# Emergency help please



## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

We have a weather loach called Snakey Lakey who weve had for years, up until recently he has lived on his own in a small cold water tank, with a pump and no filter. After asking on the forum I was advised that he could be introduced into our tropical tank. He had a bad time with a puffer fish bully so had to go back into the small cold water tank, then the puffer died and we put him in the big tropical tank, so Snakey Lakey felt like a yoyo for a while. He has been in there for a few weeks now and was ok, I have now added some more fish (nice not bullies), now he is lying on his back and swimming around upside down I am really worried, don't laugh I know he's only a fish but we've had him ages and he is a real character. Any advice or is it just his time? Sorry for tiring your eyes with the long thread.


----------



## shortbackandsides (Aug 28, 2008)

If he was ok for years in his cold tank why did you move him into warm water??


----------



## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

shortbackandsides said:


> If he was ok for years in his cold tank why did you move him into warm water??


Several reasons really, he was in a tank that was way too small for him and had no filter, he is really hard to catch as well so was hard to clean out and to be honest more often than not only got a partial water change than a full clean out, this would have been ok if he had a filter but as doesn't it really wasn't really enough, also and this is the main reason, our cat was making his life a misery by chasing him from one side of the tank to the other constantly so we had to keep him covered with a towel and the cat had once dragged the whole tank including water fish etc onto the floor . Several people on the forum and at the fish shop advised me that they are usually kept as tropical fish so I did a lot of investigation before I moved him.


----------



## Guest (Jan 18, 2009)

Sorry I can't give you any advice. It's not daft at all to be worried about a Fish. I had a Minnow once that lived for about 6 years - I loved him to bits and was upset when he died... 

Hope you get it sorted and he gets better soon


----------



## Superpettoysrus.com (Nov 23, 2008)

hi,

im new to fish keeping but as i have just set up my tank i have read a lot into the ammonia cycle and introduction of new fish. I have been wondering if he was used to his tank and the ammonia levels etc and now that new fish have been added to the aquarium and the set up is different maybe the change is too much. I would take a water ssample to check ammonia levels etc...if you dont have a kit then if you take your water to pets at home they will test it for you no questions asked and advise you if the levels are wrong.

Hope you get it sorted...poor lil guy


----------



## hazyreality (Jan 11, 2009)

like the last person said, chances are either the ammonia or the nitrite has gone sky high and its making him feel bad. what are the other fish out of curiousity? best thing to do is do a immidiate 20% water change then 10% every day or every other day to dilute it and make him feel better but then its just give it time and monitor it with test kits.
i would definately say to get your water tested ASAP.

*Heidi*


----------



## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Had it tested today, the amonia is slightly high but it is due for a water change so I will do that today. Snakeys behaviour is even more strange today, swimming really fast into objects (side of tank, bogwood, etc. The other fish are all community fish and don't seem to bother him, he is by far the biggest fish in there. There are also Plattys, guppies, tiger barbs, a dwarfe gourami, neon tetras and rummy nose tetras and 1 bulldog plec.


----------



## hazyreality (Jan 11, 2009)

how long has the tank been set up with fish in it? and when you clean the filters do you use tank or tap water?
are the tiger barbs acting strange(swimming with heads pointing up or down?) and are the neons ok? i would expect them to be affected before the weather loach. is it possible that the bulldog plec could he be stopping him from going into any hiding places? also have you got sand or gravel? 
sorry for all the questions, trying to get to the bottom of it for you. have to work on what we ask people in the shop 
it could be as simple as its not used to other fish and he is acting weird because of it. but i would like to try and eliminate some more possibilities.


----------



## Guest (Jan 19, 2009)

thedogsmother said:


> We have a weather loach called Snakey Lakey who weve had for years, up until recently he has lived on his own in a small cold water tank, with a pump and no filter. After asking on the forum I was advised that he could be introduced into our tropical tank. He had a bad time with a puffer fish bully so had to go back into the small cold water tank, then the puffer died and we put him in the big tropical tank, so Snakey Lakey felt like a yoyo for a while. He has been in there for a few weeks now and was ok, I have now added some more fish (nice not bullies), now he is lying on his back and swimming around upside down I am really worried, don't laugh I know he's only a fish but we've had him ages and he is a real character. Any advice or is it just his time? Sorry for tiring your eyes with the long thread.


Don;t know anything about fish but I really feel for Lakey. He don't sound a happy fish at all. I hope you get him sorted before he is lying next to some chips in newspaper!!


----------



## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

hazyreality said:


> how long has the tank been set up with fish in it? and when you clean the filters do you use tank or tap water?
> are the tiger barbs acting strange(swimming with heads pointing up or down?) and are the neons ok? i would expect them to be affected before the weather loach. is it possible that the bulldog plec could he be stopping him from going into any hiding places? also have you got sand or gravel?
> sorry for all the questions, trying to get to the bottom of it for you. have to work on what we ask people in the shop
> it could be as simple as its not used to other fish and he is acting weird because of it. but i would like to try and eliminate some more possibilities.


Hi the tank has been running for over 2 years now,we wash the filters in the old tank water. The tiger barbs are swimming with heads pointing down, and the tetras seem fine. The bulldog plec is hardly ever seen but there are loads of other places for Snakey to hide. He almost seems like he's having a fit or something jumping about all over the place then seems normal for a while

Mrs Dusty, uuurgh have you ever seen a weather loach, not the most attractive fish (he's got character). Don't think I'll ever be that hungry.:biggrin:


----------



## hazyreality (Jan 11, 2009)

hmm, the tiger barbs would suggest the water quality, as they are a fish which is easily affected(which obviously as you had it tested has got ammonia in it). all i can think is that he is overwhelmed by the other fish or the fish tank. does he do the strange behaviour when the light is off? did he have a light over his other tank? 
Just as a warning for restocking in the future, you dont normally put tiger barbs and guppies together, its 50-50 whether they get on, you've obviously got nice tiger barbs, lol! its proberly just a case of giving it time and doing water changes very frequently until the ammonia is clear. ask them to check for nitrite aswell, as that may go up as the ammonia comes down.


----------



## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Oooh I told the shop that I had guppies and they said the tiger barbs would be ok, there are plenty of places for the guppies to hide. He didn't have a light on his old tank and now that you mention it he is worse with the light on. I think it could be overwhelming for him as he is used to being on his own. Thanks for all the help, I will persevere with the water changes.


----------



## hazyreality (Jan 11, 2009)

no probs, hope he is ok.

*Heidi*


----------

