New loaches

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RobE

RobE

Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 17, 2008
440
0
46
Seminole, FL
Hello everyone i am new to loaches so i had a few questions. I was at my lfs the other day and they had some loaches i had never seen before. I really liked how they looked and came home and did some research. So I went back and found that some of the loaches in the tank had ick. I made a deal with the guy and came home with 3 of these guys. The other 2 are hiding in there tube.
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I put them in a 10gal qt tank. I want to go ahead and treat them for ick the temp is 86 and added salt at 2tbl per 5 gal(dissolved first). Is this ok, i would prefer not to use meds if possible? The first question that i have is i read on one of the post that the kubotai are succeptable to internal parasites. I was wondering how to tell if they have them and how to treat? Second since i am new to loaches what are the best foods to feed them is there anything species specific i should know about them to keep them healty? Thanks in advance.
 
Ive had better luck by raising the temperature than using meds; however, it usually gets worse before it gets better.
 
For internal parasites, the fish should be noticeably thinner if you can see their bones easily. By the time the skull becomes more pronounced, it is usually too late although I have one tiger loach here that went to that stage and was able to survive when I fed it with plenty of bloodworms. A few others failed to survive however so the chances of survival depends how you can rectify it. Treat ich first and concentrate on giving the loaches plenty of foods especially bloodworms, mosquito larva and chopped earthworms. Add garlic on the foods to entice them to eat.
 
First off thanks for the responces. I dont think they have internal parasites i just wanted to know how to recognise it. I woke up this morning and went to check on them and one of them dissapeared.:( I have no idea where he went, These guys must be good escape artist there wasnt much room for him to get out. So i was wondering should i go pick up another one to have them in a group of 3 again? Another thing i was wondering would yoyo loaches go well with these guys? They look interesting and there size and requirements look similar. Thanks.
 
RobE;2956834; said:
First off thanks for the responces. I dont think they have internal parasites i just wanted to know how to recognise it. I woke up this morning and went to check on them and one of them dissapeared.:( I have no idea where he went, These guys must be good escape artist there wasnt much room for him to get out. So i was wondering should i go pick up another one to have them in a group of 3 again? Another thing i was wondering would yoyo loaches go well with these guys? They look interesting and there size and requirements look similar. Thanks.
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Well, usually with fish that have internal parasites, they move listlessly and refuse to eat, to the point they don't move in one place to another, just sitting there all day. Yoyos will work fine. They're one of the hardiest loaches and are not vulnerable to ich.
 
Well i picked up another kubotai today putting back up to three. I hope i have made my tank loach proof this time.:nilly: I was wondering how long i need to do the salt and temp to get rid of the ick? I dont want to keep the temp up that high for any longer than i have to. thanks
 
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