# Update on my kuhli loaches



## osromatra (Jan 9, 2013)

I posted a while back about my loaches. One, I didn't see for a month and a half, so I had declared him deceased. The other got injured with a rock while I was cleaning plus he already was not doing too good due to the pH and having trouble with our gravel. With his injury, he wasn't able to eat much either. He had a strange pinch in his neck and could not swim with direction. 

I QTed the injured guy, treated him with some melafix (watered down the dose). Once his injury didn't seem inflamed, I returned him, and we worked on the pH. I started adding Blackwater Extract, slowly, and eventually got the pH down (from 7.6 to 7.0) and he lost his erratic swim and the crick in his neck, so I'm thinking that was neurological somehow related to the pH. He still had trouble with the gravel though, and his fin just was not healing.

So then we swapped over to sand earlier this week, and lo and behold, the day before we did that, out pops the MIA loach. He wasn't dead at all, he was hiding somewhere, growing fat. Once we swapped to sand, the injured one bugged out and hid in the sand (probably still feels under the weather/threatened so skiddish) while the healthy fat one, he just lounges around like a boss all day long. He loves the sand too, digs in it, explores, just swims around. I only see the injured one about every other day, but he is looking better, packing on weight, and his fin is growing back somewhat.

We have some buddies ordered for them (I already listed them in my siggie lol, all named after Tremors characters). Can't wait for them to get here!


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## Shadyr (Mar 27, 2012)

Where did you get Kuhlis from? I looked at my local shops when I was setting up my new tank, but no one carried them! I had a pair WAY long ago when I was in high school and loved them!

I did find golden dojo loaches and got a pair of those (and they are just as wiggly as I remember my Kuhlis being), but I'd love to know where to look for the stripey ones if the opportunity arises in the future.

Glad they are liking their new environment better! Hope your injured one continues to improve!


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Glad to hear your kuhlies are doing better! They're pretty hardy once their basic needs are met. My oldest ones are 5 years old and still going strong. 

Shadyr, finding kuhli loaches appears to be very sporadic. I've never seen them around me except for once about 5 years ago. I had to order more online. They are still all wild-caught so they are seasonal for the most part. If you really want some the best way is probably just to order them online. The Wet Spot in Oregon has them and is very good about taking care of their stock.


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## Shadyr (Mar 27, 2012)

I didn't realize that. I am pretty sure I got my ones long ago from WalMart back when Walmarts actually had a whole fish section and not a few sad/dead bettas in cups, and there were no such things at PetSmart and PetCo.

Is the same true for the Golden Dojo loaches?


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

I actually only found kuhli loaches at Walmart in my area, too. Years and years ago. They were in the same terrible cups as they keep bettas in. 

It's not the same for dojo loaches. They are captive bred and do so quite easily. Most places have those guys year-round. But the dojo loaches get like 5x larger than kuhlies and also don't like the same warm temps as kuhlies.


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## osromatra (Jan 9, 2013)

There is a fish store literally just a mile down from me and he special orders them from somewhere nearby, where they are captive bred (what he told me, for what it's worth). I pay $4 a piece for them, which is steep compared to how much I saw them for at my local chain store that used to carry them (Petco) but they told me they no longer ordered them or were keeping them in stock. They do still carry dojo loaches though.

I'm getting kind of worried- I've only seen the injured one once since we swapped substrate. I was afraid we stressed him out more or injured him during the process as they were impossible to catch, so we left them in during the switch. I haven't seen him going on 3 days. The healthy one pretty much stays up top all the time, he's happy as can be now. I'm hoping the injured one is just laying low since he is injured, now that he is actually able to hide in the sand, which he was unable to do when we had the gravel. I keep telling myself the healthy one was MIA for a month and a half, so I can be patient with this one.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Kuhlis can disappear for a while - always be careful moving stuff, and any time you remove a piece of decor, dunk it a few times before you totally remove it. Once it's out of the tank turn it upside down and have a good listen - loaches are good at hiding and in my experience will not always vacate a piece of decor when you remove it from the tank.


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