clown loach help required

[fengibbon]

Hi there,

Sorry to trouble you but in my mixed community tank (Rio 180) had 3 small clowns (c. 2-3 inches) and have had with no trouble since December.

Usualy they are out and about playing around and quite happy fish - though for the last 4-5 days havent really seen much of them which is strange - been hiding in the twisted vallis by the filter outlet / bubble tube....

Unfortunately one of them died last night - no obvious signs, full of colour just floating at the top of the tank....

Water check - Ammo 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10-20 all ppm. Temp 24-25 deg C pH 7.2 all other fish seem fine, though the 2 remaing clowns who are noramlly easily tempted out by courgette / cucumber - remain in hiding.

No whitespot, no reddening of gills, no gasping at the surface...... just acting weird.

Any ideas?


Fen.

Thanks for your help

[starsplitter7]

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

I am relatively new here, but your temp might be a little on the low side.
I know on the species description, it says 25-30' C, and you keep at 24-25' C (75-77' F). I keep my clowns at 78-80 degrees.
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/cl ... cracanthus

Are your clowns eating well? What do you feed them? Are they well filled out or thin? What are their tank mates? What are the dimensions of your tank?

Do you have pictures?

[Tinman]

Do a large water change of 40 % or better yet 10% a day for a few days to see if this helps. Is your gravel dirty? We can help much more with pics, Stop feeding a few days too help the water conditions also. It will help ,not hurt your fish....

[Emma Turner]

Hi fengibbon,

Sorry to hear about this.

Do you have any additional filtration and water movement (pwerheads) other than what is provided by the built-in Juwel filter? In my opinion, the Juwel set ups are let down by their inefficient filtration and water movement, particularly when it comes to housing river dwelling species. The temperature is also definitely too low for clowns. I keep mine between 82-84 F (28-29 C).

Have you added anything new to the tank recently in the way of livestock or decor? Any other fish showing any symptoms or distress? I take it that your test kits are well in date and are not showing false negatives. It might be worth taking a sample to the lfs just to get them to double check (faulty test kits are not unknown). Is there any chance that the tank could have been contaminated with airbourne pollutants (paint fumes, air freshner, cleaning substances etc)? If you suspect anything like this, find yourself an Underworld Polyfilter ASAP as these will absorb most nasties.

Emma

[helen nightingale]

Sorry to trouble you

dont worry, questions like yours are exactly what the forums are for.

i agree with Emma, the Juwel filters and pumps are not up to the needs of loaches. i have stripped the whole whole of mine out and replaced them with oversize fluvals or eheims. the Juwel filter units are very hard to take out, as they are very well stuck in place, so its much better to do this with an empty tank. you might be better to add an extra filter as well as the one that came with the tank.

i found that with my juwel filter, when it was new it was OK, but even with keeping the sponges from getting too clogged, performance tailed off. maybe this has happened with yours too?

it sounds like they might be seeking more oxygen and water movement as they are near the water outlet


what other fish are in the tank?

[fengibbon]

hi - sorry for the lateness of my reply - been busy with Easter and all that....

Tank is Juwel Rio 180 - so 1m long, by about 50 high and 40 front to back - i know its too small by the time they mature, however plans are in place to resolve that.....

filtration - std juwel compact internal, 600lph and also running a tetratec 700 external with spraybar to create lots of movement -

tankmates - 2 yoyos, 3 polka dots and a few guppies / mollies etc.... also a queen arabesque and a gold stripe panaque. stocking levels ok -

will turn the temp up a couple of degrees to keep them all happier.......

good news is bought 2 more clowns - one with really unusual stripes, and now all four seem to be out and about - so i guess, maybe they were sulking at the other ones demise....

will see if i can get some pics....

thanks for all your help

Fen

[Emma Turner]

Hi Fen,

I think it would have been best to wait a little longer until adding new fish, as although the temperature was a bit on the low side, we can't be sure this was the entire cause of the loss of that other loach. Keep a very close eye on them - hopefully all will be ok.

Good luck,

Emma