SICK KLoWN LoACH,,,,HELP

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tim watson

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Nov 27, 2002
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hello
a few days ago i noticed my clown loach to be in his little cave, with his mouth wide open and he is breathing very rapidly. i thought he may have a piece of gravel in there, all water perameters are fine. what should i do??? help:(
 

Rocketman

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Welcome to Aquaria Central, home of the net's most innovative Fishkeepers!

Anyway, I can't give you to much advice on what to do with the loach, but I can give you a few questions that may help the next person who can.

First off, what is your current pH? Clown Loaches prefer slightly acidic pH's, between 6.6 and 7.2

Next, are there any other clown loaches in the tank? If so, are they exhibiting any other symptoms?

Does this Clown Loach show any other symptoms such as white spots or torn fins? Is he eating at all? Have you noticed any other fish picking on him?

Also, you may need to start a 'hospital' tank as to avoid infecting the other fish. This would be about 10 gallons, and should be water that is from your original tank. Also, I would not give it medications, because we don't know if there is anything wrong with it yet, and Clown Loaches are said to not tolerate medications.

Good Luck, and keep us posted!
 

FISHGUY_CA

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Replying to you question

Arial
Dear Tim,
In response to your sick clown loach question I have several options I can think of to answer your question. First off, what other species of fish do you have alone with the Loach in your tank ???? If the Loach is being picked or bullied on, chances are it will feel VERY timid and hide all the time or it will get to a point where it eventually dies from being chased all day. One other thing, if your Loach was introduced into the tank after it had allready been set up and the other fish were established, they will act as hunters because they feel uncomfortable when a new fish comes into the tank. Think of it this way, if someone you never met came into your house and sat in your favorite spot, watched your tv and ate all your food you'd be kinda pissed too right ?? :p Another thing you should check is the temperature of the water. It should be between 75-80 degrees but not too warm because all fish get more aggressive towards each other with warmer water say around 78-80 degrees. I know this for a fact because I have two Pirahnas and keep the water at 78 and they are nuts. Tim, ALWAYS change 20% of the water in your aquarium twice a week because if you think about it, they live in the same water year round and it can get pretty nasty sometimes. Also what do you feed them ??? Pellet food can be good however some tend to really cloud the water when they are uneaten and what I do is NEVER feed my fish more than they can eat in ten minutes and ALWAYS scoop the leftover food out of the tank as uneaten food will rot and cause the water to become stale and cloudy which can be serious if not taken care of. If you feed your fish frozen foods, NEVER EVER EVER feed them Bloodworms. I don't care what anyone tells you Bloodworms are NOT good for your fish. They cause bloating in some species and therefore the fish will not eat because their stomach will look like a beachball and you will find your fish floating upside down with their eyes bulging out of their head and all their fins pointed straight out, trust me it ain't a pleasant sight to wake up to. The only other thing I can think of is if you have other animals or not such as cats. Now Tim, if you do have a cat, keep the door where the aqaurium is SHUT because if you don't, your stupid cat(s) will sit there banging their stupid little paws against the glass and drive the fish to have a heart attack from being so panic stricken all the time. Than when your cat(s) see you come into the room, they'll either run outta there like a bat outta hell or rub against your leg and act all cute and innocent like they did nothing to your poor little fish. If a giant tore the roof of your house and started banging his hands against everything I'm sure you would be terrified too right ?? Tim the only other thing I can think of is your plants, are they real or plastic ?? Chances are if they're plastic your Loach mighta taken a bite out of it and now he is having some "trouble" if you get the idea. I know this is the last thing you wanna do but if he doesn't come around and he starts looking thinner and won't eat at all, take him back where you got him and they can take one look at your Loach and tell you what's wrong with it. That's the best I can do and I hope it helped you out :) Good luck in the future and if you wanna let me know what happened, my e-mail addy is high_flyer19@hotmail.com. Take it easy and like I said if all else fails, take the fish back and they can give him a checkup for you.
With Best Regards,
FISHGUY_CA
 

Jonesy

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How many Clown Loaches did you say you have?? If yours is stressed (and not sick) you may want buy more. I find (and have read) that these fish don't do well by themselves. I now have 3 big Clowns and 2 small ones and I see them much more then when I started out with my first two small loaches. They hid all the time!!
 

Serrateeth_2002

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Nov 3, 2002
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Fishguy_CA,you're missing the point,he wants to know why his clown loach is breathing hard,IME,frozen bloodworms never caused a problem before,Have you checked for external abnormalities,if nothing on the outside,it must be on the inside,when you mean water parameters,does it mean you have checked ph,ammonia,nitrites,kh,gh?
 

Slappy*McFish

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Feb 18, 2002
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I've been feeding my fish with frozen bloodworms for years now with no problems...my clowns love em.

as far as your sick fish is concerned, he may have gill flukes or parasites...is he the only one acting this way?..sometimes when fish are exposed to ammonia and/or nitrites it permanently damages their gills.
 
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tim watson

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Nov 27, 2002
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clowniezzz

thanks for all the replys
i only keep one clown loach in the tank. it does appear to have a sall red lump in beween its eyes. on its "forehead". he has a nice little cave for shelter, and none of the other fish bother him at all. he has not been exposed to ammonia or nitrites. he is breathing a bit slower now, but i am worried about the lump on his head. i cant get a good look at it because its dark in his hole and he turns away when i point the torch in there.
thanks, tim
ps i do feed him frozen bloodworms
 

kvr

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Apr 17, 2001
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If your tank size allows to add more clowns, I would. They do prefer to be among some friends (5 or 6). But that would be for later. First we gotta find out what's wrong now. You say he's got a red lumb between his eyes. What size is that ? How does it look like exactly ? Does he eat anything right now ? Does he come out at night or with less lights on ? It would be important at this stage to really get a good look at him, maybe there are things that might be important that you can't see right now. Maybe adding some Melafix would be a good idea. It never hurts to treat him with that, it can only have beneficial effects.

Could you also post the parameters of your tank ? Size, pH, KH, GH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates ? All information can be important.
 

tim watson

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Nov 27, 2002
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hmmmmmmmm

thanks kvr, for the reply
I think that i have too many fish as it is, to add more clowns, but i would like to. i already have 2 small balas, 6 black skirts, a pearl gouramis, and a bristlenose pleco.
water:
pH: 7.5
ammonia : 0ppm
nitrites:0ppm
Kh:71.6ppm
he does stay in his cave all day, and come out when the lights are off. I have had a good lookat him now, and i have seen thatthe thing on his head is more of a cut(like he bashed agaimsed the big rock i have in there. i think he was breathing fast because he was in shock from the cut on his face, and in quite alot of pain. the cut is about 2mm across and is not very deep, and he looksa lot happeir today and he is eating so i think he is "on the mend", as they say.
 
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