Disappearing Clown Loaches (long)

My previous Clown experience was that I initially had 3 that gained in
confidence after a few days - sadly one of those died with the symptoms
that
you described for the one you lost - I put it down to a parasite - as
Clowns, I believe, are wild caught this is quite a high possibility. I
then
added another two - these were around 4 inches long and very nervous and
ended up with Ich. It wasn't until I added another two that these larger
ones gained enough confidence to come out in the open very much - this was
around 2 months after I first got them. My bigger ones quite often got
themselves stuck into driftwood - most notably they went in and the Plec
would return from his night activities and trap them. IME if they could
get
in they could get out again - unless trapped by the Plec.

I remember your CL's having Ich Gill, as mine had it at the same time.
I don't know whether to move the new ones down after their quarantine, or
once I get rid of the Platys in the small Juwel Rekord 60 (yes, more Platys.
Talk about just add water :-) ), buy more and use that tank for quarantine ?

I also noticed that they were very sensitive to what was going on in the
tank. Any stress would cause problems. By stress I include agresssion
between tankmates fighting or the incident of the "alpha Clown Loach being
held prisoner by the Plec" - which actually led to an outbreak of Ich.

I adopt the policy of leaving them in peace. If they are in hiding, unless
I
suspect some underlying illness, I left them alone. The temptation to move
driftwood was/is great but I resist.

I know. Once is too much. It's just that I worry if the have got Ich, I
wouldn't know :-)

So I would go along with Mary on it might be other fish stressing them
(keep
an eye out for any signs of Ich). My previous Clowns :-( certainly thrived
with higher numbers and I will certainly be adding more to the new 3 once
these have been through QT and move on to the Community Tank.

Me too.

Peter