clown loach

[jhd]

i noticed that one of my two clown loaches lost colors and is covered with whitish mucas. Maybe it is not mucas but some sort of severe discoloration. He was still eating and was quite active but you could tell it is not the same active loach.
The other loach is fine, color lines are sharp, no visible problems, but this one, the color lines are fuzzy and the whole fish is whitish, fins included also more on the body than fins. It all hapened within one day.
I checked water parameters and except Nitrates 10ppm everything is as per my signature.
The only thing I can think of is that I added plant fertilizer and this might be a burnt skin issue. What would that look like?

It is not gold or rusty as velvet suppose to be also I have never seen velvet.
Any ideas? It is progressing fast, looks like I will remedy today or not at all.

thanks in advance for help

 

[Gabe]

Wow, that sounds really strange. I don't know what to tell you as I don't have any experience with this. But maybe you should remove the fish to a hospital tank? I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. I do know that fish can lose their colour when they are stressed or frightened. Don't know what the mucusy stuff could be.

Gabe

 

[freshmike]

Yes they do turn white and just like you described when they are burned....I can't see the fertilizer doing it though, especially if the other is fine, sounds like it may be some sort of fungus, velvet maybe....probably going to need to treat him....and better do it soon, loaches seem to have a hard time making it through illnesses sometimes. Of course would help more if we could get a pic?

 

[platypus]

Hi jhd,

Sorry to hear about your sick clown. Have his barbels (the whiskers around his mouth) gone white too? Is he lying down a lot? Is he separating himself from the other clowns?

Is the whiteness like a layer on top of the skin, or is it that the skin itself has gone pale? Is there any redness on his body anywhere?

I lost one of my clowns to flukes a long time ago, he had similar symptoms except the whiteness was mainly on the barbels and fins. Apparently clown loaches often carry internal parasites because they are often caught in the wild . Hope you have better luck than I did.

 

[jhd]

This looks like skin discoloring, not something on the top of it. There seems to be no discoloring around the mouth. I changed 30% of water yesterday and loach looks better today. In the past I noticed that if I add fertilizer, the loach scratches himself on the rocks. He sometimes does it also when eating and making all kinds of particles of food around him while byting on sinking food. Very sensitive I think.
Since the other has no signs of enything wrong, I am not treating the tank. It is planted with nice plants, so for the time being I am treating it as burned skin case. I do not want to loose the plants. Loaches are eating normally so I will let it be for another day.
Did anybody come across a picture of burned loach by some acid or fertilizer on the net?

 

[platypus]

Because clown loaches are scaleless fish they are really sensitive to changes in the water, and high nitrates, so I think you did a good thing in changing the water. Possibly do another test just to make sure you don't have high nitrates in the water or you might be making it worse! Although if he seems a bit better then hopefully that isn't the case.

That scratching you see is often the first sign that something's up. Keep a close eye on him for other symptoms as it can be the first sign of some other disease, such as ich.

Keep us posted on how he does, good luck!