Sick Khuli Loach?

Jun 2, 2007
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I've had my Khuli loach for over 2 1/2 years now. The little guy usually hangs out hiding in one of my plants - he spends 90% of his time there and has been in the same spot for years. He's be healthy and steadily growing over the years. I'm worried that as of this morning when I woke up he's been getting very sick now.

His body still looks great. Muscular and clean with no spots, abrasions or anything.

The problem is that he's left his hiding spot, is breathing very rapidly, rests lying on one side and does these circular swimming spasms.

I don't know what could be wrong with him. :(

In the tank I have about 1/2 dozen assorted plants. In it I have a half a dozen live assorted plants, 7 neon tetras, 3 flame tetras, a molly, two swords, two ADFs, a pleco, a chinese algea eater, the khuli loach, a gold dojo (weather) loach, 2 mystery snails and a little shrimp (I can't remember the type).

The most recent addition to the tank are the two snails which I got a little over a week ago. As of this morning I thought one was still alive, but the other might be dead. After I got them they walked around the tank for a couple of hours but then closed up and haven't come out since (though they've both poked out occasionally). I was told to let them be (since this isn't uncommon for these snails) but a day ago, one of them opened up a little bit and there is no resistance when I lightly tug on it's door. I asked my local fish store guy if this means he is dead and the guy told me to check if it smelled. It didn't. So I was told to keep an eye on it. As of this morning there was no change, but when I got home tonight, they were both definately dead. :(

All the other inhabitants are looking fine.

My ph and chemical levels are all fine and stable (with the exception of my nitrate levels which were a little higher than usual).

Since then I've done a 20% water change just to be on the safe side.

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong with my poor loach and what I can do to help?

I do my tests with the Mardel 5 in 1 test strips, so I can't give full details, but here is what I can answer as far as water quality:

The Nitrites are at 0
The Hardness is around 120
The Nitrates are about 40
The Alkalinity is somewhere between 120 - 180
and the ph is pretty close to 7.0

The temp fluctuates a little bit depending on the outside temp and season between mid 70s to low 80s. The last week or so its been between 78 and 81.

It is a 30 gallon tank and my last water change was just after I noticed this happening this morning - about 20%.

I haven't added anything to the tank in the way of additives or medication (except the water conditioner).

I generally feed my fish twice a week but I feed my frogs every other day and the fish get some of the leftovers. I feed them a variety of food, such as tetramin, Omega one, a HBH sinking pellet food (for cichlids which I was told was also good for frogs and other bottom feeders). HBH Frog bites and Wardley algea discs. The frogs get frozen brine shrimp.

I've also put in a green bean for the snails (I heard they like that) but it got gobbled up by the pleacos and algea eater (the snails never came out for it).

I've had the tank for over 10 years but restarted it about 3 years ago.

He's really not looking good right now and he is my favorite fish. I'm really worried that he might not make the night. (He's gotten alot worse since this morning when I first noticed the behavior)

As I said earlier, his body looks great... but his behavior is very disturbing.

Please help!