Clown Loach

[htaehnodrog]

Hello everyone. I would just like to say thanks to everyone who helped me with my last problem with my siamese fighter. He is back to his usual self again!

I have another worry. One of my clown loach has started to fade. His black stripes were never as "black" as his buddy, they were more grey/charcoal. But since I have been adding some fungal treatment to the tank, he has become quite albino. Has anyone ever experienced anything similar?

Thanks for reading,

Gordon from Penkridge

 

[The-Wolf]

what are your water params?

greying out is a sign that the clown is not happy with the water, it could be that you have high NO2, NO3 or it could be an adverse reaction to the meds. what did you treat with?

 

[htaehnodrog]

Thanks for replying. First of all, I used King British's Methylene Blue over a period of about two weeks. i then did a 60-70% water change using a tap safe to the right dosage. I then used a fin rot and fungal treatment for the last 3 days which is when the discolouration has occured (sounds like i'm answering my own question here!). They have been more inactive since I used the treatment. Maybe they are reacting to it adversely?

 

[The-Wolf]

clowns, being scaleless fish, are suceptable to many medications.
it is often advisable to use half the stated dose and double the period when having scaleless fish in a tank. IE 5ml for 5days becomes 2.5ml for 10days).

if you can add activated carbon to your filter, do so. this will absorb any remaining meds in the tank. a period of 36-48hrs should be enough to remove all traces of meds.
try that and see if the clown colours up again.

 

[xJake]

You really acted way too quickly in adding meds. Greying out is a natural part of clown's behavior especially so when they're have scrap fights with the other clowns in the tank for food. What are your water parameters and how long has the tank been established? As clowns can also grey out due to stress from high ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and should be one of the last fish added to the tank due to their sensitivity to nitrogenous buildup from adding new fish.