Clown Loaches Acting Strangely!

[ey2006]

Hi everyone,

I am relatively new to aquaria and am new to this forum.

I just have a question regarding my new clown loaches (4 of them) that I purchased earlier today. My tank has been running now for 7 weeks and I do water changes at 25% twice a week.

They are 6 weeks old and are about 7cm (3 inches) long, they only arrived at the local fish store yesterday so they are new. All the clowns in the tank at the LFS (about 50 of them) all seemed active, healthy and very lively. The black stripes on the loaches were very dark when I got them at the LFS but when I put them in the tank, their stripes have lightened a lot, to a more greyer colour than black.

The temperature of the tank is 28 degrees celcius (82 F). The other tankmates consists of 6 neons, 6 rummy nosed tetras, 2 platys and 2 bristlenosed plecos.

I am not sure if I followed the correct procedures, but I floated the fishes (in the bag) on the tank for 20 minutes before adding water from my tank to it and leaving it for another 15 minutes before putting them in.

My tank is 25 gallons and has ornaments with hiding spots...but the loaches are not hiding but on the outside and look stressed as they are breathing very rapidly. At times they would stay still and all of a sudden, they would swim frantically from one end to the other and all around the tank...I found this behaviour to be pretty strange and am worried as they didn't seem to act like this when they were with all the other clowns in the fish store. I still haven't seen the clowns swimming normally (at a normal speed, rather each time they swim, its more like a frantic dash even though I'm not doing anything to scare them but just looking at them!)

Is there anything I can do? They are not eating when I'm feeding so I am worried they might be too stressed and get sick or get the ich/disease as a result.

I just wanted to add to the previous post (as it was getting too long) that I actually had 3 small (1.5 inch) clown loaches when I initially started but they succumbed to ich. I tried treating them but they still died I felt it might have been due to my lack of experience.

Its now 2 weeks later, and as I've noticed none of the other fishes in the tank have white spots, I've decided to give it another try since I really liked the clown loaches before they died.

Thanks very much for reading my first and long post, any feedbacks and advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jules H-T]

Got a bit dizzy there!

OK, your temp is a bit high- drop it to 78.
The loaches are just firghtened- switch the lights off for a day.

You need to be vigilant with ich- get there quickly and you shouldn't lose a fish. Search on here for proper treatment regime. At least you know what it looks like now. Presumably you have some medicine left over from last time.

Finally, I'm sorry to say, your tank is too small to keep clown loaches properly. They get a foot long given the right environment, and grow to 4-5 inches in the first year.

 

[ey2006]

Got a bit dizzy there!

OK, your temp is a bit high- drop it to 78.
The loaches are just firghtened- switch the lights off for a day.

You need to be vigilant with ich- get there quickly and you shouldn't lose a fish. Search on here for proper treatment regime. At least you know what it looks like now. Presumably you have some medicine left over from last time.

Finally, I'm sorry to say, your tank is too small to keep clown loaches properly. They get a foot long given the right environment, and grow to 4-5 inches in the first year.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, sorry if my post sounded confusing.

I'll drop the temp to 78 and leave the lights off.

I still have ich medicine from last time and I'll hopefully be in a better position to treat it this time if it does come (touch wood)

How big of a tank would I need to keep the clown loaches properly? I am planning to upgrade to a bigger tank (90 Gallon) in a few months time, so would the clowns be effected in anyway in the current 25 Gallon tank?

 

[Jules H-T]

A 90 in a few months would be just dandy! They'll be fine for a bit, but bear in mind they catch ich like no-body's business, especially when stressed and over-crowded. Keep an eye on water quality.

 

[nath1]

when i kept clown loach i noticed they changed different shades of black quite often and then back again almost within hours so i wouldnt worry too much, also i found they responded really well to white spot treatment if caught early enough although i would steer clear of cheap treatments such as king british as a good quality treatment really seemed to work alot better on the clowns.
they are great fun so good luck
nath1
p.s. they love cucumber!!!

 

[WILDER]

http/www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org/artikl...own%20loach.htm

 

[ey2006]

A 90 in a few months would be just dandy! They'll be fine for a bit, but bear in mind they catch ich like no-body's business, especially when stressed and over-crowded. Keep an eye on water quality.

Just an update on the loaches, they are no longer darting around like crazy nor are they breathing rapidly all the time, though they do breathe quite fast occasionally. The loaches seem to have settled in and feel comfortable as all 4 clowns like to hide in the boat (ornament) for most of the day and come out and swim together at night!

when i kept clown loach i noticed they changed different shades of black quite often and then back again almost within hours so i wouldnt worry too much, also i found they responded really well to white spot treatment if caught early enough although i would steer clear of cheap treatments such as king british as a good quality treatment really seemed to work alot better on the clowns.
they are great fun so good luck
nath1
p.s. they love cucumber!!!

Thanks for the advice! Yes, its funny because of the 4 loaches I now have, 2 seem to have darker stripes than the other 2. I've also noticed that sometimes the stripes would be really dark and at other times, they fade back to the greyish colour.

How do you identify ich problems at an early stage?

I have seen one (1) tiny white spot on one of the loaches, its on of its black stripes, hence why I saw it...this loach doesn't have any white spots on its fin or tail and the other 3 loaches doesn't have any white spots....is this a sign of ich?

One of the neon tetras has a lot of white spots on its tail and fin but again I'm not sure if there is an ich problem.

When the loaches come out to swim and play at night time, they always tend to swim or lie on top of the air stone (where the bubbles come up onto them)....I'm not sure if they are doing it as relaxation or if its because they might have ich. None of the loaches are scratching themselves against anything though.

Another issue is feeding - they still don't seem to be eating when feeding them and other tankmates. I rang up the LFS and they said its normal as the clowns are still adjusting to the new environment and are very shy. She recommended putting the food in at night and turning out the lights. I'm not sure if they are eating. Should I just wait for a few more days to see if they start eating? Though I have heard clowns love cucumber and bananas!

 

[WILDER]

If the spots look like grains of salt, yes you have whitespot.

 

[ey2006]

If the spots look like grains of salt, yes you have whitespot.

Wilder, thanks for the link. It was interesting reading the article.

I just checked again and that same loach was lying on its side breathing quite rapidly. When I tried to net it, it didn't react or move out of the way...it looks really tired and lethargic. The one small white spot has now expanded to big white patches, almost as big as the black stripes on the clown! How could this change in the space of an hour?

Those white patches resembles those with the previous batch of clowns that died....but last time it was due to me forgetting to half dose the medication whereas this time I still haven't treated the tank with any medication yet.

Is there anything I can do now? The mouth of this particular loach that is struggling is really red, almost like its bleeding. However, there is nothing sharp in the tank that could have caused this. I noticed I am missing a neon tetra and the body cannot be found....it is possible the clown ate it? I also noticed one of the bristlenosed pleco having part of its skin taken off, perhaps this clown was fighting the bristlenose?

 

[WILDER]

Thing are in abit of a mess, the white patch does it run along the back then come down the sides to form a saddle, is the patch fluffy in appearance, also the red mouth does it look inflamed, and could he of damage it on something.

With having the red mouth check the belly as well.
hemorrhages on the belly
Hemorrhages of the mouth and gills

 

[WILDER]

Been reading on saddleback columnaris and it can start with small white spots on the fins and gradually progresses, did you lower the temp gradually.

Need more info as well, how many clown are in the tank, as that tank is way to small for them, they get stressed in small enviroments.
Can you also post water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.

Does the patch look like this.

 

[ey2006]

Thing are in abit of a mess, the white patch does it run along the back then come down the sides to form a saddle, is the patch fluffy in appearance, also the red mouth does it look inflamed, and could he of damage it on something.

With having the red mouth check the belly as well.
hemorrhages on the belly
Hemorrhages of the mouth and gills

Thanks Wilder for the quick response. Unfortunately I had to go to work and couldn't treat the clown. When I came home, it was dead.

The white spot is more like a white patch, however it doesn't run along the back or come down to the sides to form a saddle, neither was the patch fluffy.

Fortunately, none of the other 3 loaches have these symptoms.

 

[ey2006]

Been reading on saddleback columnaris and it can start with small white spots on the fins and gradually progresses, did you lower the temp gradually.

Need more info as well, how many clown are in the tank, as that tank is way to small for them, they get stressed in small enviroments.
Can you also post water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.

Does the patch look like this.

Yes, I lowered the temp from 28oC to 27oC and then from 27oC to 26oC a day later.

There were 4 clowns in the tank, now there are only 3 left. Stopped by the LFS on the way home to get the master test kits but they ran out so need to go somewhere else to get it tomorrow.

I've now noticed that all the tetras have white spots on their fins and tails now and after closely examining the 3 clowns, they seem to have a few white spots on them too.

What is the first thing I should do? Should I put ich medication in (at half dose) or should I raise the temperature to 30oC first to get the parasites into their free swimming stage before applying the medication?

 

[Jules H-T]

Have a read of this: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=7092, in addition to CFC's sticky.

 

[ey2006]

Have a read of this: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=7092, in addition to CFC's sticky.

Jules H-T, thanks for that link. I have read many articles on ich on the internet as its such a common disease in many aquariums.

Another good page is: http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

After reading these articles, I am still unsure how to tell when to use the ich medication.

How does one know when the parasites reaches the thermont stage? I think it is pointless in using medication if these parasites are still on the fishes body.

When I last checked 3 hours ago, all the tetras had ich on them and 2 of the 3 clown loaches had about 15 white spots spread on their tail, fin and body. I vacuumed the gravel, removed the carbon from the filter and did a 25% water change before adding my ich medication.

Here is an image and description of the ich medicine I am using: http/www.theaquariumshop.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=104

I hope I've done the right thing and can fight off the ich successfully this time. How long does it usually take for ich to go away? Is there anything I can do now apart from waiting? I shouldn't do any water changes should I?