Loaches Online Forum

For anyone who didn't hear the story: I had a heater go wild and cranked the heat up in my 90 gallon tank. The only fish affected was my Alpha Clown Loach (about 4 or 5 inches). He definately went blind from the incident, and proceeded to zip around the tank (which is full of rock hiding places) and scratched himself up pretty badly. He got an infection from the scratches that I believe was velvet, so we put him into our 10 gallon hospital tank and treated him. The 10 gallon had quite a few immature snails in it. He wouldn't eat, although he recovered from the velvet. I finally discovered that he was waiting in front of the sinking pellets for the snails to come eat and then he was gobbling them up. To end this long tale, he's doing fantastic. His colours are great, and he swims around all day looking for food. He's grown slightly, and looks muscular and lean. My question:

He's still blind, so he won't be able to school with my other loaches. He's in a tank that only has two hiding places, but he never uses them. He swims all over the tank (top to bottom), and never panics anymore. Does anyone think he would be better off in a tank of his own, or should I transfer him back to the 90 gallon? Any thoughts would be appreciated, I've never dealt with a blind fish before.

The 90 gallon: 5 clown loaches, 2 pictus catfish, 3 bala sharks, 5 giant danios, 2 pearl gouramis, 1 Black Ghost Knife.

only one way to really find out.
but if he is having trouble finding food then don't put him back in.
it is too bad about the loss
I too had a heater go "hot", only lost a S.A.E. and thankfully they are easy to replace these days! It really pays to be able to ID the diff. between a SAE and a CAE or a flying fox.

I'm with newshound, try it. Maybe because he's big he'll be able to hold his own. If you don't already, try some Hikari carnivore pellets. They smell so strong even a blind fish could find them, probably from across the room. I accidentally left the package open a tiny crack once & it took quite a while to figure out where the awful stink was from.
Nancy

Thanks. I probably will try it. I hate the idea of moving him alot, but I'll be able to grow snails in the other tank again...

The 10gal won't be big enough long-term, so you'll have to do something anyway.Good luck. Are the pictus very aggressive with the loaches?
Nancy

The Pictus chase everyone if they come into their corner of the tank, but haven't "attacked" anyone. The conflicts that I've seen are always won by the clowns. Best hiding places, first to the sinking food, etc.

I was actually considering getting a 20 gallon if we kept the blind clown by himself (possibly using it to house other "gentle" fish. I have to keep the 10 gallon as a hospital tank; I have for active aquariums, and prefer to separate anyone who's sick.

if you havent already tried hikari carnivore pellets, please be warned - they can be like fishy drugs !

my loaches love them, and they probably create more arguements than anything else. my mum has now named my yoyos the ASBO fish.

i hope your fish is ok, and that he doesnt get hooked.