Kuhli's going crazy...

[Mzungu]

About 2 days ago, my kuhlis started acting funny. I have a 10 gallon planted with 5 kuhlis, 2 "lampeye" killies (I can look up their full name if you're really curious), a group of clown killies, a few tiger and cherry shrimps, and 3 dwarf puffers. Crazy mix, I know, but all hand-me-downs.  

Anyways, 2 days ago 4 (sometimes 5) of my kuhlis started swimming up and down and up and down the front left corner of the tank. Within an hour they had even "dug" out the sand in that corner. I figured maybe it was because I just did a water change, or something. But now, more than 48 hours later, they haven't stopped. Up and down all day and night. The only change in the tank is that since I added the dwarf puffers a few weeks ago, everyone's been getting frozen food instead of flakes.

Anyone seen Kuhlis do this? I was thinking they would eventually get kinda tired...but apparently not yet...Since I've had them (got them early summer) they tend to hide most of the time and come out during feeding and every once in a while besides that. But they haven't hidden in days!

[szidlon]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

I'm not very familiar with kuhlis, are they scaleless?  When I've had black ghosts in the past and they were out when they weren't supposed to be and being overly active it was because they had ick or some other unknown parasite that was irritating their skin.

[Mzungu]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

Uh oh... :(

Yeah, they're loaches, so I'm pretty sure they're scaleless.

Everyone else in the tank is acting normally, i.e., same as every other day. Although it's kind of fun to watch them do the up and down thing (kinda like some Olympic ribbon dancing ceremony) I'm curious as to why they're doing it.

I haven't seen any spots or anything strange on their bodies, and they don't seem to be "flashing" or anything like that. And I have been watching the tank more than usual after adding the puffers. I normally QT everything, but I got these guys from a coworker whose fish-keeping abilities I trust...I will keep watching, though. I hope no irritations show up.

[alexarae]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

I have a horseface loach who does that about once or twice a month.
Maybe it's just a loach thing. He could just be happy.

[szidlon]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

Maybe someone with more knowledge of parasitic attacks on scaleless fish will come along and enlighten us.  There seems to have been a lot of unexplainable ich outbreaks lately.  I had one myself in my 75 that first showed on the cardinal tetras.  I had not added any new fish or plants and there had not been a temperature fluctuation.  Maybe their constant wiggling is their form of flashing   .

[phish]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

I have clown loaches and they do that all the time, especially after a water change.

[Mzungu]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

alexarae and phish - they do it for days at a time, with no end? Sorry, I'm kinda new to loaches.

szid - thanks for the responses! I'll keep my eye on them. It's just when I've had fish that are flashing, it's only occassional, not constant.  :?

[szidlon]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

Maybe ther're just trying to drive you crazy  :crazy: .  Let us know how it goes, maybe they will settle down in a day or so.  Have you checked your tap water to see if the city has tossed any surprises your way, with all the rain we've had they maybe putting extra chemicals in to clean it up.

[Mzungu]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

Hmm, nope. Haven't checked the tap, good idea! I'll check it in a second.  :)

They're definitely on the way to driving me crazy, though!  

EDIT: They just stopped for a total of 4 minutes. They're back at it, but that's the first pause in behavior I've seen.

[greg_tsam]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

Try cutting back on their caffeine.  That helps for me.   :signspam:

[wesleydnunder]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

I've had kuhlis for the last thirty years or so. It's normal behavior for them to do that. Mine are especially active when the barometric pressure changes. Some times they'll go nuts for days at a time. Mostly they live in the rock piles and come out at night to feed.

Mark

[rrocket2002]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

Hmm...

I was gonna suggest a dab of StressCoat just in case something was irritating them.

[Spot86t]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

Look to see if you have any particularly fat ones.  That would indicate a gravid female.  I've read they do that at times as a spawning behavior.  Mine do it frequently - fat or not, both the myersi's and the anguilari's (striped and blackline, respectively), each of which are kept in separate tanks.

[Delock]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

Co sign with spot..

My clown loaches would do the same thing every now and then!

[alexarae]

Re: Kuhli's going crazy...

My clown loaches are doing that right now.  8O