injured or sick Kuhli loach

[KittenFishMom]

I saw this kuhli loach not taking cover today. He was just laying on the bottom, looking pale. but the loaches I bought were not all dark. The loach has a white area under the back end edge of it's back fin.  It also has a pale area on it's back maybe a half inch in front of the back fin that is about a half inch long and covers both sides of his back. When the guppies swim by, they peck at the white spot as if it were food. The loach will take off at being pecked and swim up the side of the glass, getting his head as far out of the water as he can.  He has also done this several time in the isolation contain where he is alone, except for a IAL that has been in the tank 2 days and is very soft. sometimes he is under the leaf, other times he is on top.  The other 2 kuhli loach and all the guppies in the tank are behaving normally.

I am not sure if isolating the loach would really stress him. I don't know if he is injured or has an infection that could be contagious. There have been no problem with the water in that tank in over a week. I am checking all my tanks at least twice a day as I am starting to transition them to well water.  That tanks is stocked mostly smallish female guppies has not been over crowded since the batch of females went to the LFS.  

Please Let me know what you think is wrong and how best to treat the loach and / or the tank.

water parms

Nitrate 20 ppm

Nitrite 0 ppm

GH way above scale of 300ppm

Buffere KH 40 ppm

pH 6.6

no chlorine

temp 81 f

 

You can see the spot best in this photo

This one shows the spot and the pale area

Here are other shots from different angles. These guys t not like to hold still at all

[Colu]

 does it have a fuzzy appearance or any reddening it's difficult to tell off your pictures 

[KittenFishMom]

@Colu It is very hard to tell on the fish in person. The fish is about 1/8 wide. I was looking with a magnifying glass, a few minutes ago, but was not sure what to look for. I'll go look for redness and or fuzziness. I'm also going to see if it will be tempted by frozen blood worms. back in a few minutes.

[KittenFishMom]

@Colu my husband says the spot under the fin is fuzzy. It might be from the guppies pecking at it, or might be why they were pecking. I can't find anything on any other fish in that tank. I put new warm water from the tank into his container. He is not interested in the blood worms I thawed in my finger tips. He looks very tired. I have the container on my leg to keep it  warm.

[KittenFishMom]

@colu I just found a home for the last of my female guppies. That is the tank he came from. I'm worried if I put him in the tank, they will keep pecking him and they will get sick. After I said he looked tired, he dashed around the container, trying to get out. He is resting under the IAL now.

@Colu I don't see any redness anywhere on him. The pale patch might be part of his markings.

[Colu]

If it has a  fuzzy appearance it could be a fungal infection what i would do if your have it is do a course of jungle fungus clear fizz tab's containing nitrofurazone and monitor him closely over the next couple of days @KittenFishMom

[KittenFishMom]

@ColuShould I dose him with his tank mates, or set up a different 10 gallon tank just for him?

[Colu]

On 11/2/2022 at 2:16 AM, KittenFishMom said:

@ColuShould I dose him with his tank mates, or set up a different 10 gallon tank just for him?

If you have a quarantine tank I would treat him separately