?

Edited September 26, 2021 by jake13

[Colu]

What are your water parameters and can you take picture of the sick fish

[jake13]

if anther dies ill post a pic, so far ive disposed of the dead fish

nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, all 0

phosphates are about 1

72F

7.2 pH 

 

 

 

[Colu]

There are two things that that it could is ammonia burn or hemorrhagic septicemia with the symptoms you describe

Edited September 26, 2021 by Colu

[jake13]

 

 

 

 

[Colu]

I would recommend treating with kanaplex and metroplex together in food  it's more than likely a bacterial infection with how quickly there are dieing the combined treatment will cover all bases @jake13

Edited September 26, 2021 by Colu

[HillstreamBoy]

i think maybe the temperature is a bit too high

[Odd Duck]

I would bump the water circulation and add more air if you can.  Hillstream loaches can do OK with normal circulation but will do better with more, so worth adding to the above recommendations.