sick clown loach..need help

[tazdevl77]

ok...question on whats up with my clown loach. I have a 15 gallon tank with 2 neon tetras, 1 black phantom tetra, and 2 clown loaches. The fish have been in the tank 3 days now and they are also the first fish to live in this tank. The ammonia is neutral, the PH is neutral, and the water temp is good. All the fish are doing great except for 1 clown loach. He/she is always getting into a corner than laying on it's side. It'll lay there for hours and you'll swear it's dead, but one little poke and it'll start swimming around like nothing is wrong. After several minutes of swimming around it'll go back into it's "playing dead" routine. The other clown loach hides in it's dark spot and does what normal loaches do. I have separated the "sick" loach from the rest of the tank. Basically so I can easily keep tabs on it and keep it moving around. Anyone know what's wrong with my loach? I need help!!!! Thanks.

[Slappy*McFish]

This is perfectly normal behavior...most loaches lay on their side while resting...so no worries. You should, however, consider getting a larger tank for your clowns as they'll eventually outgrow that 15g. They can grow up to 8"-12" max if healthy and have plenty of "space."

[tazdevl77]

Thanks for the help slappy...I wasn't sure because the one Clown loach never lays on it's side. He's always just chillin in his little hole upright and all. Then I have this other one who always seems dead and never hides out in the dark spots like I thought loaches always did. And the two loaches never hang out with eachother and i was under the impression that they were very social with eachother but shy to other types of fish. A 100+ tank is in the works for them once I get my own house...soon enough I hope. Thanks again.

[tazdevl77]

one more thing i didn't mention. when it does swim around it swims like it's drunk. Sometime's it'll do a nose dive right into the gravel and just flop around. it always seems to be fighting the urge to roll to the side. like it's taking him an effort to stay upright. does this all still sound normal? He's still dark in color and all......I attached a photo of him "playing dead", see what u all think. Tim

[Slappy*McFish]

Hmm...that does sound peculiar. It could possibly be any number of things. It could be a swim bladder problem or some internal infection or parasites. Has he just developed this behavior?..Did you notice anything strange about him at the fish store before you bought him? It could also be some kind of neurological disorder. Hard to really say without observing his actions for a few days.

[tazdevl77]

they seemed fine when we got them. The thing was that originally the 2 clowns had reversed rolls. the one that is healthy now at first wasn't doing well and the other one was good. now the one that was healthy is all sick. I've had them for a little over three days now. In a nut shell the sick one spends 80% of his day playing dead and when he's not doing that he's swimming around drunk and ocasionally swims normal. Do you think i should bring it back to the pet store? I'm past the 24 hour warrenty but thats for if they die. Should i try to trade him in for another? Should i hold on to him and maybe keep him seperated from the rest of the tank and see what happens in the next couple of days? What do you think i should do??

[tazdevl77]

Well thanks for the help slappy. unfortunetly the clown loach died last night so there's no need for further investigation. Maybe it was sick when i bought it or he just couldn't handle the move. tim

[Doublette90]

Sorry for the late reply... and sorry you lost your fish.
In your first post you said that your ammonia was neutral. I was just wondering if perhaps your tank wasn't cycled? Clown Loaches are quite sensitive fish and that may be why it didn't do so well.

As for the way they act...they don't call them "clowns" for nothing! We have 3 of them and they are living up to their name. They like to pile of top of each other when resting, and the little one likes to rest right next to, if not on top of, our pleco. :)

[Slappy*McFish]

Sorry your Clown didn't make it. I hope you don't get discouraged in finding a replacement for him. Good luck.

[stoopid]

I lost one of my 3 loaches to the exact same "play dead" and "drunken swimming" disease. :(

It must be a parasite, it took mine in a matter of days (relatively fast death). Prior to this, the loach was 100% healthy. My other 2 are fine. I'm treating both my tanks with Aquarisol to be safe.

[stik6shift98]

mine have white spots on them what medicine should i cure them with??

[NJ Devils Fan]

Here's something you may not have known, clowns like higher temperatures, similar to those of discus. I would love to get a 125g tank and make it a planted discus tank with clowns.

[punch]

stik6shift98
Sounds like ich, clowns are very suseptable to ich, Raise the tempature and there are a couple of meds on the market for curing ich. Don't know the names, mine don't get it.

[loachaholic]

Being scale-less fish makes treatment somewhat problematic. You want to be kind of careful about any medication that contains malachite green or formalin. For loaches with ich, by far the best and least dangerous medication is copper. I use CopperSafe.

I've never bought a clown loach that didn't get ich at first - they really are prone to it.

Here's an article about ich:

Article about Ich (http://aquatic-hobbyist.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17)

[NJ Devils Fan]

Hey loach, whats goin on?

I found out months ago that according to studies, loaches do infact have scales, very very very tiny ones. It is a common mistake, but they do have them. I don't remember where I read it, but it was months ago and I kept forgetting to mention it.

[loachaholic]

You're right, NJDF, they do have tiny scales embedded in their skin. However, for treatment purposes I refer to them as "scaleless" because most medications have that on their label.

How's that sick loach doing?

[georgiak]

Hi there,

I really appreciate all of your contributions to this forum.

Here's my contribution

I noticed yesterday that some of my fish have Ich. A kissing fish and three bleeding heart tetras died overnight. (the aquarium was closed yesterday being easter sunday)

Today, I went to the Aquarium and bought some ammonia and nitrite testers
and it turns out they were both too high (the nitrite more so)
The people at the aquarium said I was not to put medication for Ich in the water as it can have an adverse affect because of the ammonia and nitrite levels being too high - basically I may kill all the fish. The advise I've been given is to do frequent water changes - the Aquarium suggested every second day.

So I was doing a water change earlier when the loach starts bolting around the tank, stiring up the gravel and then come to a holt on it's back. I thought it had a heart attack but I looked again and it's still breathing. Anyway now he looks like hes had a stroke. :sick: He's just laying on his back (breathing) but he is swimming around upside down!!

I seperated him from all the other fish and added a few drops of the medication in his water. I'll see what happens (but sadly I think he will die) :huh: Terrible ailment that Ich.

If I could turn back time I would have educated :read: myself better in order to have avoided a few dead fish.

Well, that's life.

Loaches are fun and I will definitely be getting another one when my tank is safe.

Cheerio. :dive2:

[Amac]

It started out with one of my clown loaches doing the on the side thing, then after a week of meds he seemed fine. So I stopped using them then six days later another one started to do the side thing so I started meds again. Now the first guy is back to doing the side thing although the other one is fine. After reading this forum I have raised the temp a little bit. I have them on are Pimafix and Melafix. The PH was about 7.6 a week ago and the temp currently is 80ºF. It is a ten gallon tank but they are only about 2-3 inches long and once they get better I will put them in a 20 long. I was just wondering if their was anything else I could do?
P.S. It took me months to find these guys and although all my fish are like my family these are very special to me.