Loach will not eat!!!

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Tien6079
 
Posts: 99
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 6:59 am

Loach will not eat!!!

by Tien6079

I have a Striata Botia Loach that refuses to eat. I kept him in my 120 gallon tank and he did great. I have moved him since and he has been in my 55 gallon for nearly 3 months. A few weeks ago I saw him and thought he looked really thin. Sure enough he was losing weight. This morning I woke up and he was in that free floating in space mode where he would occasionally lean to the side like he was dying. I put him in a little breeding container within the tank to isolate him. He is so thin that you can see the outline of his bones on his skin. I have put multiple kinds of food in front of him (food that he used to eat) and he wont touch it. All of my tank levels are great. I have no nitrate, nitrite, or ph problems. Any ideas? I don't think he will last much longer.


Tmercier834747
 
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:33 pm

by Tmercier834747

I'm not sure how susceptible loaches are to internal parasites, but that may be a possibility...My dwarf puffer had one and that was the first I knew of them. Eventually it led to his death indirectly even though he was still consuming food to a degree. He was so weak when I upgraded my filter he got stuck to the intake for several hours (has a sponge pre-filter now :(..) anyway..

You could try lacing his favorite food with garlic extract. I couldn't find the stuff when my puffer was suffering so I never got to test the theory myself. Many aquarists notice increased appetite and in cases of IP sometimes the parasite is eliminated. Though there's a lot of debate on the theory, I'd give it a try.


Tien6079
 
Posts: 99
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 6:59 am

by Tien6079

Thank you. I will probably buy some garlick today as I need it to entice my Saltwater lion to eat frozen food. I thought it could be a parasite similar to worms or something, but people and animals with worms still eat. It is really weird that he is igonring all the foods he used to eat.


Tmercier834747
 
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:33 pm

by Tmercier834747

Well parasites aren't out to kill their hosts, that would be counter-productive for them. But the longevity of almost anything is probably slightly effected by something thats not really supposed to be there. Puffers are known to become very rounded after eating a good amount of food (and they sure will for their size), and gradually returning to their slightly more slender shape over the course of a few days.

In his last few months he would eat about half his normal ration, trying to consume more than he could stomach it seemed as he'd spit the rest back out, get slightly rounded over and the next morning would be bone skinny.

Its possible your loach is just stressed from the move. Going that long without food is a very unhealthy form of stress though. If you were to keep him with 5 others of his own kind that would probably reduce his stress by a ton. They are a shoaling species like many loaches.


tomargir
 
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:18 pm

by tomargir

There are many many reasons why fish go on hunger strikes. They range from environmental conditions to internal parasites.
I would recommend that you observe all the symptoms (if there are more), make a list of the changes made since the initiation of the strike, make a list of the water parameters (temperature plays a very important role) and consult an expert (wetwebmedia.com).
Vitamin supplementation can prove beneficial in some cases. My firemouths used to get on short hunger strikes in the beginning of every summer as the temperatures went up. However floating and laying on the side can indicate more severe causes.

Loach will not eat!!!

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