Loach Trio In Hiding... Getting Worried!

[xautomaticflowersx]

Hi there,

First off could I get you to take a look at this message thread to get a picture of what's been going on (saves repeating myself!): http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=180351

My three little zebra loach haven't been out of hiding for days. I'm sure that two of them are behind/underneath a large piece of mopani wood. However, I noticed earlier today that one of them has migrated. I found him tucked underneath the filter on his back and he seems to be breathing quite rapidly. At first I thought that he may have just decided to take a kip there as I know loach are reknowned for 'playing dead'. But his breathing is rapid and I'm very worried about them all.
The medication I've used for tank is Myxazin, which has pictures of clown loach on the box and there is no mention of it being bad for them. I've not used any salt whatsoever as I know it's a no no. They were all fine until the second water change on Monday night. After that they went into hiding. As I explained in the other thread I accidentally under-dosed the water with dechlorinator, which may have damaged some of the bacterial colonies. It was only very slightly under-dosed and I put dechlorinator in the water the next morning. I doubt it will have gone back to being completely uncycled as the tank is pretty mature. I don't have any test kits because I'm in the middle of moving house and packed everything like that away somewhere in a random box! The tank is 30"x12"x18", I use a Fluval 4+ with spray bar and the tank is under stocked since none of the fish are fully grown. Could it literally just be the stress of having two water changes in the space of a week that has caused them to disappear? Because I hadn't done any changes for a while so it must've been a bit of a disturbance for them.
If anyone has any thoughts I'd be very grateful.

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

Can somebody please help me?

I sat there waiting for the tank lights to come on (as they are on a timer) and when the lights came on I saw all three of my zebras. They are at least all alive! However, they are very lethargic and not behaving at all like they used to. I can't see any obvious symptoms of disease, apart from the fact that they are slow and not zipping about like they normally do. Could it be the stress of the water changes, because I did remove a few overgrown plants at the same time... which will have reduced the amount of cover they have. Perhaps they feel too exposed? Or is it the medication?
They really don't look right at all. And tomorrow I fly out to Cyprus for a week (despite having a bad back... it's a good job my dad has an apartment out there because at least I won't be forced to *do* much).
I'm worried about leaving them and I even considered cancelling the whole holiday yesterday, because I really don't want to come back to a tank full of dead fish.

Please... can somebody respond to this? I've had 12 views and no responses

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

I'm going to get a new test kit today (I'm moving house and have packed my original one away somewhere and I don't know which box it's in). Maybe if I get some water stats it will help me (and anyone who cares to read this) get a better idea about what's going on in the tank.
I'm sorry about the multiple posts, but it's not like I'm spamming... I'm just keeping the message thread up to date.

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

I went and bought API's master test kit.
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = between 10 and 20ppm
pH = 7.6

So the water at the moment seems fine. The water was undoubtedly bad when the trouble began because one of my tiger barbs died from dropsy... but when the water was bad the loaches were fine! Now the water's good they all look sick and lethargic! I really don't know what to do!

I started treating the tank for the sick tiger barb with Myxazin. That wasn't working so I posted on here and somebody suggested that I try Interpet 9 and Flubenol 15. You've got to wait a minimum of 48hrs between switching from Myxazin to another medication. So I waited the 48hrs, performed a tiny 3gallon water change and started onto Interpet 9 with Pimafix and bought some Flubenol 15 online. The Flubenol 15 arrived today, but I'm worried that maybe all these meds are to blame. Could it be all the meds that are causing the loaches to stress themselves sick? Please can anybody give me an opinion?! I'm getting pretty desperate and I'm leaving tomorrow evening to fly out to Cyprus Saturday morning!

 

[The-Wolf]

Could it be all the meds that are causing the loaches to stress themselves sick?

it could well be adding all these meds.

personally I'd not add flubinol unless you are 100% sure you have a parasitic worm problem.
I'd also turn the heater down to 25 (if it is above that) as this will raise the disolved O2
content in the water.

I hope that things turn out for the good
try not to worry too much (easier said than done)
and please enjoy your holiday

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

Thanks so much for the reply.
One of the loaches is resting in the top of some hygrophila, on his side breathing rapidly. So I don't hold out much hope for him. But then miracles do happen I guess. I've increased aeration throughout this whole period with an airstone and the temps are always set at 25C.
I will cease medicating the tank now and I think that once I've moved house I'll set up a small hospital tank so that in future if ever something goes wrong I can medicate without harming the other fish in the tank. I'm pretty annoyed that none of the meds say anything about being harmful to loaches... I looked specifically for that kind of warning because sometimes products will be labelled as such.
Do you think that keeping up with Melafix and Pimafix would help or should I just leave well alone now?

 

[The-Wolf]

adding more melafix/pimafix would proberbly be a case of shutting the door after the horse has bolted.
I'd leave alone for now.
Again, try not to worry too much.

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

Unfortunately soon after I posted that last message the loach on the hygrophila died. I then looked under my piece of mopani wood and found the other two dead. They must have literally just died today because my water stats were still good. Just to make sure I put all three little zebra loaches in a clove oil and water solution because I'm paranoid about binning fish that are still alive. They didn't swim and their gills never moved, so they were obviously dead for sure.
So I had medicated the tank to help the barb, which died. And to top it all off I ended up killing all three of the zebra loach . I didn't realise that they were so sensitive to medication. I'm going to have a hospital tank set up in new house to make sure that I can isolate any fish with illness and to make sure this never happens again.
I'll leave the tank well alone now, because at least the four remaining barbs look OK. I won't get any more fish until after I've moved and settled into my new house. I'm going to move the filter media and plants in sealed bags and the wet substrate and mopani wood in a polystyrene box so that the tank won't have to cycle from scratch.
I guess at least now I can go away for the week with a little peace of mind because it's over now and so far as I can see the remaining barbs look like they'll be fine. They ate some pellets today and were posturing and chasing each other like they normally do (such bossy little fish).
Many thanks for the kind words. I've learned an awful lot, albeit the hard way.