Ick? Loaches died suddenty

[boo7basil]

Hi group,

Last night my two 3 year old loaches died suddently. There were absolutely no spots on their bodies and no other visible signs of anything wrong. Their eyes were clouded (1 died and the other lasted overnight so I could see it) and labored breathing. I have never had ick but when I took out their bodies they were both very slimy. I did a complete water change today and I noticed the a couple of thin strands of slimy colorless material.

The other inhabitants of the tank are fine. It's a 75 g. tank with 1 common pleco, 10 neon tetras, 10 plattys, 12 platty fry and 1 red tailed shark and 4 ottos. No white spots, all are active and eating. Could it be ick? I've never had any issues w/ disease in my tank so I am at a loss.

After changing the water my parameters are: Ph 7.0, Nitrate 80-160 (I can't exactly tell but it looks closer to 80), Nitrite 0-.5 and Ammonia 0 (dhu because of the water change, wish I had thought to take readings before changing the water.

Does this sound like ick? What could have affected just the loaches and no one else? Should I be treating the tank differently? I did raise the temp a bit to 83.

Thank you in advance for your help

[Lady Hobbs]

Nitrates of 80-160? Nitrates are supposed to be 20 OR LESS! And since you also show nitrites of .50 means you lost your cycle somewhere or that would be 0. Or the tank is still finishing up on a cycle.

You need to do far more water changes than you've been doing and keep your filters cleaner to keep those nitrates in check.

[boo7basil]

Thanks for the reply-My tank has been set up for thre years with no problems. I wonder what could have happened. I do partial water changes and I know you don't replace everything in at once which I didn't do anyway.

How should I proceed from here?

[boo7basil]

And I do a 50% water change weekly. I have to cannister filters an Eheim and a Fluval and each alone is large enough to deal with the tank. I clean those weekly as well. I do not want to loose the rest of my fish. Should I change the water more often for now until the nitrites/nitrates 0 out?

[Lady Hobbs]

I do 50% every week. How long since you've cleaned the gravel, if the tank is not planted?

You should not need to clean a canister filter every week. It's almost acting like you lost your cycle along the way and it's going thru another one if you have nitrites and high nitrates. I clean my canister about once a month replacing the filter floss and rinsing the sponges in tank water. Some use pre-filters and don't even clean that often.

HOTB's need it more often tho.

[boo7basil]

I have a lightly planted tank with Fluorite substrate so I don't clean the gravel.

I am banging my head agains the wall to figure out how I lost my cycle. I had my two loaches from babies and I am so upset. Plus believe it or not the poor shark used to hang w/ them and lookes distraught, like he is looking for them.

Should I clean the water more often this week until the cycle reestablishes?

[jessfish]

I would say do lots of water changes this week...that will help with the nitrAtes...as with the rest i'm not sure i think it will take time. but the water changes shouldn't hurt anything.

Have you done another water change today since doing that test? you may have written that - i missed it...I'm just thinking of my situation today my nitrates were at 80 AFTER i did a big water change...i changed another 45-50% of the water & the nitrates are down to between 10-20...but your tank might be doing a mini cycle

[imma24]

Just curious - because you have flourite substrate you don't clean it?

[Lady Hobbs]

Right. You do not clean the planted substrates. I think perhaps you just cleaned both filters too much removing too much bacteria. I would not clean them at the same time and neither of them so often.

[Alasse]

I lost some loaches a while back, same when i picked them out the were slimy, slime was dripping off them

Tested water, ammonia off the charts. (no trAtes or trItes). I soon found the cause of the high ammonia (something in the tank that shouldnt have got in there)

Same may have happened to you, would anyone have added anything to your tank?

I have a fluval canister, i cleaned it 5-6 monthly, though now i have the oscars it will shorten time to around 3 monthly rinse, being they are messy beasties.