disapearing clown loaches

Originally posted by chefkeith
If the clowns are alive, your probably going to have an ich outbreak. Its too late now, but You should of quarantined them. (Coppersafe is probably the best med for clowns and ich).

Why would he have an outbreak? Can you support this with facts?
 
you'd probably have an outbreak...

...if the fish was infected. ich doesn't come out of nowhere. it's a disease, and fish don't get it just from being stressed and stressed alone. it's like the old wives' tale that you get sick from the cold. you get sick from a weakened immune system when it comes into contact with a disease. similarly, a fish can get ich when the disease is present and its immune system is weakened by stress.
 
thanks demon_surfer for the info. i didnt think my dempsy ate them. i have searched around my tank and did not find any dehydrated fish, and i keep my lids closed having lost two great regular jacks to jumping out of the tank. in fact i just found two of the others. they were hiding under a decorative bridge with space under it. im glad. seems mystery is solved. thank you all for the helpful posts. and i will watch out for ich.
 
Originally posted by fdiaz78


Why would he have an outbreak? Can you support this with facts?

Sure can. Clown Loaches are fish caught from the wild (West Kalimantan in Borneo and Jambi in Sumatra) and exported to all over the world. Nearly all of them harbor internal and/or external parasites when they are caught. If they've never been treated for these parasites, its almost certain you'll get them transfered to your tank, if you don't treat the fish first.
 
ok

the thing with clown loaches is that they are sensitive to ick more so than other fish but as mentioned above ick attacks a weakened immune system - so therfor loaches get stressed easier weakening their immunity to it
they are wild caught and it's said they often harbor internal parasites - problem is it's not the easiest thing to be sure of -
so your best bet is to q these fish and feed them a medicated food for internal parasites the only one i found was pepco by jungle which is good because it is a small pellet


a lot of ppl also say if it aint broke why fix it? feeding medicated food is more of a preventative measure - i've done it - it eases the quezzy feeling you get when worrying about this :)
 
A fish doesn't need a weakened immune system or stress to get ich. That just compounds the problem of dealing with the ich sore, which might get infected.
 
Thats cool that your lfs says they treat them, but they have to treat them for 2-3 weeks for the treatment to be effective. I don't know many LFS that can claim that.
 
ick

healthy fish with a good slime coating can often repel the parasite - stressed fish have a thinner coating making them more ich prone
 
AquariaCentral.com