Loaches Online Forum

Hiya, I adopted a 5 inch loach. I didn't notice anything wrong with him when I got him, but I left him alone the first night. He now has a white spot (not ich) on the tip of his nose that looks like an abrasion from going up and down the side of the tank. I think his barbells may have been injured as well. The ones on his top lip seem to be missing completely. Any hints or tips to deal with this issue?

The white sore on the top lip is a common occurance when clowns are moved to tank with a different substrate. It can happen from digging or grazing. It usually goes away in a few weeks.

What kind of substrate do you have in the tank?

i have a yoyo that only 1 barbel left of the front set. i dont know what heppened to the missing ones, as she didnt have them when i got her. there is no sign of them growing back, and she is a sand bottomed tank. she has no trouble eating

where your loach's barbels are missing, does it look raw, sore, or damaged in any way, other than the obvious missing bits?

are there any bits of rough decor in the tank, like volcano rock? and do you know much about the tank it came from?

He was a solo loach from a cichilid tank with large creek gravel. My substrate is the inert caribsea rio grande. The rocks are small, light, and rounded. I do have lots of snails though, as I breed them in a separate tank for loach snacks, so maybe he's been busy eating although I haven't seen him slugging any down. I have driftwood, fake logs to hide in, and live plants for decor. He may have injured himself when we were trying to catch him. He was blasting from one end to the other. When I got home, I acclimated him and then set him loose. I didn't want to stress him out any further, so I left the lights off and let him be. I didn't get a real good look at him until the next day when I saw his poor little nose.

Are the barbels missing? When you said they seem to missing, it's sounded like you were not sure. Could you get a picture?

Could the white spot be fungus?

Ok, he came out and sat still for a second. Unfortunately, my camera isn't good enough to take a clear shot. The good news is he still does have all his barbels! The white spot I described looks like a white ulcer on the very tip of his nose. I'm still thinking it's from smashing into the glass. If it is fungus, there's no spots anywhere else on him or the other fish in the tank.

There is a bacterial issue that looks like a small, clear blister on the tip of the nose. I have treated it with triple sulpha, I think it is a form of flex.
If it just looks like a scraped spot, then highly likely was done in the chase and capture, and will heal fine in optimum conditions: Lowest possible nitrate.

what kind of loach?
feel free to read up on this site about what this loach needs to thrive.

Good to hear the barbels are fine.

Is this the only clown you have? Reason I ask is that they're sociable fish which need a large tank due to their adult size.

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/cl ... cracanthus