3 clowns died...

[clownloach]

lissen up, im pretty mad right now do to the fact that 3 of my 9 loaches have died... no ick, no stress, NO NOTHING.

i guess i don't if they have a disease they are not showing, the only thing that shows is... that all the ones that have died have a cut right under the fishes head, next to the gils

it's almost like they have been cut and i checked the tank for glass and other sharp stuff.

also they look perfectly fine the day before they die could it be another fish or somthing?

[Pickerel]

Hi ClownLoach,
What's your population ?
Water parameters ?
Tank layout ?
Volume ?
How old your clowns are ?
etc...
Sorry for this policeman like abrupt question, but it seems to me that it might be some case of emergency out there.
Cordialement,
Dom

[Mad Duff]

Hi Clownloach

Have a look at this post that Mikev made the other day, is the cut or wound anything similar to this .

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=2080

[suya1]

Hi Clownloach,

Sorry about your loss. I hope you can figure out what happened to your poor loaches before their untimely death. How long had you had them? What other fish do you have in the tank? What kind of rocks do you have on the bottom of the tank?


Suya1

[mikev]

Sorry to hear this,

Hi Clownloach

Have a look at this post that Mikev made the other day, is the cut or wound anything similar to this .

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=2080

Head wounds are quite possible with nematodic infection, but they seem to be less common. The very first time I've seen a hole made by worms, it looked like a cut (and the affected fish, which is incidentally still alive, has a long scar to testify to it).

However, the chances are it is not nematodes, or at least not the type I've seen. (You should see more body/belly wounds than head wounds); but it could be something else equally bad.

Did you do the autopsy? Be very careful doing it, use the magnifying glass at least, capillari worms are hard to notice. Alternatively, if you cannot do the autopsy, it is a good idea to put the dead fish in a small container of tank water to see if anything creeps out.

Also, to your list of questions: anything added to the tank within the last month?

Needless to say, *spaced out* levamisole treatments would be a good precaution *even if you dewormed the loaches in the past* and *even if the autopsy shows nothing*. Watch the rest of the clowns for any marks or unusual activity.

Good luck.