FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Okay I think there might be something wrong with my weather loach.

When I came home yesterday he was literally floating at the top of the tank in the corner (I have a rectangular tank that is 21" deep). I thought he died but the second the net came close he swam away. Since then I've noticed he is out in the open more. Generally in daylight hours he's hiding in the shadows. I was watching last night and he would swim to the top of the tank and just hang there for a while before swimming back down. Then this morning, same thing, floating at the top of the tank but when I touched him, back to the bottom with all the speed and agility I've come to expect from him. Two times since in the past hour he has gone back to the top of the tank and just floats there. I've not seen anything to indicate any type of swim bladder problem, i.e., he doesn't seem to have a problem swimming, no swelling, etc. Nor does he seen to have a problem just resting on the bottom of the tank either.

I tested my water last Monday and things were fine. I tested it again this morning and still fine. The remaining fish are all business as usual. I have never seen a loach go up to the tank top and float there.

The loach is maybe three, four years old, five inches long. He's my favorite fish and not easy to find around here. In fact, since I found him, I've not seen another at the fish store. It was a mistake they even had him because they don't carry them and won't even special order.

I don't know if there's something wrong with him that explains this strange behavior. Has anyone else encountered anything like this with this type of loach?

Rae

mine will hang out at the top like that, but resting in the tall plants almost at the surface. Do you have tall plants in that are, is a dim spot in the tank?

No plants that tall. There is a piece of driftwood that touches the water surface but the loach is "hanging" on the opposite side, generally in the back right corner (darkest spot up there) or in the front side just under the rim of the tank where the hood rests.

It's just very strange to me he's suddenly doing this. Maybe he needs some friends. The khuli don't hang with him nor does the cory. I'll have to check, but I thought loaches were loners.

Rae

Loaches arent really loners...they love to play together and they also are known to like to play with goldfish. My weather loach lays around on top of the filter or even amongst the pond lettuce at the top of the tank. He lives in a tank with goldies, salamanders and a paddle-tailed newt and he loves to slide under the land area i created for the newt as it is nice and moist.

weather loaches are incredibly sociable. My guess it is lonely so acting strangely. However, loaches are all known for their sometimes bizarre behaviours (my yoyo loaches lay on their backs, my weather loaches go vertical nose down and tail up all the time) loaches are neat fish with neat behaviours.
If you get more dojos, you will see the behaviour change radically


Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
http://games.atari.com
Http://www.myleague.com/yahtgames

And of course, that leaves me with this problem -- finding more! They just don't seem to carry the weather loaches around here anyway. Lots of other loaches but not the weather loaches.

I'll conceed he could be lonely but he's not had a "friend" since day one and I've had him for years. And he doesn't hang with the khuli's either...

I love that fish --- Rae

That's funny because it's hard to find kuhli loaches in my hometown. Why don't you ask the store owner if they can order some for you. I'm sure that they will work with you if you try.

________________________________________
The calming qualities of a good aquarium are irrefutable

I have a large Dojo loach. Sometime's she's a loner but when she is feeling sociable she likes to play with the clown loaches. I have a golden dojo in another tank that seems to be loney and I am thinking about placing it in the tank with the others. I have never seen mine float at the top, and that would concern me as well. Mine does like to rest on the plants all over the tank, whether it be towards the top or at the bottom and everywhere in between.

Good luck!

Try petsmart. the one by my here has four of them. Iffin they're still there when i get my 55 up and running (very late this month at the earliest), Imma snatch them up.