Sick Fish

[afc_steve]

Hi all , although not a real newbie to this hobby / forum , i rarely post much as i havnt had too many issues - until now !
I have a 120 litre tank with two 5 to 6 inch Clown Loaches , 3 Yo Yo Loaches , 2 Albino Corys and a 2 or 3 year old Angelfish.
The tank is very mature and all the fish seemed happy until recently. Firstly , from out of nowhere my tank became infested with tiny snails , that was the reason that i bought the yo yo loaches - recommended by my local fish shop - they'll be gone in a month he said , where as in fact they've pretty much doubled in population ! I then had a cory develop 'popeye' (i originally had 3) and started to use melafix for a week in the tank , but to no avail - he died.
Then i noticed one of my clown loach wasn't eating and had started to rub himself against the gravel and rocks , and his body taking on a white patchy / furry look. After a bit of googling i thought that maybe it was ich , or a side effect from the melafix.
After some googling i tried turning up the temperature and adding salt to the tank. Five or so days later and the loach is a lot more active than he was and seems to have got his appetite back , so i was happy he seemed to be recovering - although still furry/patchy.
Then only two days ago i saw my Angel fish spending a lot of time upside down and spinning out of control around the tank - suspecting swim bladder disease - as i lost an Angel to this disease a few years back. Ive since done a 50 per cent water change and have not fed the fish for a day or so and the Angel seems to be a lot happier. He still spends a bit of time at the bottom of the tank but has stopped spinning and going upside down.
So just a couple of things - are the suspected ich and swim bladder disease connected ? or am i just unlucky ! Should i be doing anything different , and how do i get rid of those damn snails !!
Thanks for taking time to read this.
 
Stephen.

 

[star4]

It seems you are having a bacterial problem with your tank, with first the popeye and swim bladder (both bacterial infections) the fungus on the clown loach could have been a scratch that has become infected because of a bacterial problem which manifested into a fungal problem.
 
Clown loach grow too large for a 120l tank, and at 5-6" they really need moving. Tanks with young small fish can thrive for a couple of years until they start growing and then problems start. Test your water and post the results of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and pH. If you dont have a test kit take a sample to the LFS see if they will test if for you, BUT ask to see the results, or ask them to tell you the results, dont rely on them telling you "its fine".
 
Adding fish to eliminate a snail problem has only added to the bioload of the tank (snails create mess too). I would suggest re-home the clown loach and keep the yoyo loach (I will need to double check they are ok for that tank size though, or if anyone else knows ).
 
To remove snails, you can add a piece of cucumber once its covered in snails remove it and dispose of the snails, keep going daily until you have removed the snails. Alternatively you could invest in some assassin snails, these will eat the pest snails and not breed as rapidly.
 
Hope this helps

 

[afc_steve]

Hi , thanks for your quick reply. I Havnt got my own test kit , so I will pop to my local aquarium shop and get some results - and post them. The yo yo loach are quite small and are showing no interest in the snails at all , and as for the assassin snails , I did enquire about them but my fish shop said they didn't sell them anymore ?
Shame if I have to get rid of the clowns - my kids love them , I didn't think that the tank was overcrowded in any way.
I will try the cucumber trick - but I've done if before ( stuck to side of tank overnight ) and it didn't attract any snails.

Regards , stephen

 

[betta fish]

If you place the cucumber on the gravel rather than the glass of the tank you may find that you attract more, weigh it down with a spoon, you may find there are more of them at night or in the morning just before the lights go on so this is the time to scoop them up with a net, just keep doing this and the population will become more manageable, any idea what snails they are? post a pic if you are not sure.