Loach fin

fish monger

Well, I've been thinking about it. Some fish will fade in color after they've been resting / burrowed in. It's good that he's eating. Maybe he's just trying to heal up. I'd just keep an eye on him to make sure he's not being bullied around.

Nilet699

Thanks FM. I have tried to keep an eye as much as possible and from what I've seen so far he's not being bullied. And he wasnt during or the short after feeding that i could see him. Feeding later is about an hour before lights out so im going to try and reposition my blue LED spotlight from the 'moonbeam' kind of thing that still leaves most of the tank in darkness after to try and let the beam light much more of the tank so i can keep an eye on him after he's eaten, to check his behaviour then.

it's just he's my favourite and i couldnt bare to lose him

fish monger

I understand how you feel. Just keep up the good care and let him chill. Animals have intuition as to how to heal themselves and the best you can do is keep his home healthy and happy. The fin doesn't appear to be diseased, so he can put all his energy into growing it back rather than dealing with infection also. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, pally.

Nilet699

Thank you

I know. I've been checking the parameters daily to ensure that the waters tip top and watching all other fish for anything obvious, disease or behavioral wise but no change. It could just be that he is doing as you said, or hell, even that this is what he wants to do during the day and theres nothing wrong, he's only been in the tank 6 days, so i could be making a meal of nothing. I only worry as he was so active during the first 4, along with the others, and because he's the only only to have receded.

Nilet699

haha well ive had just about my best hour in fish keeping :) First off he popped out around 9, feedings normally at 9.30 and he had a good swim around, and even a play with the others. Come feeding time he was ravenous and has had a right good munch.....

culminating in: i dropped in some floating cichlid food, just a few pellets, as tonight was brine shrimp and a few flakes, always drop a few flakes as the gourami prefer to eat from the surface, so i thought id try something new on them, they are a lil big for them but they tore them up.....however clearly poorly paul (#facepalm#) was having none of it....he proceeded to go up to the surface after having a good munch of the brine, and start robbing the gouramis flakes! not satisfied he then proceeded to push the gourami off the cichlid pellet he was nibling and sink it...... so holding it he 360'd down, pushing it down and planting it in a corner.......looking up he spots the gourami has another pellet- OH NO, he's having NONE of that and proceed to literallly take it out the gouramis mouth and 360 sink it again. My mrs was giggling no end!

happy times :)

fish monger

Good for you and Paul !

Nilet699

Haha poorly paul. Its the most ridiculous name ever!

And thanks, seeing as its just been me and you through this thread, been nice to have someone to talk to about it. cheers!

boxercrazy156

loaches color fades when they are being stressed out or being dominated mine have done this from time to time
plus I have a rainbow whos tail got messed up he has been like that since august swims weird but is fine

Chesherca

Awww! Paul is a sweetie! I'm certain he'll recover fully under your care. I don't really know much about loaches that aren't squirmy, but I agree with what's been said here already. For ANY fish, the very best 'medicine' is clean water and a stress-free environment. It sounds like you've been really conscientious about keeping parameters spot-on, and that is truly the best thing that you can do. There are medications, such as Pimafix and Melafix, that can help to speed healing and be used as a preventative to keep nasty things like fungus from setting into a wound, these ARE safe for loaches, but I don't think it's necessary here. From what I can tell in the image, the 'wound' is clean - it looks like it will heal up very well with no intervention. As you said, dumping chemicals into the water without very good reason isn't usually a good idea, especially when you're dealing with scaleless fish like loaches. ANY med, even 'safe' ones, will add to a fish's stress, and poor Paul has surely had his fair share of stress between shipping to the shop, being in the shop, getting from the shop to your house, as well as from who or whatever caused the injury in the first place. The only thing that *I* would do in this situation that hasn't been mentioned (that I saw) is to limit the amount of time that your tank gets light for a week or so. Loaches, being nocturnal, do prefer lower light, and your plants can do well short-term with a minimum of 4-hours a day. Even if you don't go that route, it looks as if you've put in enough places for him to hide from the light, should he want to, and he's EATING - which is a really good sign that he isn't so stressed. I have found the behavior that you noted earlier to be very common with the loaches I keep - when put into a new environment, they go batty, and are very active for the first few days as they adjust to their new surroundings and water parameters, etc. After that, they tend to settle down a bit. I'm not familiar enough with this breed to be able to say what 'normal' is to them, but loaches in general are notorious little hiders, so I suspect he's just doing his thing. Coloration is one of those odd things, too - just keep an eye on it, as you already are, and you'll know if something is amiss.

It always makes me so happy to see people taking such good care of their wet pets Your tank looks stunning, by the way! Do you have a thread up somewhere where I can see more??!

Congratulations again on the new baby! He's really a beauty. Hope that fin heals up double-quick!

ETA, just realized how oldish this thread is. . . so disregard all of THAT, now I need an update! Is Paul on the mend yet?!!