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I have had a Yoyo loach for a couple of months, for the most part he has been somewhat a recluse. Over the weekend however I added a few new fish to my tank (two Bola's and a Betta) and he seems to be acting quite strangely. He has started swimming in what I could best describe at looping, much like an airplane. I noticed him chasing the bubbles out of my aeration peices in the substrate. I couldn't help but find it funny at first, but this morning he was doing the same thing but up against the glass. I noticed that he was repeatedly bumping his nose against it also, which is what is concerning me. I checked my ph and it is acceptable, and my amonia levels are just a touch high, but not enough to cause any concern. I did however do a 20% water change before I left for work this morning and turned on some additional aeration to get some more surface aggitation. Any input on this, whether it is normal behaviour or if I should be concerned would be very helpful. Thanks - Justin.

What exactly are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings? Any detectable ammonia levels should be a cause for concern, as even small traces of ammonia are enough to sicken and kill fish. Try to get rid of the ammonia as soon as you can, and hopefully the loach will start acting normal again. I agree that the behavior you describe doesn't sound usual, even for a loach.

I'd guess that the new fish have affected the bioload enough to raise ammonia levels to a point where they can be dangerous. What size tank do you have, and what all critters are in it?
Bala sharks grow large, and can put out copious quantities of waste. Yours are going to put a large toll on the bioload as they grow older. Just be sure that you have the space for active, large, schooling fish in the future.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I haven't yet had the chance to get the spacific amonia level from the tank, I took a glance at a little indicator card that I have affixed inside of the tank this morning and it showed the level to be good. It is a 55 gal. tank with 1 7" common pleco, 2 3" bola sharks, 1 1.5" red dwarf gurami, 2 2" angel fish, and the beta. I will only have the sharks in there for a couple of months as we are buying a house and they will be moved into a much, much larger tank. I didn't think that the tank could be considered fully stocked at this point, but I am certainly open for suggestions as I do not want to harm any of my fish. Handling the bioload is a Wisper 30-60 filter and a cascade 900 I believe in the tank. I will be switching over to an ehiem pro-series II filter here really soon, hopefully that will handle the load a little better. I hope that this is enough info, if you need more let me know and I will get it for you. Thanks a bunch for the info.

Is the indicator card that Seachem ammonia tester? They aren't very specific and I have no clue whether they're accurate, so an actual test reading would be great. Ideally you won't have any ammonia at all.

It's great that you'll be moving the bala sharks, just be aware that they are large, active, schooling fish. Also be aware that the pleco will outgrow its current tank, too. Those things are big and messy fish, they definitely should be given large tanks.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Last night when I got home I took a reading of the amonia level, it was at .25 ppm. So I did another 20% water change and used some amonia lock in the tank, this morning the amonia level was back down to 0. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. I noticed that my loach was no where to be found, which I would take as a good sign since when he is acting normal he tends to hide inside one of my decorative skulls. Guess that I will have to keep an eye out for him.
I checked my ph again last night and it was pretty high, it showed up as close to 8.0, I will have to go get some ph decreaser tonight as I ran out of it last week.
What is it about amonia that causes fish to act so strangly, I know that it is a poison like substance to them and can harm them or kill them. But what is the reaction that happens inside or outside of the fish that leads to thier deaths ie. organs shut down, messes with thier nervous system ect? Thank you for your help once again.