Loaches Online Forum

Hello,

This is my first post, and I apologize for it being so long. I just don't want to leave any details out. I may be a little paranoid, but after moving to a new home several years ago and losing several clown loaches that I had kept for about 15 years, I'm very cautious.

I recently moved again and upgraded to a larger tank (120 gallons) at the same time. The tank had a chip in one of the corners, so they replaced it under warranty (more stress for the fish). While the tank exchange was going on, I placed all my fish in two 29 gallon tanks and one 20 gallon. I added a new wet/dry filter to the 120, then finally removed the 2 canister filters and bio-wheels I had used in the past.

My rainbowfish were added first. They aren't known for their aggressive behavior, but when the females were added, they put on quite a show. After plants were added, things got really nasty! They were biting each other to the point where scales would be lost, fins torn, and in one case, eye damage. This, of course, stressed the fish in the tank. Rainbowfish are prone to getting columnaris, and I could see the beginning signs of it. The only thing you can do is 50% water changes every day, and to keep the temperature around 75-77 degrees. I kept salt levels at the rate of 1 tbsp/5 gallons, even though I normally don't use salt. Since I wanted to add the loaches, I eventually discontinued the salt use, but kept the temperature close to 76 degrees and added 2 18 watt Coralife UV sterilizers with brand new bulbs powered by 2 canister filters rated at 185 gph.

The loaches were added, and acclimated quite well, although I'm concerned that doing 50% water changes with 75-76 degree tap water may have created a new problem. I did a Google search about sexing clown loaches, and fond a picture showing that males develop spots on their nose. I edited this to create a link to the picture, so people don't think this is my fish:

MALE LOACH PICTURE

This led to the discovery that one of my smaller loaches has spots, but they might be something else. This particular fish is slightly less colorful than all but one other loach. Here are the best pics I could get with my old camera. The first two are zoomed in and cropped:





I think this fish has something, possibly velvet. I added salt, but haven't raised the temps, because of the previous columnaris issue. Should I be worried, or is this a male? Thank you for reading all this. I love my fish and would appreciate some advice!

Hi,
Your Clown looks like it has White spot or something like that.

But what I find strange is that your Rainbows are fighting so furiously. Was it just the males fighting?

If have and have had plenty of Rainbows from small to large, I have also spawned and bread them, but the fry never survived because I dont have the room to raise them. But I have never seen them fight, like you have said. They do have small tiffs and chases and the odd scrape, but they never hurt each-other. Even when I add new females or take the females away then add them again. It is very strange. Did you fish always have a planted tank?

mack

Thank you for the reply! Yes, it's just the males. It's possible I have too many male rainbows in the tank, I don't know. I've never seen them this vicious before. Most of the fighting happens when the lights are out. My most beautiful male Lacustris was chased all over the tank relentlessly after losing a battle. Both fish had torn fins, side damage, and 1 clouded eye. I quarantined the one, and he's completely healed. It wasn't the usual display type spawning behavior, where they try to out pose each other. I was concerned after it happened, and I found this video of 2 female Boesmanis in a similar type of fight:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... t=lf&hl=en

I didn't decorate the tank with plants until recently, because I was waiting for the replacement. It just had driftwood and rocks. They did have plants in the past. Just fake plants with some java fern. My clown loaches eat any other type of live vegetation!

I'm more concerned about the loaches now. It doesn't seem like ich. It's so ironic that fish with columnaris should be kept in cooler water, but that allowed the parasite to surface. I HATE medicating my fish. Should I just raise the temps to 78-80 and continue with the salt?

hi mate and welcome,
i don't think you have either of the said diseases bud, there's quite a few shots from different members showing the spots/tubercules on the head area of their clowns.
but just to make sure of this can you tell us if this is the only region of the body that the spots are?, and if you could get a pic of the fish side on it would helps immensely.

mick

I agree, that is not white spot or velvet. Those are male tubercles.

Hi, and thank you for the welcome! Just so there is no confusion, I changed the first picture of the male fish that isn't mine to a link. All the pictures above are of my fish. I also deleted the last 2 and added side views. The spots are very small, and the fish itself isn't very big. What size does the fish have to be to develop tubercles?

I don't think you can put a distinction between size and age with clowns. There are large clowns that are only a few years old, but some small clowns are quite old. In some cases the small fish may be stunted, but it also could be special genetic traits of the fish.

Hi,
And I for got to say welcome to the forum.
Now I have 5 Lake Kutubu Rainbow males with 2 Females. They never fish each other to the point of damage. But they do display, from time to time.

This is really odd.
mack

not really Mack, the boesmani are quite aggresive towards each other and thats either sex, i had some wild caughts years ago i don't think i ever saw them without scales missing or fins ragged.
the ones you are keeping, lacustris is pretty gentle even male against male with them it's all show but please don't hurt me.

mick

That's OK, Mack, but I do appreciate your input, and everyone's help for relieving me of my worries (at least regarding the loaches).

The rainbow aggression has calmed down considerably, but the Herbertaxelrodi males still have scale damage. I think I'm going to keep salt in the tank for a while. This is the best picture I could get of the problem scales: