Help With Clown Loach

[plug_in_baby]

Just wondering if anyone can help me with this!

My brother just bought his first Clown Loaches. One seems to be in really bad condition and we've only had them a few days! In the shop they all seemed fine, and when we got them home they were as well. Now it's acting strange, staying in one spot near the surface, its tail seems to have several chunks missing from it and the fin on it's back is never up (whereas our other Clown Loaches have healthy looking fins that are always opened out), it looks as though it takes a lot of effort for it to swim and the Harlequins we have keep "nipping" it every so often (I can't think of a better way to describe it!) It's feeding fine and from time to time it'll have a swim around the tank, but as I said it seems to take a lot of effort compared to the way the other Clown Loaches swim. I have also heard that they do rest in weird positions but the condition of its fins etc makes me think that something is wrong.

The others are absolutely fine...could it just be bad luck and we got a sickly fish or does it sound as if there's anything we can do?

Here's a picture of it - you can clearly see the chunks missing from its tail and how all it's fins are flat against it's body:

If anyone can help then it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Davo86]

Hi
What are the actual tankmates?
and what are the water parameters?
Is it a new tank or well established?

The clown looks a little on the skinny side so it may be suffering from internal parasites but by answering the above questions we will have a better idea of the problem

 

[plug_in_baby]

Hi
What are the actual tankmates?
and what are the water parameters?
Is it a new tank or well established?

The clown looks a little on the skinny side so it may be suffering from internal parasites but by answering the above questions we will have a better idea of the problem

The tank mates are 10 Harlequins and two more Clown Loaches

GH is around 90-100
KH is around 100 (ppm mg/L))
pH is 7-7.5
Nitrate and Nitrite are both 0
Temperature is 26.5

It's a new tank, it had been set up for about two weeks before we put the fish in, so coming on three weeks now.

 

[stang1]

How big is the tank and what is your reading for ammonia?
Unfortunately, Clown Loach are very sensitive and prefer a mature tank that has been running for about 6 months.
Yours looks very underweight and it also looks like it has finrot.

 

[Davo86]

Ok, It sounds like your currently "cycling with fish" which is not ideal, especially for sensitive fish such as clown loach,
Basicly, you will find that until the tank is fully cycled your levels will be going up and down for a while, which will cause great stress to the fish, and is why a "fishless cycle" is recommended.

your two options would be to either return the sensitive fish until the tank is cycled OR find someone who can give you some mature media which has come from a cycled filter.

You will find that if your levels do start rising then you will need to do daily water changes to keep these as low as possible but even then with Clown loach you may see some fatalities.

 

[plug_in_baby]

How big is the tank and what is your reading for ammonia?
Unfortunately, Clown Loach are very sensitive and prefer a mature tank that has been running for about 6 months.
Yours looks very underweight and it also looks like it has finrot.

Sorry, forgot to say ammonia is 0! And I can't say how big the tank is because it's my brother's and he hasn't told me. :\ He's working away from home at the minute so I can't ask him either.

Ahhh, just sounds like bad luck then? Do you think that even though the others are fine at the minute there's a chance they could go the same way?

Is there an easy way of treating finrot?

Sorry for the noob questions! Bear with me...I'm still learning!!

Thanks for your help so far

Ok, It sounds like your currently "cycling with fish" which is not ideal, especially for sensitive fish such as clown loach,
Basicly, you will find that until the tank is fully cycled your levels will be going up and down for a while, which will cause great stress to the fish, and is why a "fishless cycle" is recommended.

your two options would be to either return the sensitive fish until the tank is cycled OR find someone who can give you some mature media which has come from a cycled filter.

You will find that if your levels do start rising then you will need to do daily water changes to keep these as low as possible but even then with Clown loach you may see some fatalities.

Right, thankyou

The levels seem to staying put at the minute but I'll keep an eye on them, I'll move the fish to my cousins tank if they start to change, their tank has been set up for several years and has plenty of room at the minute.