camtang Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 I got a group of 6 dwarf chain loaches over the weekend, and I suspect that one or possibly two have skinny. What is the medication that I should be looking for to treat it? Now that is it in a tank with other fish :facepalm: do I treat the tank to be safe or just the possibly two fish? I now regret very much not isolating the new fish before hand, lesson noted and hopfuly learnt from. Thanks all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Can you post a pic of them dude? The problem with them looking skinny is it can be any one of a few different diseases that take different drugs to cure. Loaches are also more susceptible to drugs than a lot of other fish so dosage is usually a bit less. Prazi is the most commonly used/available drug for worms and flukes and works great, this is what I would try first. Levamisole is also supposed to be great for a broad range of worms/bacterial diseases but I have heard a few bad things about using it with loaches. Metronidizole is the best drug for bacterial diseases but is really hard to get a hold of, vets won't usually write a prescription without seeing the infected fish first. I would personally be inclined to treat the whole tank as it doesn't take long for disease to spread from my understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 I tryed to get a pic, but it got it self into a corner where I can not get the camera to get to. Stupid fish. But I will keep trying anyway. I mite get hold of some prazi and give that a hoon first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 do a search on loach and me as author you will find the things I tried. If they look more like eels than swimming slugs then is probably same sort of skinny as mine and they end up dying. You might be able to perk them up for a few weeks with aviverm but I'm pretty sure it's terminal. Since I went down to 4 loaches I haven't had any go skinny so I suspect there is a social aspect to it, as in a group they don't get as much food overall and the weakest then gets terminal skinny disease. It never affected my other fish to my knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Sweeet thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusguru Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Is the loach eating at all? If they are eating try feeding them more often with a variety of good sinking tablet to fatten them up. I found that fish from the importer are normally very skinny probably due to lack of feeding. When I get fish in especially loaches I normally feed them heaps to fatten them up. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 I couldn't tell you if it is eating I am sorry. I put a bunch of food in morning and night and there is never left overs, but I am unsure if it is that loach or the other fish as it is a community tank. I went to the vet on my walk home tonight and asked for prazi, but they had never heard of it. Is it known as anything other than that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Proper name is praziquantel, vets usually sell it as a dog wormer called droncit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 I knew it was something not just Prazi, but couldn't remember. I saw a liquid bird wormer but did not recognise the product or the active ingredient Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 if you get bird wormer make sure it's aviverm not avitrol or avitrol plus - the others have different mixes of chemicals but Aviverm is just straight product. My skinny loaches would generally go after food and even touch it but not ingest it. When they got really tired and skinny then they would just mull around at the bottom doing not much at all till they died. At first I would catch them and give clove oil but then I started leaving them so they could die in peace in their home. If they are a new purchase you could see if the shop will take them back and get fatty ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Will note what aviverm to get. I got them privatly so I can't tank them back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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