Help With My Clown Loaches

[vthokie]

Hello-

Please see my previous posts for tank info.

I have two new clown loaches, and one looks sick and like it has some sort of disease. When I feed them they fight over the sinking pellets. See links for pics!

Pic 1
pic 2
pic 3
pic 4

pic 4 is of the healthy clown loach (it is slighty bigger)

 

[tttnjfttt]

Those pictures are hard to see what is going on. Is the fish very thin and looking like a swimming skeleton? Also what are your water stats (ammonia, nitrite, ntirate, and pH)? How big is your tank? How many clowns do you have?

 

[WILDER]

Looked at the pics and by your previous post, greying out on clowns could be stress, but by looking at the plec it looks like a golden coloured varnish on the plec is this the case as you could be dealing with velvet which is a parasite.

Also velvet can show itself like the fish have been dusted in talc, plus velvet can cause a fish to lose weight.

tttnjfttt take a look at his previous post.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=151463

http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/heal...thprotist.shtml

 

[tttnjfttt]

I agree with wilder, the plec looks like he has velvet.

However, with the clown loach, i am not so sure i would blame his weight on the velvet. Looking at him closer, i can see the outline of his skeleton. Clown loaches are notorious for being infected with internal parasites, as they are wild caught. I think i have heard that over 50% of clowns are infected with them. The most obvious sign is a very skinny fish.

Do not be worried about the grey color as long as it doesn't last. Clowns have a tendency to do that. It is called greying out. Here is an article with some info about it. http/www.loaches.com/markings.html Also, they are notorious for playing dead. They will take naps laying on their sides, enough to get you freaked out when you are getting used to their behaviors.