Absolutely yes, especially if you are putting them with other kuhlis. 2 weeks min.
Kuhlis do carry fewer diseases than other loaches, but more than enough to decrease your fish population unless you do the things right.
They will survive the stress of catching, being nice to fish is not a reason to put it in danger.
OK will do, any advice on what especially to look for with these guys? I think a treatment for worming is advisable for clown loaches so them too?
Interestingly enough, not so much.
The thing is that a worm that will may a clown sick for long time will likely kill a kuhli, thus you are *much* less likely to encounter parasites. But it does happen, and *any* imported fish can carry *any* parasite, even not typical for it.
I treat *ALL* new fish for worms (levamisole) the moment they arrive since a nasty parasite may wipe out all of your fish easily, and I've encountered them in the past, even in species that are believed never to have parasites.
However: there was one case I've seen that involved a 100% fatal, kuhli-specific infection was not worms; I suspect a virus or heavily resistant bacteria (nothing worked).
If you can get levamisole, imho use it *always*. If you cannot get it, extend the quarantine to 1 month; this is sufficient for any killer disease to act, if it is there. (1-2 weeks is insufficient for nematodes AND I've seen bacteria diseases that show up in the 3rd week -- but not with kuhlis). A kuhli that lived for one month in your tank is likely to live for many years -- if you treat it well, of course.
One more hint: it is best to buy kuhlis that were in the store for one week. They will have MUCH higher chances of survival in your tank, since lots of them die from shipping-related damage.
And there is really not much to look for. Most kuhli killers show no symptomes and they are hard to diagnose. Most deaths occur within the first week, and the moment you see something wrong it is usually too late, and not something you could have averted. I would not treat kuhlis from a store with other drugs unless I know what is going on, it will not improve the chances all that much.
Well...some signs: if there is no other fish in the tank, in three days your kuhlis should be interested in bloodworms and shrimp. (Not right away---they need to settle in, but still make some food available.) They may hide for the the first few days. If a kuhli does not try to hide -- at least a little -- after a few hours in your tank, it probably is in a very bad shape.
HTH.
this re-catching will obviously cause havoc and stress them when they need to join the main tank. What do you think?
