Clown Loaches flashing

Hi all I need some advise. Today my Clown Loaches and a few others began
flashing like crazy. I have had them for a year and they have been very
healthy once I got them past the ich. I checked the water, NH3/NO2 is at
zero pH is stable at 7.6 and temperature is also stable at 75. I do ~ 40%
water changes weekly with gravel vac and filter cleaning. I took a few
slime coat swabs and checked them under the microscope No signs of parasites
of any kind were detected. I have added salt at about 1 teaspoon per 5
gallons incase it is fungus or some other sort of parasite I missed. Anyhow
I am open to suggestions?

Tank 55 gal 1 year old
filter 1 regent 40-60 1 penguin 330 biowheel
2 airstones
1 300 watt ML Neptune heater

population:

4 clown loaches
3 dojo loaches
6 platies\
3 sword tails
6 mollies
3 medium Opaline gouramis
3 small pearl gourmis
1 dwarf gourami
8 black skirt tetras
1 Pl@co

BigBadGourami wrote:
I am open to suggestions?

75F is a bit cold for clown loaches, they prefer temperatures closer to
80F. Also, supposedly, they do not like salt in the water since they
come from rain-fed streams.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

"BigBadGourami" sschoenfeld[remove wrote in
message news:zpIBd.58283$k25.25584@attbi_s53...
Hi all I need some advise. Today my Clown Loaches and a few others
began flashing like crazy. I have had them for a year and they have
been very healthy once I got them past the ich. I checked the water,
NH3/NO2 is at zero pH is stable at 7.6 and temperature is also stable
at 75. I do ~ 40% water changes weekly with gravel vac and filter
cleaning. I took a few slime coat swabs and checked them under the
microscope No signs of parasites of any kind were detected. I have
added salt at about 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons incase it is fungus or
some other sort of parasite I missed. Anyhow I am open to suggestions?

Tank 55 gal 1 year old
filter 1 regent 40-60 1 penguin 330 biowheel
2 airstones
1 300 watt ML Neptune heater

population:

4 clown loaches
3 dojo loaches
6 platies\
3 sword tails
6 mollies
3 medium Opaline gouramis
3 small pearl gourmis
1 dwarf gourami
8 black skirt tetras
1 Pl@co


Dose with Melafix. Had you added anything to that tank?
--
www.NetMax.tk

Subject: Clown Loaches flashing
From: "NetMax"
Date: 1/1/2005 10:04 P.M. Central Standard Time
Message-id:

"BigBadGourami" sschoenfeld[remove wrote in
message news:zpIBd.58283$k25.25584@attbi_s53...
Hi all I need some advise. Today my Clown Loaches and a few others
began flashing like crazy. I have had them for a year and they have
been very healthy once I got them past the ich. I checked the water,
NH3/NO2 is at zero pH is stable at 7.6 and temperature is also stable
at 75. I do ~ 40% water changes weekly with gravel vac and filter
cleaning. I took a few slime coat swabs and checked them under the
microscope No signs of parasites of any kind were detected. I have
added salt at about 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons incase it is fungus or
some other sort of parasite I missed. Anyhow I am open to suggestions?

Tank 55 gal 1 year old
filter 1 regent 40-60 1 penguin 330 biowheel
2 airstones
1 300 watt ML Neptune heater

population:

4 clown loaches
3 dojo loaches
6 platies\
3 sword tails
6 mollies
3 medium Opaline gouramis
3 small pearl gourmis
1 dwarf gourami
8 black skirt tetras
1 Pl@co


Dose with Melafix. Had you added anything to that tank?
--
www.NetMax.tk

I'm having the same kind trouble all of a sudden.
However, my Clowns are scratching, as well as other tank mates too.
However, no Ich, no outward symptom at all besides the scratching off dechor or
gravel.
The only new things:
Pygmy Cories...quarantined 2 weeks..yes I know things can get past that, but
they showed no signs of scratching until long after of being in the main tank.
That batch were split up and put into 3 tanks. (2) 3g tanks and the rest in the
75g.
Only the ones in the 75g have this scratching behavior.
I'm thinking parasites of course....but wouldn't all the rest of my fish have
gotten it?
My thoughts of possible contamination:
Pygmies brought something in..but then why don't the rest of the tanks have
this problem.
New frozen Brine Shrimp.
It's possible a parasite egg got into the tank from the food, but they all get
fed this for one of their two feedings.
Again...wouldn't all the tanks have it then.
I don't know what's wrong with them and if I don't know.....then I don't know
what to trreat with.
These Clowns are good sized, robust and the friendliest Clowns I have ever had.
One of them in particular I am so attached to that I really can't bare the
thought of losing him.
So...in the past I have treated other Clowns that I've had with half dose Quick
Cure...(Ich), but they died. Either by med or the Ich..not sure which.
I have (last batch of Clowns before these guys had Ich bad when bought), they
were treated with RidIch, as per suggestion for Clowns with Ich...they too
died. The med didn't affact the Ich at all.
After those Clowns died, did a water change and dosed with Q.C. and Ich was
gone right away.
Quick Cure is a fantastic med....however, harsh. I know I need to do something
in the tank, but am too darned scared to treat the tank because of the
Clowns....Yet if I take them out while treating the tank with Q.C., what the
heck do I treat the Clowns with? I don't have a clue as to what I'd be
treating, but can see they need some help.
What to do???
Knowing my past with treating Clowns I am so hesitant to try anything.

Well today they seem less itchy and still very healthy. I probably
begin decreasing the salt concentration with water changes soon. Perhaps it
was either a fungus or some sort of parasite that the salt killed? I am
pretty sure it isn't ich as I eradicated it a while back from the tank and
it hasn't been back since. BTW I use aquarisol high heat and NaCl not
Malachite Green/Formalin for ich. Worked better for me and I never lost a
fish because of it (less harsh).

Thanks for the advise

TYNK 7 wrote:
Knowing my past with treating Clowns I am so hesitant to try anything.

Most of the clown loach owners I know seem to believe that the
old-formula maracide (still available in Canada, order via bigals.com)
is the best ich medicine for clowns and other loaches. I have a lifetime
supply at hand, just in case, but I haven't had any problems in the past
2 years or so.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

"TYNK 7" wrote in message
...
Subject: Clown Loaches flashing
From: "NetMax"
Date: 1/1/2005 10:04 P.M. Central Standard Time
Message-id:

"BigBadGourami" sschoenfeld[remove wrote in
message news:zpIBd.58283$k25.25584@attbi_s53...
Hi all I need some advise. Today my Clown Loaches and a few others
began flashing like crazy. I have had them for a year and they have
been very healthy once I got them past the ich. I checked the water,
NH3/NO2 is at zero pH is stable at 7.6 and temperature is also stable
at 75. I do ~ 40% water changes weekly with gravel vac and filter
cleaning. I took a few slime coat swabs and checked them under the
microscope No signs of parasites of any kind were detected. I have
added salt at about 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons incase it is fungus or
some other sort of parasite I missed. Anyhow I am open to
suggestions?

Tank 55 gal 1 year old
filter 1 regent 40-60 1 penguin 330 biowheel
2 airstones
1 300 watt ML Neptune heater

population:

4 clown loaches
3 dojo loaches
6 platies\
3 sword tails
6 mollies
3 medium Opaline gouramis
3 small pearl gourmis
1 dwarf gourami
8 black skirt tetras
1 Pl@co


Dose with Melafix. Had you added anything to that tank?
--
www.NetMax.tk

I'm having the same kind trouble all of a sudden.
However, my Clowns are scratching, as well as other tank mates too.
However, no Ich, no outward symptom at all besides the scratching off
dechor or
gravel.
The only new things:
Pygmy Cories...quarantined 2 weeks..yes I know things can get past
that, but
they showed no signs of scratching until long after of being in the
main tank.
That batch were split up and put into 3 tanks. (2) 3g tanks and the
rest in the
75g.
Only the ones in the 75g have this scratching behavior.
I'm thinking parasites of course....but wouldn't all the rest of my
fish have
gotten it?
My thoughts of possible contamination:
Pygmies brought something in..but then why don't the rest of the tanks
have
this problem.
New frozen Brine Shrimp.
It's possible a parasite egg got into the tank from the food, but they
all get
fed this for one of their two feedings.
Again...wouldn't all the tanks have it then.
I don't know what's wrong with them and if I don't know.....then I
don't know
what to trreat with.
These Clowns are good sized, robust and the friendliest Clowns I have
ever had.
One of them in particular I am so attached to that I really can't bare
the
thought of losing him.
So...in the past I have treated other Clowns that I've had with half
dose Quick
Cure...(Ich), but they died. Either by med or the Ich..not sure which.
I have (last batch of Clowns before these guys had Ich bad when
bought), they
were treated with RidIch, as per suggestion for Clowns with Ich...they
too
died. The med didn't affact the Ich at all.
After those Clowns died, did a water change and dosed with Q.C. and Ich
was
gone right away.
Quick Cure is a fantastic med....however, harsh. I know I need to do
something
in the tank, but am too darned scared to treat the tank because of the
Clowns....Yet if I take them out while treating the tank with Q.C.,
what the
heck do I treat the Clowns with? I don't have a clue as to what I'd be
treating, but can see they need some help.
What to do???
Knowing my past with treating Clowns I am so hesitant to try anything.


I haven't had the best luck with Clowns either (having purchased and sold
over a 1,000 of them when I was in the trade). It got to the point where
every shipment (between 100 and 200 juveniles) went straight into a
holding tank (off-sale) where I would fatten them up with a variety of
foods, including frozen bloodworms.

My general purpose light-weight treatment was a combination of leaf
litter (Terbang leaves and lowered the lighting), aggressive water
changes, higher than normal filter flow, Melafix, Aquarisol & raising the
heat a bit (as BigBadGourami already mentioned). Not including the first
2-3 days of transport losses, I got reasonably good at keeping the rest
alive & well.

Then I got more ambitious and tried to set up a 100g species tank of
Clowns, so I brought in 4, 5 and 6" Clowns. I lost them all while
pouring through fish disease books trying to ID the pathogen(s), so my
confidence level with treating these fish is nil.
--
www.NetMax.tk

I haven't had the best luck with Clowns either (having purchased and sold
over a 1,000 of them when I was in the trade). It got to the point where
every shipment (between 100 and 200 juveniles) went straight into a
holding tank (off-sale) where I would fatten them up with a variety of
foods, including frozen bloodworms.

My general purpose light-weight treatment was a combination of leaf
litter (Terbang leaves and lowered the lighting), aggressive water
changes, higher than normal filter flow, Melafix, Aquarisol & raising the
heat a bit (as BigBadGourami already mentioned). Not including the first
2-3 days of transport losses, I got reasonably good at keeping the rest
alive & well.

Then I got more ambitious and tried to set up a 100g species tank of
Clowns, so I brought in 4, 5 and 6" Clowns. I lost them all while
pouring through fish disease books trying to ID the pathogen(s), so my
confidence level with treating these fish is nil.


I get all my fish by overnight mail. Mostly, all are well, but I did
get a shipment of 6 Clown Loaches with Ich. Unfortunately, I only had
one tank at the time, a 75 gallon tank. I had to order medication and
wait for delivery. Only 2 responded to the treatment, so I finally
destroyed the sick ones. I noted to myself that none of the other 50
fish in the tank picked up the Ich. I now have 11 CLs and it has been
over a year since the episode with ich.

dick

Dick,

Since you are more familiar with clown loaches than me maybe you can answer
my question. I just bought two clowns on Saturday (my first ones ever). I
put them in my quarantine tank (it is very small, only 2 gallons). Since
then they have been hiding under the bubbler bar and haven't came out yet.
They are both hiding under there together upside down. Are clown loaches
notorious for hiding, or do you think it's because they are new, or are they
sick? They came from Petsmart. Thanks, Sarah


"Dick" wrote in message
...

I haven't had the best luck with Clowns either (having purchased and sold
over a 1,000 of them when I was in the trade). It got to the point where
every shipment (between 100 and 200 juveniles) went straight into a
holding tank (off-sale) where I would fatten them up with a variety of
foods, including frozen bloodworms.

"Sarah Navarro" wrote in message
ink.net...
Dick,

Since you are more familiar with clown loaches than me maybe you can
answer
my question. I just bought two clowns on Saturday (my first ones ever).
I
put them in my quarantine tank (it is very small, only 2 gallons). Since
then they have been hiding under the bubbler bar and haven't came out yet.
They are both hiding under there together upside down. Are clown loaches
notorious for hiding, or do you think it's because they are new, or are
they
sick? They came from Petsmart. Thanks, Sarah





Clown loaches will hide most of the time until they become comfortable in
their new home. Once they realize it is safe they will start venturing out
and swimming around the tank together. And don't be alarmed if you see them
laying on their sides in the tank. It may look like they are dying, but
they aren't. They are just resting. I would recommend at least one or two
more also. They like to be kept in groups.


--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq