Clown Loach With Ich

[2day]

Hi all. I have just spotted my clown loach with ich. I have never had this problem before, and i have not added new fish at all in the last month. What would have triggered this to happen? Will he be alright? I have just placed some ichaway into my tank, and raised the temperature to 28 degrees celcius. Is there also anything i can do (like adding salt)??? Any help will be appreciated heaps!!!

Chris

 

[The-Wolf]

do not add salt!
clown loaches are scaless fish and they will be burnt by salt.

complete the course of ichaway and leave the temp at that level untill the day after the course is finished, then lower it by 1 degree a day untill back to your normal temp.

as for what could've caused this.
have you checked your water parameters?
it is possible that you have a low kH and that during the night your
pH drops, this would stress out the fish thus allowing the ich parasite to gain a hold.

 

[2day]

yeah, water parameters are normal, ph is fine. In the end i didnt add salt, thought just leave it and wait for the medication to finish.

 

[andywg]

do not add salt!
clown loaches are scaless fish and they will be burnt by salt.

This is just completely wrong I'm afraid.

Whether a fish has scales or not has no impact on its tolerance for salt at all. Take the moray eel. A marine animal with no scales. Or else take a neon tetra, a fish with scales but which has a very low tolerance of salt (almost certainly on a par with a clown loach). The only way salt can burn a fish is by adding it to the water and it coming into contact witht he fish before dissolving.

The issue of adding salt to tanks containing fish is to do with whether the fish can osmoregulate in water with salt in it. It is generally accepted that using salt as a treatment over the short term is of no great harm to fish, even those such as Corydoras spp who are generally considered intolerant of salt.

 

[2day]

Would it be a good idea if i can iscolate him from the community tank, or just keep him in there and treat the whole tank?

 

[WILDER]

Treat the whole tank.
Good luck.
Just been reading on clown loaches they do have scales but you can't see them, but don't have scales on the head region.
http/www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org/artikl...own%20loach.htm
Taken from the article.
The scales of the clown loach are small and difficult to see, which made some aquarists claim that it was "scaleless", which is incorrect, however it does not have scales on its head.

 

[2day]

so just leave him where he is?

 

[WILDER]

Check water stats as clown loaches can soon come down with whitespot.
Increase aeration in the tank as the high temp and med will reduce 02 in the water.
Remove black carbon if you use it.
Check meds instructions carefully as clown are funny with parasite meds.