Sick Clown Loach, Think He's On His Way Out.

[BrassMan]

Hi,

One of my clown loach appears to be on his last legs, the last couple of days he's been a bit inactive and I'm not sure but I don't think he's eaten anything. He seems to have problems staying up-right and tends to roll onto his side, this evening I found he'd jammed himself on his side under a piece of Mopani Wood, thought he was dead but when I moved the wood he very slowy swam back to his spot under the filter and promptly fell over again

He also looks quite thin compared to the other loach.

There are no visible symptoms apart from those described above.

He was introduced to the tank 4 days ago along with a second Clown who seems to be doing ok and two Pearl Gouramin, also doing fine, the sick loach is the smaller of the two, both around the 2inch mark.

I generally feed a mixture of flake food, catfish pellets, dried blood worm and the occasional pea.

My water parameters are...

Ammonia 0
NO2 0
NO3 approx 20ppm
PH 7.8
GH 12
KH 9
Temp 28degC (recent heatwave has made it rise above the 25degC I normally keep the tank at).

I have a small, currently un-occupied 58ltr tank I could move him into if it would do any good.

Any help much appreciated,

Paul.

 

[kimmers318]

Don't know for sure what is going on, but I have seen the same with a couple of clown loaches. I originally purchased 2, lost 1 within a couple of weeks, purchased 2 more...lost 1 again, leaving me with 2. They lived happily for a couple of months, and then one got listless and I lost him shortly after I had purchased a 3rd for the group. Not sure what happens, mine were small also....my only guess could be the hard water here eventually got to them. Now I use a mixture of 1/2 RO and 1/2 tap which is keeping it softer so we will see what happens in the long run. So, if it is any consolation, you are not alone in not being able to understand why you lose clown loaches, and my sympathies are with you dealing with this. I love my clowns, but if these 2 don't make it, I am giving up on them because something around here must be wrong for them.

 

[WILDER]

Swim bladder and sadly he's not going to make it, there diet is to high proetin, to many dried foods, need frozen foods and veg in there diet.

 

[BrassMan]

Swim bladder and sadly he's not going to make it, there diet is to high proetin, to many dried foods, need frozen foods and veg in there diet.

Thanks Wilder,

I think I'll move him into the empty tank now as by the looks of him I don't reckon he'll last the night and I may not have time in the morning to find him in my big tank.

Of course I'm now also going to have the delema of whether or not to get the remaining loach some new friends , he gets on well with my Bandit Corys but I don't know if that would be enough for him, from what kimmers318 said above maybe Clowns are'nt such a good idea with hard water that comes out of my tap.

About the food, which frozeon foods would you recommend?

Paul.

Don't know for sure what is going on, but I have seen the same with a couple of clown loaches. I originally purchased 2, lost 1 within a couple of weeks, purchased 2 more...lost 1 again, leaving me with 2. They lived happily for a couple of months, and then one got listless and I lost him shortly after I had purchased a 3rd for the group. Not sure what happens, mine were small also....my only guess could be the hard water here eventually got to them. Now I use a mixture of 1/2 RO and 1/2 tap which is keeping it softer so we will see what happens in the long run. So, if it is any consolation, you are not alone in not being able to understand why you lose clown loaches, and my sympathies are with you dealing with this. I love my clowns, but if these 2 don't make it, I am giving up on them because something around here must be wrong for them.

Yep, when I first introduced the clowns to the tank the first thing they did was go and make friends with the corys so I thought everything was going to be good. 4 days later and I'm having second thoughts.

Like you I'm about to be faced with deciding whether or not to get the remaining clown some friends which may not fair any better. Perhaps I'll see if the LFS will take him back but that feels like a copout to me.

Paul.

 

[fish mad]

Swim bladder and sadly he's not going to make it, there diet is to high proetin, to many dried foods, need frozen foods and veg in there diet.

Thanks Wilder,

I think I'll move him into the empty tank now as by the looks of him I don't reckon he'll last the night and I may not have time in the morning to find him in my big tank.

Of course I'm now also going to have the delema of whether or not to get the remaining loach some new friends , he gets on well with my Bandit Corys but I don't know if that would be enough for him, from what kimmers318 said above maybe Clowns are'nt such a good idea with hard water that comes out of my tap.

About the food, which frozeon foods would you recommend?

Paul.

Don't know for sure what is going on, but I have seen the same with a couple of clown loaches. I originally purchased 2, lost 1 within a couple of weeks, purchased 2 more...lost 1 again, leaving me with 2. They lived happily for a couple of months, and then one got listless and I lost him shortly after I had purchased a 3rd for the group. Not sure what happens, mine were small also....my only guess could be the hard water here eventually got to them. Now I use a mixture of 1/2 RO and 1/2 tap which is keeping it softer so we will see what happens in the long run. So, if it is any consolation, you are not alone in not being able to understand why you lose clown loaches, and my sympathies are with you dealing with this. I love my clowns, but if these 2 don't make it, I am giving up on them because something around here must be wrong for them.

Yep, when I first introduced the clowns to the tank the first thing they did was go and make friends with the corys so I thought everything was going to be good. 4 days later and I'm having second thoughts.

Like you I'm about to be faced with deciding whether or not to get the remaining clown some friends which may not fair any better. Perhaps I'll see if the LFS will take him back but that feels like a copout to me.

Paul.

Clowns are known to lay on their sides when resting, I have 2 and they always do it. Give them bloodworms frozen or freeze dried they love it and put a bit of cucumber in there as well. Good luck.

 

[BrassMan]

[/quote]
Clowns are known to lay on their sides when resting, I have 2 and they always do it. Give them bloodworms frozen or freeze dried they love it and put a bit of cucumber in there as well. Good luck.
[/quote]

Unfortunatly I'm pretty sure this ones not just resting. Since moving him to the spare tank I've been able to keep a closer eye on him and he's definitly got a big problem although he is still hanging on. He will move but only when disturbed, i.e. by moving the plant or ornament he's jammed himself into, when he does move it tends to be an apparently uncontrolled dash, sometimes in circles, until he hits something. I hav'nt seen him foraging for food for more than 3 days now so I don't think he can be eating anything.

I'll try the bloodworms but I don't hold out much hope.

I feel so powerless, is there any medication that could help?

Paul.

 

[StevieBB]

You could try Protozin. I know Maidenhead aquatics advise you treat your tank with this after introducing new clowns. Clowns are also prone to White Spot when stresssed.. Hope this helps.

 

[BrassMan]

Well, sadly he passed on sometime in the night , in a way it's a relief as he was clearly suffering.

Does anybody have any advice on what I should do with my remaining Clown Loach, he's got some Cory's for company but I'm not sure thats good enough as he dos'nt really school (spelling?) with them. He seems reasonably happy, I saw him snail hunting this morning, he got all excited when he found one, he pealed it off the glass but then dropped it, guess it was too big to eat.

I'm a bit wary of getting more Clowns after the recent events but then again perhaps I was just unlucky.

Thank,

Paul.

 

[WILDER]

He can't be on his own they need to be kept in groups, so it up to you, good luck, R.I.P. to the one that died.

 

[BrassMan]

You could try Protozin. I know Maidenhead aquatics advise you treat your tank with this after introducing new clowns. Clowns are also prone to White Spot when stresssed.. Hope this helps.

Hey Stevie,

I was in there a while back and I do remember seeing that on their clown tank. Think I'll go and get a few friends for my surviving loach and dose the tank up with Protozin as a precaution.

Oh, hang on...

Nooooooooo!!!

I've just noticed my livebearers have started flicking there sides on rocks so maby I've got a parasite problem in which case the Protozin makes even more sense, am I right?

Paul.

 

[WILDER]

Check water quality first to make sure all stats are good, if they are sounds like a parasite, whitespot is small grains of salt, velvet is a gold to yellow dusting even a brown colour sometimes on the fish, also they can get skin flukes but they will not be visable with the naked eye.

 

[BrassMan]

Check water quality first to make sure all stats are good, if they are sounds like a parasite, whitespot is small grains of salt, velvet is a gold to yellow dusting even a brown colour sometimes on the fish, also they can get skin flukes but they will not be visable with the naked eye.

Thanks Wilder,

Just checked the water and the stats are...

PH 7.8
Ammonia 0
NO2 0
NO3 15-20ppm
GH 12dh
KH 8dh

I can't see any visible sign of whitespot or velvet so maybe it's skin flukes, I have noticed that the Platys poo is often stringy and sometimes has a clear, sticky look to it. Would you still recomend I treat the tank with Protozin?

Also, I'm off to get a couple of new clowns to keep the remaining one company, do you think I should treat these at the same time?

Edit: Just thought I'd better mention, I know my tank is a bit small for all these loaches, at least once they grow up, my current plan is to get a bigger tank in about a years time, somewhere around 400ltr (100USg) assuming everything works out.

2nd Edit: Hmmm, had a look at the WaterLife site and it looks like Sterazin better fits the symptoms I'm seeing in my livebearers.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[BrassMan]

OK, just a quick update. I now have a 3 apparently happy clowns, it was amazing to see the change in behaviour of the lone clown when I introduced his new friends, they are now schooling all other the tank, occsionaly being followed by my Bandit Corys

I have a plan for medicating my tank which I'd like to run by you to see if it makes sense.

Week 1: A course of Protozin, more as a precaution as people have been advising me, both here and at the LFS, that it's recommended when introducing clowns to a tank.

Week 2: A course of Sterazin to treat the suspected gill/body flooks that it appears some of my other fish are sufffering from (one of the Platys appears to have some red colouration around it's gills which I think may be another pointer to gill flooks).

Wilder, or anybody else, could you check me and let me know if this sounds ok.

Many thanks for all the help.

Paul.

 

[WILDER]

Don't like the sound of clear mucas poo, that a sign of internal parasites, and clown laoches are prone to them as well it called skinny desease, the clown loach that died did it go skinny.

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

 

[BrassMan]

Don't like the sound of clear mucas poo, that a sign of internal parasites, and clown laoches are prone to them as well it called skinny desease, the clown loach that died did it go skinny.

Hi Wilder,

I can't be sure but the loach that died was definitly alot smaller than the other one, the two new loaches are bigger again than the one they've just joined and they were all from the same LFS so I think they were all the same age.

Would you recommend any treatment, my thoughts on this is in my previous post.

Thanks,

Paul.