Clown Loach - whats wrong with him?

[jefft]

Hey everybody, just hoping for a little help with a clown loach I've had for about 6-7 months now.

He's about 3-4 inches long and so skinny, something has got be wrong with him. His tail is huge but looks about right for a clown of his length. You can make out his backbone - it's basically a peak running all down his back toward his tail.

A buddy of mine said he 'might have a worm' ?? I don't believe half the things this guys says however.......

He'll eat bloodworms but won't eat dry food. Seems a bit energy-less but doesn't display any out of the ordinary behavior for a clown loach. Eyes look fine, no white spots (ich), etc. I suppose it's possible he's skinny simply because he won't eat, but perhaps he is sick with something?

Sound familiar to anybody? :confused:

[Dean]

most all clown loaches come form the wild so many have parisites (sp.) and such. You might want to talk to RTR he has clowns.

[Slappy*McFish]

He may just be malnourished...blood worms, alone, are not a good, healthy diet. Does he eat anything besides bloodworms? Try sinking tablets, algae wafers, and shrimp pellets too. Mine eagerly devour all foods given to them, including flakes. I use TetraMin Pro Crisps for flakes. Another food that is very good for them, is 'New Life Spectrum' fish food. I use the community fish formula with excellent results.
Another thing, does he have any other clown loach buddies? If not, that could be the source of his problem.

[anonapersona]

If you have never treated him for parasites, now is the time.

I think your buddy is right.

[sprite42]

I had a clown loach with this very same thing. I was told it was 'skinny disease'. Mine died. You might want to check Loaches Online. They have a couple of threads regarding this. I treated for parasites and bacteria. It didn't help. Mine just kinda wasted away. I had two at the time. I still have the other clown and he is very healthy. I have since bought another loach and he is also healthy. I hope you are able to save yours.

[valerie]

I would treat for parasites with a medicated food(you can make your own).Clowns are usually wild caught and come in with parasites. Since your fish is still eating bloodworms the time to treat is now before he goes off food. I wold get some disco med or metronadazole(sp?) and mix it in with the frozen food and let it sit and then feed it.

Also if you jsut have one clown i wold suggest getting atleast 3. They need company or they can become "depressed".They wont' come out, eat and they can become aggresive to other tankmates. So if you only have one i would get some more after you have treated the one you have.

[clayt101]

I agree about getting medication for it.

Here is a loach website:

www.loaches.com

[jefft]

Thanks everybody for your feedback.

To answer a few of your questions, I do feed him more than just bloodworms - I have flakes (Tetra Min Pro Crisps), Tetra Bits, shrimp pellets, etc. He won't eat anything but the bloodworms.

To Valeria - I currently have 4 Clowns in the tank and the other's are doing great.

I'm went out to loaches.com for some more information & I'm going to hit the local pet store this morning to see what I can find in way of medication.

Thanks again!

[marsupialvomit]

clown loaches suck...nuff said.

[Slappy*McFish]

:rolleyes:

[marsupialvomit]

really, come on, there everywhere. Each pet store I go to they have a tank that's over full. They seem more fad and people buy it for looks to much.

[emoore]

Way to add some great information to the conversation :rolleyes:
I guess by your logic that means almost every fish suck since there are a lot of them. Why don't you tell us what fish are not a fad that we can buy

[valerie]

Have you ever even kept loaches? Clowns are one of the fish with the most personality. They are so funny to watch. But yes most people buy them becuase of their looks. But there are also tons of other fish that are equally as beautiful that aren't nearly as popular.

[ewok]

:troll:

ditto for the parasite guess... val had a good suggestion for medication, jungle also makes a medicated food for things like camulanus(?) worms, it also might help with other parasites. adding some form of garlic to a fish' diet can also help with some parasites......

good luck

[valerie]

I jsut bought new life spectrum Thera-A anti parasite pellets.They are a non medicated food with allicin in it(its the stuff in garlic). My fish(africans) have really taken to eating it.I had a harder time trying to get them to eat the other med. flakes and pellets.

I just started feeding this so i'm not sure how well it works but i have seen it being recommended on other boards so if you can get some it might be worth a try. If not I have also used the disco med and metronidazole with good sucess.

[SnakeIce]

ditto on the paracite... how ever now that he is weak you may have to sepparate him from the other clowns for a bit because they may be bullying him out of enough food to make a recovery... after he can hold his own he can go back it with the others

[LMOUTHBASS]

some meds with metronadazole in it then wet some sinking crubles then mix in the med drop it to the bottom - if he's got parasites this might help - i was told recently most clowns have em cause they are wild so i treid this as a pre caution seems like everyone is ok its tough to tell with internal probs though - but hopefully he will gain weight this will tell you hes ok -
if a human has a tapeworm he loses tons of weight -
maybe a similar problem is occuring here

[Squint]

It's not parasites. They wouldn't cause such rapid or severe wasting. They only people who have successfully treated it used antibiotics. If your loach isn't too weak and you treat with erythromycin (Maracyn I, etc.) for a sufficiently long period, it should pull through.

http://www.geocities.com/pktechlizard/skinny.htm

It's quite common. Every "micro" clown loach I see in my LFS has it. But if I see a loach I like, I buy it anyway and treat it. My most recent one has filled out quickly and is my most friendly loach.

[Rhys]

Couldn't agree more. Clown loaches are really great and any person that thinks they are dull and boring has some major issues. They do have lots of personality and always entertain. I bet he hasn't owned clown loaches obviously cos of the way he disses them.