I've got a Golden Weather Loach, have had him for over a month now. He's very active, but he sometimes chases the goldfish and today I noticed my Sarasa Comet is missing a couple of scales. I'm presuming this was caused by the loach.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Would trying to get another loach, cool his jets, or make him worse?
bw
cupoftea

My loaches do it too... chasing the fish and eating poo outta their bums. (gross!)

They are harmless though, they don't have the mouths to do any damage, your fish may have lost scales in another way? Well, I guess he could have knocked into something trying to get away from the dojo, but he didn't do it directly if that makes sense? You could try getting another one, they form very close bonds wiht each other and my 2 don't have anything to do with the fish anymore (mostly), there's still chasing every once in awhile, but they're mostly content to hang out together, chasing each OTHER! Cute little buggers they are.

I have two in a tank with two goldfish and I haven't had a problem of them chasing the goldfish. Perhaps they do better with one of their own as a companion. I don't know for sure, since I haven't tried to keep one alone. They are cute, for sure

Dojo's rather like companionship with other dojo's..When you watch them,they kind of remind you of two year olds-cute as pie but sooooo full of mischief!!!! Maybe he's looking for a friend because he's bored out of his mind,and figures"Goldfish Tag",why not? I would definately get him a buddy...They'll still tease the goldies once in a while,but it's all good!!!

thanks folks,
I was rather hoping that might be the case, I don't want to get rid of him, because he is a real character. I live in London and he's the only one I've ever seen for sale. I'll phone the shop I got him from and ask if they'd be able to get another one for me.
Thanks again for all your replies
bw
cupoftea

I was out tonight,ad picked up 3 dojo's for my goldie tank!!!! I was going to take pics,but I can't seem to find them now!!!

you're lucky! They are a bit scarce here, maybe something to do with the fact that they were banned from this country due to their propensity for walking out of ponds and colonising new areas.
bw
cupoftea

My loachs sometimes run after the fish in my tropical tank.
I don't think it' s something to worry about really... How many gallons is your tank.Maby the missing scales are from flashing.

Congrats On your new fish, oh and congrats Devs!

hi Black Oranda,
the tank is 120 gallons, but you may have something there, as I think the fish may have flukes, they're yawning, isn't that a symptom? I haven't seen any of them flash (but that doesn't mean they haven't), and I spend a lot of time looking at my fish, the tank is next to my computer and I work from home. Tomorrow when my twins are at nursery and hubby is here to look after the boys, I'm off to the lfs to arm myself with anti-fluke weapons. I've used Sterazin before, will it be ok with the loach?
thanks for replying
cupoftea

oh and Devs, my loach hid for about 3 days, and I thought 'hmm, great', but once he got over his initial stage fright, he's ruling the show!
bw
cupoftea

You have to be extremely careful about using medications with loaches. They are very sensitive to most medications. I would check on the loach website. Here is a page for disease treatment:

http://www.loaches.com/copper.html

[quote=cupoftea,Dec 21 2004, 04:39 PM]
hi Black Oranda,
the tank is 120 gallons, but you may have something there, as I think the fish may have flukes, they're yawning, isn't that a symptom? I haven't seen any of them flash (but that doesn't mean they haven't), and I spend a lot of time looking at my fish, the tank is next to my computer and I work from home. Tomorrow when my twins are at nursery and hubby is here to look after the boys, I'm off to the lfs to arm myself with anti-fluke weapons. I've used Sterazin before, will it be ok with the loach?
thanks for replying
cupoftea

[/quote Rule out water Params/High NitrAtes before you look into treating with any meds.