Kuhli Loach Dying. Help

My beloved kuhli loaches are dying. After cycling my new tank for two weeks, I introduced 6 of these lively fellows. They were fine for the first week, even though I did not see them much, and then they started turning up dead, floating in the tank. At this moment there is only one survivor. All the other fish are doing fine. Can anyone explain what the problem might be? I have read several other articles on the net, and they all seem to have a different opinion about how difficult it is to successfully keep these interesting loaches.

 

I share your pain... I started out with 4.
Over the course of the next 3 weeks after purchase one went missing (Probably eaten) and two turned up dead. I still have 1 that is 100%, I've had him for about 4 months now.

Not sure why they died, but i did have quite a few bad quality fish that died a little while afterwards as well. It could be that the fish introduced a disease of some kind. As far as i know, loaches don't have scales for protection

 

What substrate do you have in your tank?

 

There are two common reasons why your Kuhli Loach have died.

Either the substrate in your tank is rough gravel, which is not suitable for Kuhli Loach; in this case get fine silica sand

Or

You have aggressive tank mates for the loaches which nip on them.

Ofcourse, this on condition that your water parameters have been taken care of.

 

1) All kuhlis need well-established aquaria and should not be considered for newly set up
tanks.
2) Bacterial infections can be problematic for keepers of such species.
3) They could be stressed out by the tank's activity.
4) Help to provide some place for them to hide, plants, rocks, wood, fine soft sandy bottom
substrate since they like to burrow. etc it makes them feel secure.
5) Put them in quarantine before you put them into the main tank.
6) Check your water parameters
7) Temperature 24-30°C / 73-86°F;
pH range: 5.5 – 7,5 (may differ in certain articles)
8) Do weekly 15% /20% water changes to keep the water clean. Loaches are more
susceptible to water toxins and disease due to the fact that they are scaleless bottom
dwelling fish.

 

I assume it had to be stress, or an infection. Water quality is within the parameters. No aggressive fish in the tank. Only other problem might be that I have gravel as a substrate, but I doubt it, as there are plenty of places for them to hide. By the way, at a LPS yesterday, I saw loads of dead kuhli loaches in their tank. Well just not the dead loaches, many of the tanks had dead fish in them that were not being removed. Surely these guys know that people won’t buy fish out of a tank that has a whole bunch of dead ones lying on the bottom.

 

Seems like an infection that it caught from the petstore

 

I'll go with Asgar there

My advice, change your lfs.
Personally, I hate to see dead fish in the lfs, shows poor management, and I know it is occasionally unavoidable (before the sponsors eat me alive) but keep a watch on your tanks, and quarantine if necessary.

 

Hey Jag - agree with you wholeheartedly - "even as a sponsor" A dead fish takes seconds to remove, there is no excuse for seeing dead fish. The only excuse is poor management.

 

personally i wont buy from a lfs if i see dead fish in more than one tank. it makes me as a buyer apprehensive. just my 2cents worth

 

okay this is what I saw and heard at a huge importer!
in their khuli loach tanks their where a lot of dead fish and all the loaches where being medicated , im talking 100 plus fish of around 15 where dead and being removed each day and most where sick.the problemI was told is that most of the khuli loaches are wild caught and transporting combined with them being scaleless means they are highly prone to bacteria and fungi infections
the gravel is a big problem . they need to dig even if there is hiding places, the gravel harms their heads and mouths when they attempt to dig leading to infections.
lastly how long where these fish at the pet store? its your duty to know . remember the fish come from a wharehouse then travel to the pet shop that's a change in water conditions, then you buy them soon from the shop and place them in new conditions again, get my drift?
not good for their stress levels . more stressed the fish is the more prone they are to illness .

they are not hard to keep just addapt your tank and knowledge to their needs, they are not to good at adapting to your tank. in the context that they have specific needs

cheers

 

Hi Kuhli Loach, I share in your grief as these are some of my favourites. They are extremely sensitive fish, due to no scales, and should be correctly quarenteened by the importers and also shop keepers.
They want fine sand and not gravel.
What do you mean by cycling your tank for two weeks? Have you just started up the tank? As stated, a khuli loach should only be sold to a well esteblished tank. The cycling of a new tanl will almost certainly end in disaster for these fish. Something I try and do in my shop is educate my customers as to the fish they are buying.
Not always that simple to keep your tanks free of dead fish. If I experience a tank with 5 or so deaths it is immediately quarenteened and treated. Fish will then only be sold from this tank once I am happy with what I see.
Trying my best to supply my customers with top quality/condition fish.