Help! I'm an idiot and probably killed my loach

[Andywan]

I just introduced two clown loaches to my 60 gal. The tanks cycled pretty well. Ammonia is .25, nitrites 0, nitrates are holding steady at 20ppm. My waters a bit on the hard side at a pH of 8.0. The problem I'm having is my own fault. I was removing some decorations I had In the tank and these clowns decided to hide inside one..I didn't realize till to late. They were out of the water for 5-10min. I gently put them back into the tank. One floated to the bottom breathing heavily. The other swam around seemingly fine, though I know it's stressed..I added some stress coat hoping to help return their slime coat. And some melafix. One is still swimming around, the other is laying on its side breathing really heavy. Is there anything I can do to help it survive. Besides the obvious (not removing decorations with fish inside)..thanks for any help at all.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Do a 50% water change, gravel clean the substrate, clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks, and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels in the water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

You don't want to add Melafix or any other chemicals if you can help it. The more chemicals in the water, the less oxygen for the fish.

Then hope for the best.

 

[NickAu]

Hi

I just introduced two clown loaches to my 60 gal.

Hate to say it but a 60 g is too small for clown loaches and you need at least 6 of them.

 

[Andywan]

I did The water change gravel sweep, increase air on powerheads. And hoped for the best. To my utter amazement. The little fellas pulled through, only thing I'm worried about it some kind of bacterial infection now that they are out of the woods..its been 24 hrs. And they are all swimming around normally. Heavy breathing all night last night. And seemingly back to normal. I have 4 all about 1in. Ive been adding 2 every 2 weeks till I have 6 min, as I'm aware they like schooling in groups of 6 minimum. Also I have a 155 gal that I'll be upgrading to in a couple years as soon as I have the space to set it up. Until then I think they will do just fine in the established 60 not much else is in. Thanks for the advice regardless. I'm just relieved they both seem 100% better. What a strong little fish clowns are.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish has been severely stressed and damaged and will need time to heal. Keep the water clean and aeration up for at least 2 weeks so the fish can recover properly.

Monitor the fish for fungus or red sores patches (bacterial infections) and post a pic if anything appears.