Botia Kubotai

[CKutz]

Hi,

I've just set up my tank and it is cycling now, ammonia doesn't typically go over 1 ppm, but there was a minor ick out break which i'm still treating the gourami for, the loaches haven't shown signs of it for quite a few days. I think the loaches are losing it though because of the poor water quality, salt, and meds. for a several days after they got accustomed to the tank they've been behaving perfectly fine, and have been great to watch. for some reason though yesterday they rarely went looking for food at all, they hid in the one corner and just laid there. the smaller of the two was like..rocking on to it's side and back up and both of their colors were very faded. I decided to do a 50% water change. I did this but their behavior didn't change at all...later on that night they were ghastly white but swimming up and down the corner a little bit. i tried to get the smaller one out and into my 5 gal tank which i just set up, but i couldn't catch him.

Today i got back from class and the smaller one was laying on his side, the bigger, more outgoing one was swimming around a bit, and had its color back..So i decided enough of this, i'm getting that fish out one way or another. I "redecorated" the tank trying to get them out but I got him. I put them in the 5 gal tank. That tank is going to be still cycling also, but at least it doesn't have the ick meds and salt that the other tank had..i know it's too small but the gourami's ick is clearing up I think i should be able to put them back in in several days.

In the 5 gal tank they have been swimming a little and they have their color back. but do you think they'll make it?
See I really want these fish...I made an impulsive and stupid decison to get them right away, but my lfs doesn't always have them in. I have till tomorrow to take them back. but i really d on't want to, I love their personalities and I love having them...they've been handling the cycling junk up until yesterday. But also I don't want them to just die in a few days or something and then i've killed two fish, and lost $20.

Think they'll make it? or should i take them back? (also if i take them back i don't know what the lfs will do with them...i know they just exchange dead fish, but i don't know about ones that are still alive)

 

[loachman]

If you're fighting ich, don't take them back. That'll only spread the disease more. Taking diseased fish (or fish with a high probability of being diseased) back is NOT the thing to do.

1ppm ammonia is toxic to fish. That with salty water will definitely put a hurting on the fish.

I would not remove them from ich treatment though. Loaches are pretty susceptible to ich. Due to the lifecycle of ich, it can appear that the fish are free of it and then it'll pop up again in a couple days. (The ich parasite has 3 phases in it's lifecycle. In the most simple terms: The "first" stage it'll reproduce in the substrate, then break out and become free swimming which is the only time the meds work, then it'll attach to a fish and burrow in, and repeat.) It is really a tough parasite to get rid of.

You just need to keep up with water changes to keep the ammonia level much lower. With the added stress of disease, I would shoot for under 0.25 ppm. I would also increase the oxygen content as much as possible, as ammonia damages gills and the higher temperatures used for ich treatment reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen. You can add an airstone, or make the filter return churn the surface of the water. For HOB filters, you usually lower the water level some. For canister filters, point the return at the surface or lower the water level a bit.

 

[Lestat999]

1st lesson is, never put loach in a tank that isn't fully cycled already they are far too sensitive to poor water conditions. You need to stop using salt as this will be messing with the TDS levels. Carry out smaller and more frequent water changes to lower the salt content and to also get the ammonia to (at the most) 0.25, when doing large water changes the big swing in water conditions can cause osmotic shock/more stress. Keep up the Ich treatment (at 50% recommended dosage due to the loach's sensitivity to it) until you have seen no signs of it (no spots) for at least 2 weeks.
Don't get too freaked out by the lazing about on their side this is quite normal, but keep an eye on them when they're swimming around they should always be upright.

Please let us know how you get on?