CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

hey yall, ive just been to my friends (who was kind enough t take in my old community fish) to find my old prize fish dying on the tank floor.

hes a 4 - 5 inch long "zebra" loach. i not sure on the real name, hes just a normal botia in all other respects bar his cool colouring.

the tanks amonia levels are huge (im not sure what, but theres crap everywhere) he has around 8 catfish (including 2 huge plecos in a 30 inche tank, and by the looks of it has not fed the fish in a while.

there where corys with no tails, plecos with their sails shredded. it was trully sickening. (i can assure you i will be talking him into getting rid of his tanks)

i took pity on my old fish and brought him home to live out the rest of his days with the O, he "was fast and smart" enough to avoid the cichlid.

i have put him back and he appears fine, if a little (or a lot) starved,however he appears increddiblly dumb now (alsmost brain damaged). he swims mid water beging pecked at by the O, his mouth never closes and his gills pump frantically.

i imagine hes dying, however i would love to save this fish, i had him for around 3 years. any tips for helping recover a fish on deaths door?


thanks for any help you guys can give.
cheers yall

i cant really help you in respect of giving you an idea for saving your fish, but if i was you id give your friend a good punch, anyone that treats fish like that and does not keep up to maintenance and such should not have a right to keep these kinds of animals.

Totally disgusting!

I think that if you could isolate him for a while, ie a hospital tank ect, that would be a good start to rehabiltate him. I suspect he is very stressed, both by his past experence in the other tank, and his reentry into yours. I would use any tools avlable to help him recover from the stress, ie salt in the tank, stress coat, ect ect, and of course food. Might be a good idea to look and see if he is suffering from gil flukes, one reason he might be breathing heavy.
Best of luck.

update:

i was watching the loach last night, and he seems to be be slightly better, i fed the o some prawns last night for the 1st time (he doesnt like them) but i left them on the tank floor

this morning their all gone and the loach is displaying fear towards me and the O (as it should) and is hiding under the bogwood

the tank does seem cleaner, so i hope hes ben rooting around in the night.

one problem is that his mouth is constantly open, like its stuck, and i think thats whats caused it to starve in such a competative tank.

my friend had been feeding his fish algae waffers (more his mum then him, he works away) and they had accounted for the glow light tetras, corys and my baby. its a little dissapointing for me as im the one who started him on fish keeping.

i think ill talk him down from his current standing of 3 tanks to just one for his gold fish.

cheers for the ideas, and hopefully hes on the right road now.

hey i would hit ya mate lol
then move the loach in to a hospital tank look out for gil flukes they suck big time i have just reacently lost heeps for that cos i found it to late and then treeted 3 times and no sucess so look for early signs like puffing gills not closing maybe feed hi some cooked zukini too they love it same with most cat fish and african cichlids not sure bout americans thow but hope this helps

the loach is fine now, hes feeding agai and started to gain weight again. his breathing is normal again and hi behaviour is better. i sorted my mate out too, i helped clean his entire tank collection outand am currently rehoming his fish to better accomidations.

at the momnet he has to plecs together and tehy constantly fight.

cheers again