Poorly Weather Loach

[Vendetta]

Hi all,
I'm very worried about one of my weather loach. Last night I noticed one of them sitting motionless in the corner at the back of the tank. When I managed to get a good look at him I saw that all his barbels on one side seem to have gone and on the other side he seems to have just one left that is bent and seems useless. I feel so bad for him, he looks so miserable
Can anyone suggest any treatment that may help?

 

[Mowbz]

You can try Melafix to help out, but its normally caused by poor tank floor conditions (not pointing a finger, this might not be why)

What substrate do you have and how/how often do you clean it?

 

[Vendetta]

I have a sand substrate and I never have to clean it as the filter sweeps everything off the floor and it's always virtually spotless. I'v cut water changes to 20% every fortnight because of an algae problem.

 

[Mowbz]

Oooh, so not a floor problem.

Do you have a test kit? What were the last results, and if you can, what are they now?

 

[Vendetta]

The results are as follows
PH 7.6
KH 180
GH 500
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0

 

[Vendetta]

I'll go ahead with the melafix, see if that helps, but if anyone else has any ideas I would be very grateful to hear them. I'm worried that, without his barbels, he won't be able to feed and I certainly don't want him starving to death.

 

[Vendetta]

While trawling the net looking for answers I came across a lady whose weather loach had become stuck in the filter pipe and had serious damage to his face and barbels. Rather than euthanize him she started treating him with tea tree oil with the most excellent results apparently. Has anyone here heard of this and if so how is it applied?

 

[Mowbz]

Probably put straight in the water, but without knowing, i would personally go with the Melafix, anti bacterial and anti fungal. It probably has either tea tree or aloe in it already.

The barbels, prodiving there is no secondary infection, should grow back fine with clean water anyway, the melafix is just to aid and stop any infection in the wound, should their be one.

 

[Vendetta]

Thanks Mowbz but he died 3 days into the treatment
I checked him all over but could find no injury as such just the loss of his barbels. Everybody else is perfectly fine. Another mystery