Kuhli loach with hole in gills help

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Princesluna93

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One of my kuhli loaches is sick and I genuinely have no idea what's wrong. This is my first tank I'm running by myself, he's only been in there a week, and any help you can give on whats wrong and how to help would be greatly appreciated. This started 1-2 days ago but the hole is very recent.

Tank size: 200L (50 g)
tank age: 3 months
pH: 7.2
ammonia: 0.25
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
kH: 53 ppm
gH: ?
tank temp: 25°C


Fish Symptoms: heavy breathing for a while now very slow breathing, originally swimming really fast in a circle then staying still in the open, now just lying on the ground breathing shallowly, has skin peeling near gill and a hole on one side.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 1-2 times a week 20 to 40 percent, 50 percent once a month

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: log, some rocks, gravel, pink baby tears, ambulia, swords, adding water conditioner after water changes, adding liquid carbon every other day.

Tank inhabitants: 5 kuhli loaches, 10 cardinal tetras, 2 Pakistani loaches, 1 bristlenose, 2 corys, 1 rummy-nose, 1 tetra of some description, and a mild snail infestation.

Recent additions to your tank: the kuhlis, Pakistani loaches, and the cardinals have only been in there for a week.

Exposure to chemicals: just the liquid carbon and water conditioner.

Digital photo (include if possible):
 

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When you say hole in the gill cover, are you referring to the pink patch on the side of the head?
The pink patch looks like the gills and they are showing through a pale coloured gill cover. The heavy breathing is probably related to the red gills and is usually caused by something in the water irritating the fish.

The fish might have a bit of excess mucous over them too, but I can't tell if it is from the picture, but it looks like it. Excess mucous looks like a cream, white or grey film over the fish and is caused by something in the water irritating the fish.

Liquid carbon can contain glutaraldehyde, which is toxic to most life forms and should not be added to an aquarium with fish or shrimp in.

The botias should be kept in groups of at least 6 (preferably 10) or more of their own kind.

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I would stop adding the liquid carbon and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. This should remove anything that is bad in the water and should hopefully help the fish. If it is something in the water, there should be a noticeable improvement in the fish after 1 or 2 water changes.

After that, if the fish has improved, then just do a 75% water change and gravel clean once a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to help improve the oxygen levels in the water.
 
Welcome to the forum!
You shouldn't have any ammonia in your tank.
Do water changes every day till the ammonia reads 0
Is your tank cycled?
Your ph seems to be a little high for kuhli loaches.
check out this article on seriously fish
are any of the other fish having any problems?
Ok I can lower the pH, I just had it a bit higher because I have new driftwood that was lowering the pH but it should be ok now. My tank is cycled and I'm currently working on lowering the ammonia, I've been doing regular water changes but I'll increase the frequency if that will help. All my other fish appear to be happy, the only other thing I can see is one of my cardinal tetras is a bit pale. Thanks for your response
 
When you say hole in the gill cover, are you referring to the pink patch on the side of the head?
The pink patch looks like the gills and they are showing through a pale coloured gill cover. The heavy breathing is probably related to the red gills and is usually caused by something in the water irritating the fish.

The fish might have a bit of excess mucous over them too, but I can't tell if it is from the picture, but it looks like it. Excess mucous looks like a cream, white or grey film over the fish and is caused by something in the water irritating the fish.

Liquid carbon can contain glutaraldehyde, which is toxic to most life forms and should not be added to an aquarium with fish or shrimp in.

The botias should be kept in groups of at least 6 (preferably 10) or more of their own kind.

--------------------
I would stop adding the liquid carbon and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. This should remove anything that is bad in the water and should hopefully help the fish. If it is something in the water, there should be a noticeable improvement in the fish after 1 or 2 water changes.

After that, if the fish has improved, then just do a 75% water change and gravel clean once a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to help improve the oxygen levels in the water.
I don't think its its a pale gill cover cause there was skin visibly peeling off. I will definitely increase the frequency of cleaning and I just cleaned my filter yesterday so hopefully that will help a bit. Also I am planning on getting more of my loaches and some more bristlenose, I did previously had more but they died during shipment. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it
 

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