I've got three young 2" CLs in my planted tank, which has had some issues lately, so I'm really on edge about anything that goes on in the tank.
For the past few days I've been seeing them laying on their sides in the tank foreground next to the driftwood, even bent a bit, looking completely dead. One is doing this right now as I type. All three are lined up in front and the guy in front will deliberately lean over and look dead. After a minute or so he'll back up a bit and straighten out. If I go over to the tank they'll all swim away.
Two weeks ago a new fish brought ich into the tank and the loaches, as is common, were the first to show it. I treated with heat and salt and only lost two fish, all three loaches were fine. I think during this heat treatment the water parameters suffered so I ended up with two odessa barbs getting bloat (one is still alive in a QT). The other day I started gradually lowering the heat and salt content, because I'm confident that the ich is gone.
But I'm still paranoid because this tank has had issues. And right now two of the loaches are doing this - looking completely dead on purpose. If a fish comes swimming by, they perk up though.
Are they just playing around? Is this part of a snail hunting ritual? They look perfectly normal as far as I can tell, they eat happily, and they play everywhere in the tank. I've never seen this behavior before, and with all the issues that this tank has had it wouldn't surprise me if there was another problem... I just really hope there isn't though.
I took some pictures. They knew I was watching them so the only one with a "dead" one is the last one, which is from really far away. But the other two how they look to be in good health otherwise, anyway. (Please ignore the terrible condition of the plants. I don't have CO2 yet, and the heat completely killed off the java ferns. Just haven't cleaned it all out yet.)
Has anyone ever seen this with their loaches? Is it a symptom of something dangerous?
For the past few days I've been seeing them laying on their sides in the tank foreground next to the driftwood, even bent a bit, looking completely dead. One is doing this right now as I type. All three are lined up in front and the guy in front will deliberately lean over and look dead. After a minute or so he'll back up a bit and straighten out. If I go over to the tank they'll all swim away.
Two weeks ago a new fish brought ich into the tank and the loaches, as is common, were the first to show it. I treated with heat and salt and only lost two fish, all three loaches were fine. I think during this heat treatment the water parameters suffered so I ended up with two odessa barbs getting bloat (one is still alive in a QT). The other day I started gradually lowering the heat and salt content, because I'm confident that the ich is gone.
But I'm still paranoid because this tank has had issues. And right now two of the loaches are doing this - looking completely dead on purpose. If a fish comes swimming by, they perk up though.
Are they just playing around? Is this part of a snail hunting ritual? They look perfectly normal as far as I can tell, they eat happily, and they play everywhere in the tank. I've never seen this behavior before, and with all the issues that this tank has had it wouldn't surprise me if there was another problem... I just really hope there isn't though.
I took some pictures. They knew I was watching them so the only one with a "dead" one is the last one, which is from really far away. But the other two how they look to be in good health otherwise, anyway. (Please ignore the terrible condition of the plants. I don't have CO2 yet, and the heat completely killed off the java ferns. Just haven't cleaned it all out yet.)
Has anyone ever seen this with their loaches? Is it a symptom of something dangerous?
