For those who know/kept clown loaches!

[kevin007]

well i am about to get some real soon but they are prong to ick? i am almost sure of that, but if they are in a 55 gallon, won't the water params be more stable??

I mean alot of yall have had cl before, and i wonder what your experience with them is?

OHH and ARE BALA SHARKS pron to ick too?

 

[rvm]

Clown Loaches are prone to Ich, but mine have never had it. I was told by the LFS to add protozin to the tank when you introduce them (protozin is an almost universal cure thing!!) and I never had any problems!!!

 

[Chasing Puck]

Quarantine them. This way, even if they have a non-clinical infection, you won't have to treat the entire tank and risk infecting other fish.

I woud put them in a q-tank, raise the temp to 86, treat with salt (1 tsp/gallon is tolerable for clowns). Maintain this for at least 4 weeks, then start doing water changes to remove the salt, and then add them to your tank. This will prevent the parasite from being introduced to your tank.

You'll want to treat all future additions the same way--no point in removing it from the clowns if a suspect guppy brings it back in.

Bala's are not prone to ich, like clowns are, but can contract it, as can most fish.

 

[kevin007]

Quarantine them. This way, even if they have a non-clinical infection, you won't have to treat the entire tank and risk infecting other fish.

I woud put them in a q-tank, raise the temp to 86, treat with salt (1 tsp/gallon is tolerable for clowns). Maintain this for at least 4 weeks, then start doing water changes to remove the salt, and then add them to your tank. This will prevent the parasite from being introduced to your tank.

You'll want to treat all future additions the same way--no point in removing it from the clowns if a suspect guppy brings it back in.

Bala's are not prone to ich, like clowns are, but can contract it, as can most fish.

well i decided to add the clowns first? so the tank will be a quarentine tank?

 

[kevin007]

OR! I can add ick meds in the tank before i add the clowns =)

do clowns have scales?

 

[Chasing Puck]

Was the tank cycled first? If not, you will need to perform lots of water changes--clowns are not very tolerant of poor water conditions. This will require replacing the salt removed with each change. It can work, but won't be ideal. And you will still want to quarantine new fish before adding them.

Keep in mind that many medications available that claim to treat ich are not used for a long enough time to kill all the parasites, and many will damage the biological filter as well--not a good thing in a cycling tank. Clowns are very sensitive to medications--I would not risk using them.

 

[kevin007]

Was the tank cycled first? If not, you will need to perform lots of water changes--clowns are not very tolerant of poor water conditions. This will require replacing the salt removed with each change. It can work, but won't be ideal. And you will still want to quarantine new fish before adding them.

Keep in mind that many medications available that claim to treat ich are not used for a long enough time to kill all the parasites, and many will damage the biological filter as well--not a good thing in a cycling tank. Clowns are very sensitive to medications--I would not risk using them.

well i dont have a q tank and the tank will be cycled by using 1 100gph hob filter for 1 week if it's not good enough then i'll use 2 100gph hob filter from a cycled tank, that should do it?

as fro filter i'll use a fluval =)

 

[Chasing Puck]

If possible, I would just use the media from the existing tanks in the filter on the new setup--this wil where most of the bacteria will reside.

A q-tank doesn't need to be complex--pretty well any clean container that wil hold water, allows you to view the fish, can be filtered and heated works. I keep an extra sponge in one of my main tanks, and pull it out, put it on a powerhead, and presto, cycled q-tank, in no time.

 

[Nidge]

Dont use salt with Clown loaches, They dont have scales the salt will burn them. Iv kept Clowns for years and only ever once had itch with the clowns once that was when i got three a few years ago and they had itch when i got them but i didnt know until i got home, It was easily treated and it has never returned.
Make sure the tank is cycled, Filters from a mature tank should do it.

 

[kevin007]

would using my old filters fro one week do it?

 

[Gix]

Clowns have scales, but they're very small so they require the same precautions as if you waere dealing with a scaleless fish. Use 1/2 doses on medications, don't use medications with copper, and try not to use salt. They need the tank to be relatively clean as well; too much bottom-debris can kill them. They are pretty easy to care for in general though, and get easier as they grow. If you want to be extra-careful, add a 1/2 dose of a good ich medication each time you add a new fish or plant. Other than that, enjoy your loaches!

 

[kevin007]

that's great to hear, i'll use half a tespoon of jungle cure ick every time =)

 

[Hooligan]

Always put protozin the super medicine in every time you add a fish otherwise you may have a tombstone marked R.I.P....

....I once introduced a new fish before I knew about protizin and how was I to know that they had only just caught white spot so the spots didn't show well anyway I took them home put them in and after 1 week my 4 beautiful little darlings of clown loaches had all died.....


....I have new ones now but one of them is blind (just my luck)....

....on the protozin bottle it says only use half amounts on clown loaches and neons but use the full amount it works better and dosen't affect them....

....this the only medicine that works on clown loaches and neons for whitespot in the UK.

 

[kevin007]

well i have to see if they sell protozin in toronto! canada

 

[Hooligan]

I've never been to Canada is it nice there I want to go (stamps foot)

Hope you saw I did put UK so don't blame me if they don't

You could also see if they sell it on the web