Chain Loaches

[wolfwolf]

I have 5 chain loaches left in my 29 gallon tank. I had 2 die within the past 7-10 days. The both got REALLY skinny and simply died. I am puzzled because no other fish seem to be affected and the loaches are dieing one at a time. I have 1 of the 5 left that is also starting to get skinny. It seems like they just decide not to eat. The skinny ones just peruse the fake plants and don't seemed to chase after any food that I put in for them.

I have tried a 5 day treatment with Maracyn I and Maracyn II. I also just tried a 4 week treatment with internal parasite medicated food. No affect.

I have tried cucumber, snails (from another tank), brine shrimp, 3 different sinking pellets, and three different types of fish flakes.

Other tank inhabitants: 7 cories, 10 harlequin rasboras, and 1 pearl danio.

Fake plants, large grain yellow "beach sand", a large piece of wood, and a small rock structure in the tank.

Am I missing something for these fish? They are really great fish to keep.

 

[mikev]

The most common reason is internal parasites. What type of medicated food was used? (most of them are ineffective).

If you have another death, a necropsy would give you some idea. Internal parasites usually are easy to find, even without a microscope.

Further, frozen bloodworms is generally the preferred loach treat, this gets their appetite up. Not enough to treat a real disease, of course, but good feed with correct treatment usually helps.

hth

 

[loachman]

I'll echo the previous thought. It sounds like internal parasites. Levamisole is supposed to be an excellent treatment option for them.

 

[Colin_T]

Make sure the water quality is good.
Offer the fish more variation in their diet, including prawn, fish, earthworms, white worms, frozen bloodworms, daphnia & brineshrimp.
Be careful when using medications with loaches because they are scaleless fish and often won't tolerate full strength treatments. Check the directions on the packaging and if it says to use at half strength for catfish & loaches (scaleless fishes) then do so.