Blue Loach Dissapeared?

[Peter323]

Hi there, two days ago I bought two blue loaches and a red tail shark. The loaches (after a bit of sniffing around) made for the temple ornament and holed up in there rarely coming out. Today after doing a water change, I took out the ornament and only one of the loaches appeared with the other one having completely dissapeared! No remains whatsoever.
Would I be right in thinking the other loach has eaten him?!
The other fish in the tank are three red wagtails and three tigerbarbs.

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, the other fish will probably have eaten him, after he'd died.

How long has your tank been set up and how big is it? Is your tank cycled? Have you tested the water at all?

Sorry for all the questions; and sorry it's taken so long for someone to reply to you; your post got 'missed' somehow!

 

[ColR1948]

Not well up on them but I read some Loaches are escape artist and have been found behind the tank., worth a check.

 

[Peter323]

Not well up on them but I read some Loaches are escape artist and have been found behind the tank., worth a check.

Well it certainly was worth a check

He was under the cabinet holding the fish tank. Poor fella. Can't believe I wasn't aware he'd jumped out.

Thanks for the heads up on this as it never would of crossed my mind.

 

[ColR1948]

Wow! Is he still alive, I hope so.

I lost one once and was told to look around as they jump out, it turned out he was hiding in the tank but I always remembered that.

 

[Peter323]

No, unfortunately he was long gone. Must of been there for 4-5 days.

Going to try and get the other loach a new buddy over the weekend, i'll have to ask for one that hasn't been on the gummi berry juice!

I've only had my tank for 8 weeks so i'm still wet behind the ears, but this lesson has well and truly been learned.

Thanks again for the help

 

[ColR1948]

Just thinking have you got a hood for the tank, if so I also bought a piece of that plastic see through cover, I think it acts a splash guard, I fastened that under my hoods as well, it stops a bit of water getting to your lights but may also help stop the fish jumping.

 

[bmonki]

a makeshift lid will help

 

[Peter323]

Sorry should have made it clearer, but my tank has a lid so the loach must of jumped when I was doing a water change.

Had another fatality yesterday

Came home to find the carcass of one of my platys lying on the bottom. Tested the water this morning, ph 7.6, ammonia 0.5, nitrite 0,nitrate 20.


I've been changing 15% water every other day since I got the tank (8 weeks ago) and the last time I tested water (last week) gave me the same results apart from the ammonia being lower at 0.25.

In my test booklet it says nitrate levels below 40 are ok. Is this right or should it be 0?

Thanks.

 

[bmonki]

ammonia of 0.25 or above is too much. you should be doing HUGE water changes til the level goes back to zero (i.e take all water out until fish are only just covered upright) - 15% is nowhere near enough to clear ammonia unfortunately, It sounds as though this tank didnt go through a fishless cycle before fish were added so you are in the middle of a fish in cycle - this means massive daily water changes minimum to get ammonia and nitrites back to zero (both amm and nitrites are toxic to fish and in some species can cause them to jump out of the water in search of less toxic water - certainly true for some plecos so maybe true for loaches aswell, even if it doesnt cause jumping, it can definitely cause ammonia and nitrite poisoning and kill your fish)

you need to be testing every day to make sure ammonia and nitrite are both 0 - nitrate is the end of the cycle and you would be best testing your tap water for that so you know how much you are putting in during water changes

 

[Boromir]

As far as I know you can some Nitrates as its not so harmful to the fish as Ammonia and Nitrites. I would try and get the Ammonia to 0.