New Clown Loaches Sick. Help please!

[mollybabes]

I got Two new clown loaches From Petco on 1/29 and the next Day, They looked like they had what I thought was the beginning of Ich-they were covered in Fine White spots, but it was smaller than ich, and it wasn't just a few spots, they had it all over. It was so fine that when you looked at them straight, they just looked a little dull, but if you looked at them head on or tail on, you could see it.
Yesterday, I put in 2/3 of a dose of Rid-Ich from Kordon. This morning, The spots are now much bigger. And they aren't perfectly round, kind of misshapen, and they don't really appear to be raisedabove the skin too much, if that makes any sense. THey don't even look like ich, the spots are really big, and kinda yellowish.
The loaches look like they're really uncomfortable, kind of swimming aimlessly, and one won't come out of a decoration unless I move it (I have to to find him, to see if he's still alive.)

The fish are in a 100 Gallon tank with gouramis, algae eaters, black finned sharks, bamboo shrimp rosy barbs a molly and another clown loach.All of the parameters in the tank are in the safe zone, and my Ph is somewhere in the low 7's. None of the other fish in the tank show any kind of symptoms, even after Four days.
Could this be Velvet? Will the medicine work for that? Or is it something else? Any help is much appreciated.

 

[OrionGirl]

Sounds very much like velvet. Clown loaches are prone to skin parasites, to quarantine would have been advisable before adding them to the main tank. As is, you will need to treat the entire tank with medication. The Ich medication may work--Jungle Velvet Guard is another option.

 

[LMOUTHBASS]

yeah i've used jungle ich gaurd 2 for scaleles fish - however not sure if it works on velvet check it out though

 

[tear1977]

Yeah sounds like velvet, havin kept tropicals for many years (since I was 7yrs old) and also clown loaches I have had many outbreaks of velvet. It is caused by parasites which are always present on clown loaches but in small numbers. However if the loaches get stressed parasites will rapidly multiply and overcome the loache. Stress is normally caused with poor water quality but if yours is o.k it may have been the way the fish were introduced or even a water change which only causes the fish to get stressed if the water isnt the same temp.

Theres plenty of medications on the market but interpet products has always done the trick 4 me.

I would not worry about the loache hiding as I only ever see mine at night or when they are hungry (Love to hide and make you worry)
If you have snails in your tank they maybe feeding off the snails on the plants (they love snails)

Hope this helps

Robbie.

And good luck

P.S dont forget to remove the ammonia removing filter media when applying treatments.

 

[mollybabes]

Well, They died. Back to the fish store they go.Thanks for the advice, though. Just one more Question. If none of my other fish are showing any signs of illness, do I need to keep medicating? Or is it ok to plug my filter back in?

 

[OrionGirl]

Ich is not visible during the entire course of the infection. I would complete the treatment, to be on the safe side.

Why is your filter turned off? It should NEVER be turned off outside of cleaning. Removing new carbon is required for medications, but the filter and the bio media should always be kept running.

 

[Squint]

Velvet

This is the 3rd case I've heard of in recent days. It's going around so quarantine your new fish and observe them carefully.

If any fish start flashing, research velvet aka oodinium and make sure it's not just ich because you don't have much time to act.

 

[Napoli]

I also just had 2 clown loaches die in my Q Tank. As soon as I saw signs of ich, I started to add salt to my tank and slowly raised the temp. after three days at 85 degrees, and 1Tbsp/gal, they died. The weird thing was that they didn't have many spots of ich at all (only 4 on one and six on the other). I'm thinking that their gills must have been more infested with the parasite.
Any ideas?

since none of the oter fish in my Q tank show signs of ich, I'll start to dilute the salt after three weeks and then add them to my main tank.

one random question: how sensitive are plecos to salt? I have a clown pleco and a gold pleco in my main tank and am wondering if they can tolerate 1 Tbsp/5gal.

 

[chefkeith]

Good post above, by Tando Murphy

I'd never put new clown loaches in my tank without giving them time in my q tank first.

I think just raising the temp to 85 and adding salt is not a good way to treat clown loaches for ich. I've tried this method a few times without success. I'd have about a 50% fatality rate with this method.

I've had a 0% fatality rate using Coppersafe. I use a full dose of coppersafe adding it slowly to the tank over the coarse of a few hours. Anti-bacteria and anti-parasite Food could also be used. Clowns do like warm water also, 80-82F is fine.

This is debatable, but I'd even add some Stress Coat to the water. The aloe helps heal the wound on the fish from where the ich cyst's fall off.

 

[mollybabes]

Originally posted by OrionGirl
Why is your filter turned off? It should NEVER be turned off outside of cleaning. the filter and the bio media should always be kept running.

I have a filter on my powerhead, I just never think of it as a filter.

Anyways, Now my black finned sharks have it. That, or ich. So I ahve put more medicine in. And also covered the tank because I read that Velvet does not like the dark.

In response to several comments, I know clowns should be kept in groups. I did have a total of three clown loaches at one point. I bought two, Put them in my new 100 gallon tank I'd just set up, Let them by themselves for a night and a day before putting the fish from my 60 gallon in there. One clown died, so I took it back and got two more. These were the two that came with velvet and died. I have taken them back, but there were no more clowns at the LFS, So i'm wating until their next shipment.
The original guy doesn't seem to mind much. He just swims along, nibbling at everything, investigating things. even when the others were in there, he only swam with them for a little bit, then would go off by himself fo a long while. He looks happy and healthy, so I think he's ok.