Blue Botia Question: Have my fish been dyed?

[rhite]

I attached some pics because my question is have they been dyed? If they have I am going real PO'd. I don't want to support that in any way! I ask they guy at my LFS if they had and he said "no". When I got them home into my tank with better lighting their color looks very bright and I am not sure what their natural color blue is. This is my first pair of Botias and I really like them. They have a lot of personality.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Not dyed, they are pretty damn blue. Looks like it might have some internal parasites though, they should be nice and fat if healthy.

 

[rhite]

What should I do for them to make sure they don't have any parasites? Is there a medicine I can give them just as a precaution?

 

[Clift]

Not dyed, they are pretty damn blue. Looks like it might have some internal parasites though, they should be nice and fat if healthy.

I tend to agree, the telltale ridge of skinny disease is visible on their backs. Praziquantel is what you want to use to cure them of the parasite that causes the problem. Make sure that's the only thing in the medication as loaches are particularly sensitive to many medications.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Prazi or levamisole... You really want to feed it to them for the best results, it won't do much if you just dose the water column.

 

[rhite]

Thanks! I have a lot to learn. I appreciate the replies.

 

[rhite]

One more question. How do i feed it to them?

 

[Allan01230]

Not sure about the medication. I'am sure some one who has used this med will chime in. But I do know for sure that the blue is a natural color for this botia and that it is not dyed.

 

[aclockworkorange]

One more question. How do i feed it to them?

Soak teh food. Look up some instructions online. You want to dose the water column as well probably. Oh, and there has been some success here with treating internal parasites with food soaked in epsom salt dissolved in water. So, that would be worth a shot too, especially if you have some in the house already.

 

[B_IN_SD]

I have never seen 1 that blue but if it was dyed i would think that would have bled off to the tail also. give it a couple of months of good food and frequent water changes and see if the color changes. The place it came from could have given it some really good color enhancing food also either way you will know in a few months.