YoYo Loach acting strange and laying halfway out of the water intermittently

[Jaycee16]

I have 2 YoYo Loaches that are 3-4 years old that are housed with Guppies and Swordtails.
I did the usual water change just over a week ago and they started hiding. I got the water checked and all is fine but they advised a 20% water change just in case.
Since I have done this change I heard noise coming from the tank which sounded like a bigger fish trying to eat food from the water surface or just splashing about there. I hadn't long fed them so I wasn't too concerned, but I got up to see which fish it was as I hadn't noticed this before since keeping smaller fish.
I couldn't see anything obvious and sat back down. It was only the next day when I heard the noise again that I investigated further and took the back part of the lid off.
When I did this I discovered one of the Yoyo Loaches on the lip/ledge of the tank on the surface of the water (see attached picture).
I thought it had got stuck there and died, but when I tried to remove it it swam off extremely quickly like nothing was wrong. Since then I have been checking on it and it has been there at least 4 or 5 times again today. When I lift that part of the lid it swims off really quickly.
When laying there only the one side of the Yoyo Loach is in the water and that is really worrying me!
Does anyone know if this is normal and safe behaviour?
Should I be disturbing it or is it safe and I am likely stressing it by lifting the lid?
I have checked everything I can think of. The water and temperature are fine, the filter is working, there's air bubbles oxygenating the tank, and nothing at all has changed in the tank, so I am at a loss as to why the fish is doing this.
Any advice would be gratefully received!





is doing this.
Any advice gratefully received!

 

[MattW31 147]

Welcome to the forum

I have never kept Yoyo's, but knowing most loaches, they love to scavenge for food. I'm wondering if they are grazing on that surface stuff that's in the picture. Loaches also like to squeeze themselves in nooks and crannies as well for safety. That could be a possibility as well. There are members here with much more experience on these fish than I. It would be interesting to know why they started this behaviour.

 

[anewbie1]

I've kept yoyo and they mostly stay near the bottom; your fishes are behaving like something is wrong with the water but i can't begin to guess what remotely. You will need more then 20% change to fix the issue. If you have a 5 gallon pail you could try filling it with water; treat it with appropriate chlorine/chloramine removal and let it get to an appropriate temperature. You could then transfer the fishes to the pail and watch them and see how they behave.

My group of yoyo is small but i keep them with 13 clown loaches; the oldest yoyo is around 6 or 7.

Given that you have guppies i'm wonder if your water is very hard or something adverse of that nature.