Clown Loach Has Swollen Eye And Spinning

[karengreen]

Hi, i was wondering if anyone can help me. I came home from work yesterday and found one of my clown loaches lying on its side. fair enough, thats what they do! Then after watching him a bit more, one of his eyes are swollen (like a clear bubble over his eye) and is spinning all over the place (like his left side of swim bladder has gone) I also noticed he had some white spot along with some other fish in the tank
Luckily i had setup a nursery tank the other day i was going to use for some rams, so i gently caught the clown (even though he didnt put up much of a fight!) and placed him in the little tank. Also some 'gunk' fell off his side which had my white sand substrate suck all over it so i couldnt tell what it was.
Not knowing what was wrong with him i put some internal bacteria medication in and whitespot treatment in the tank.

This morning i checked up on him and he hasnt eaten any food and just lying on his side again slowly breathing.....im a little heart broken as hes only a year old and id do anything to save the little guy....can anyone help me??

 

[*Fishkies*]

Popeye Article. Take a look at that as this is what your clown loach may have.

How often do you perform water changes?
Do you have water stats avaliable to post here?

Ich looks like salt sprinkled over the fishes bodies. Do your fish in the main tank look like they have ich?

 

[karengreen]

Thanks for that article on pop-eye, after reading that and reading the bit that says if the fish tumbles, it should be destroyed, it wasnt the answer i was looking for!!
I will go down my LFS later and get treatment for pop-eye and see if that helps him out at all

I do water changes about once to twice a week, if i dont change it one week i put it water balance which is supposed to keep the water clean and safe. I had just replaced by Co2 kit (the yeast one) and i was thinking that might be the cause of the infection if some of the substance had got into the tank at all?

I will be doing my water stats tomorrow so i will post them up when i do it. but last test i did it all seemed pretty average. Also how do you know if your tap water is soft or hard?

 

[*Fishkies*]

Maracyn-TC, treats popeye if you can find that medication. It is made by Mardel.

General Water Chemistry Take a look at that article, and look for GH (general hardness). This will explain further.

As for a fish with popeye it is often difficult to treat. I have been able to treat some in the past, however I had one just not to long ago who had popeye and he did not make it. So it depends on how strong the fish is sometimes too.
Best of luck!!