sick pakistani loach

[millym]

hi
just got a couple of pakistani loaches 2 weeks ago as we lost the one we had(& i do mean lost!! - he disappeared over a month a go & no trace has ever been found & we did check under rocks etc). theyre very small & just noticed today one of them does not look good. hes lying on the bottom in a corner & his gills seem to be moving v fast, when he tries to swim up he doesn t seem to be able to get very far. help!
all our parameters are fine: water temp 76F. ph 8, nitrate 10-20, nitrite 0.2-2, ammonia 0.1. im going to do a small water change to get the ammonia hopefully to 0.
we dont want to lose this guy!
are they particularly sensitive to anything that we dont know about???
all our other fish are fine & the other loach looks quite happy pottering around.
any suggestions much appreciated if we do lose him (& i hope not) we dont want to replace him if our tank is not the best place for them to be, i hate seeing anything suffer. i know i should maybe help him out(euthanase) but dont want to write him off straight away & i dont know if i could do it.( my husband who usually does the deed if necessary doesnt come home for a good few hours yet)

 

[Alien Anna]

hi
just got a couple of pakistani loaches 2 weeks ago as we lost the one we had(& i do mean lost!! - he disappeared over a month a go & no trace has ever been found & we did check under rocks etc). theyre very small & just noticed today one of them does not look good. hes lying on the bottom in a corner & his gills seem to be moving v fast, when he tries to swim up he doesn t seem to be able to get very far. help!
all our parameters are fine: water temp 76F. ph 8, nitrate 10-20, nitrite 0.2-2, ammonia 0.1. im going to do a small water change to get the ammonia hopefully to 0.
we dont want to lose this guy!
are they particularly sensitive to anything that we dont know about???

Loaches are incredibly sensitive to nitrite and ammonia, so levels of 0.2-2 and 0.1 are about as far from "fine" as you can get. I wish I could give you some hope but as your tank is not cycled, I don't really give this little guy much of a chance.

The only thing you can really do is to find a cycled tank to hold him in until his own is ready.

In the meantime, please read my article (follow the link in my sig) which will hopefully explain why your fish is in trouble and why any ammonia or nitrite in your tank is a big problem - particularly with bottom-dwelling fish.

 

[millym]

thanks anna
my other half just came home & we've realised i read the nitrite test wrong its actually 0. oops im not usually completely stupid. have done a partial water change & ammonia is now down to 0 as well. loach still looks ill, am keeping an eye on him to make sure the others dont start to pick on him. we thought we had cycled our tank - we only had plants in it for a few weeks & then started off with only a couple of danios, checked levels frequently & slowly slowly added more fish.
your post on cycling is v good & helpful.
were going to try to get a hospital tank up & running as well.

 

[millym]

poor loach died
other loach looking good - fingers crossed.