Pakistani Loach In Trouble

[ClaireN]

Hope somebody can help, or has an idea of what is happening.

My boyfriend has a Pakistani Loach in his 216L tank, it used to be the life and soul of the party swimming around and being very nosy, chasing some of the other fish, but recently he has not been himself, hiding a lot with the Plec not swimming much, and he seemed to have developed what can only be described as a pot belly.

Yesterday though I noticed that he is having trouble swimming, he seems to sink like a stone, and is now lying on the plec as he cant hide in the crevices by himself as he falls off, this morning it was even worse, he was sitting on the bottom of the tank having trouble to stay up right, sort of rolling from one side to the other, he eventually managed to drag himself up to his little hidey hole with the Plec.

What do you think is wrong? Is there anything we can do to help him?

(i first posted this topic in Cyprinids, Characins and Atherinids this morning but didn't get any replys, and he was still not looking good when i went home at lunch so thought i would post it here, hope thats ok)

 

[SkiFletch]

sounds like a case of swim bladder or constipation. if he's still eating you can try shelled peas and a prayer. if not, you might have to try the cod liver oil trick. do a forum search for swimbladder for better ideas since I've never dealt with it first hand

 

[red-devil0602]

if it is constipation read up on epsom salt bath. Could it be dropsy?

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like a swim bladder problem have you try shelled peas and daphnia on him, once it has progressed though there is no cure, sorry.