One Of My Clown Loaches Seems Sick. What Could Be Wrong?

[branjie]

Hi, I have two small clown loaches. One of them is acting normally, but his black stripes are faded. The other seems very flat and is spending periods laying on the bottom, which isn't like him at all. His body looks perfectly healthy. The other fish seem healthy, but a black red tailed shark I recently removed from the tank had faded colouring. The pH was low, and the tank seemed dirty the other day, so I changed 50% of the water. The pH now is just a tad under 7. The temperature in the tank is 26 degrees celcius during the day, and 25 degrees celcius overnight. Could anyone tell me what could be wrong? I'm worried all of my fish are going to get sick. I don't have a spare set up so I can quarantine fish.

 

[-germ-]

Branjie, i remember talking to you a week ago (your quoted in my sig ) but i don't think you ever mentioned whether the tank was cycling or not.
If it isn't this is very likely to be the cause.
If your PH is up and down it may be related to this. In addition colour-loss is a very non-specific symptom.
Please elaborate on the details if possible. However small...

 

[branjie]

Well germ, I think I may have overreacted re. this Clown Loach problem. The one who was resting on and off today, seems very active tonight. I find that they are all very perky after their frozen food for tea. Even my Black Ghost Knife fish who is supposed to be nocturnal can't resist coming out and making sure every last crumb has been eaten off the tank floor. I'll keep an eye on this Clown Loach though, and fading fish colours. My tank isn't cycling, but it's only a couple of months or so old. I'm needing to do water changes more often than I would have expected eg. weekly or more, but I think I may just be over feeding the fish or something. I've changed my mega power filter to a less powerful one, so that may be a contribuing factor. My Plecos are doing an amazing job of keeping the glass clean. Look at me, I'm just rambling on now. I think things are under control, I'm just a bit nervous about things still I guess. By the way, I just had a look at your Pleco pics, and I think mine look a lot like your Pleco with "Parotocinclus Spilosoma (?)" written above it. I was relieved when I googled that and found it only grows to 6cm. Mine are on a growth spurt and are bigger each day at the moment.

 

[-germ-]

In a rush....
Hope they are, but there are loads of pleco with similar markings.
I'll pm you some others with similar markings when i get time.
Also, did'nt mention this in earlier post so as to avoid possibly putting you at rest when there may have been a problem, clown loaches follow a strong heirachy, normally you would find that one loach stays bigger and with stronger colouration ie; your dominant loach.
Glad the tank is working out for you so far.
Good luck

 

[branjie]

That's very interesting germ. I'll have to see if my darker stripe Loach is acting dominant. As for the Plecos. Mine have neat little dots on their bodies, and the stripey fins. The lighter patches on the body of yours were a bit more spread out, but I thought maybe that could be something that happens as they get bigger???