I bought clown loach Number 7

[Loachloach]

He is hilarious. I can't wait to see him in a bigger tank with the big platies and his big brothers and sisters.
One day left...to a water change. I can't wait to give them a bit of a break but I'll start dialing the temp from 31C down to 30c, 29C, etc..I am not sure if just turning off the heater down one degree per day will do this, will the water temp in the tank cool fast enough for a day? Or do I turn it down 2 degrees at a time?
I've never done this so I am not sure..

[Maarten B]

all depends on ambient temperature and water volume. just lowering 2'c a day must be fine. temp won't drop right away. last june, we were on holiday in Bali, Indonesia, just 500km from Borneo. HOT all the time. but one day, very unsually, a morning of rain. sun came back, hot air again, went swimming. even the seawater in the lagune had cooled noticably by 2 hours of rain. the clown can take it, the mid American platies probably too. the cory should as well, coming from the Amazon.

[Loachloach]

Thanks. It's been warm last few days and temperatures are rising so cooling won't be very efficient at all.
I think the cory won't have a problem, they love themselves some "cooling" .
Last summer my tanks were at 29-30C for months on end and I used to give them "cold showers" with fresh water because I was worried about oxygen deprivation and they didn't seem bothered.

[Bas Pels]

don't worry about changes regarding central American fishes, such as platies.

Sometimes it does not rain in weeks, resulting in rather hard and warm water (DH 50, 30 C) and then it poors. Water temp dropping to 24 C, hardness 8 or less.

The fish can have it

[Loachloach]

Thanks Bas.

I hope they handle the drop in TDS as well, I'll make sure it's gradual.

I slightly lowered the temp last night so now it sits just over 30C. I think it was enough keeping it at 31C for nearly 6 days. Or at least lets hope so.

I can't wait to start daily water changes and lowering temp, so I can feed them properly too.

[Loachloach]

Well, I did the first small WC, substrate clean.
I think that although everyone is taking the treatment heroically, I can see that the panda cory and the shrimp aren't feeling that great about it for so long.

The panda cory has not been exactly active and searching for food the last couple of days and the shrimp(there's actually two of them), have been sitting in a corner not doing much either.
The clown loach and the platies on the contrary seem/seemed absolutely unaffected and in perfect mood.

I'll set the heater down a bit tonight as it's cooler at night and it will drop easier. Today it's still sitting at just over 30C.

Here's a pic of the two cuddling shrimp. They looked stressed. I didn't want to "flash" them with the camera so a bit dark.
They are quite large and are both females.

[Maarten B]

I would set the heater back to 27. They have a working range, and water cools gradually. In the morning its probably still 28. Shrimps shouldnt be sitting still in a corner all day, nor should corys. They all come from areas with lots of sudden cooling rain. 0,5 'c cooling a day might be taking to long.

[Loachloach]

Yes, you are right. I just rushed to save the panda cory who was floating.

I was hoping they'd make it in the next few days but as I was sitting observing the tank I saw the cory being carried by the current. Then having difficulty holding itself on the sand. Then next time I looked it was on its side on top of the water looking dead.

In desperation. I scooped him out and put him in tank water from one of my other tanks and it's now sitting in a 3l plastic box with an airstone and prime. I don't know if he'll make it, especially that I had no choice but dropping the temp and the TDS at once as there wasn't anything else I could do while it's in the tank. I used water from my other tank. If he does survive, I can put him in my shrimp tank. There are no other fish in there to infect with anything.

This happened just now as I was going to bed.

Then after that scare I proceeded to scoop the two cuddled shrimp together and they went into my shrimp tank. They took a huge TDS drop too but what can I do now.

And last but not least, one of my platy flashed off a leaf again. So what's happening? Is it the water change I did today bringing the TDS down a bit?

The shrimp and cory were stressed before the water change so their sress was due to salt/temp or both.
No fish are gasping so I don't think it's anything to do with oxygen.

Should I drop the temperature in the "sick" tank as planned or keep it at 30C since fish are still flashing? I still haven't seen white spots on any fish including the floating cory so I it may not be ich at all. Or is it?
Do I go ahead and drop the temperature as planned? Or should I do water changes over the next few days to remove the salt and keep temp up?

[Loachloach]

The cory made it through the night at least and seem to have balanced up. Poor little thing. I should have put it in the shrimp tank in the first place which did cross my mind. It's still sitting in the plastic box though. I am thinking to transfer it to the shrimp tank later today so I am not worried about water quality and doing water changes in this box may stress it even further.
The tank is with sand and heavily planted but it won't be a permanent home because it's just a 7G tank, but I hope it will be ok just until I get it more friends and then it will go in a leaf litter tank with fine sand if still alive by then

As for the two shrimp. I saw one of them walking around last night looking livelier. If they perish, they'll be a cannibal shrimp party so I'll know.

I'll proceed with water changes on the "ich" tank and lowering the temp to at least to 28C. I need to know if they really have white spot or the flashing is some sort of environmental stress I am inducing, or is it something else. Live and learn I suppose.

[Loachloach]

The little cory is trying to make it after an enormous amount of stress I put it through.
It's not looking very good but it's looking better compared to the floating stunt last night. It's been kind of sitting not doing much but moves from time to time to a different spot in the tank and doesn't have balance problems anymore. If it survives all this, I'll be really happy.

The two large cherry shrimp that I moved last night too, act as if nothing happened. They've been eating and browsing around. And lol, are they massive compared to the bunch in my shrimp tank who didn't get much food during the winter.

My other fish got another water change, TDS down to about 640 after nearly 800ppm the other day. I am taking it slowly, we'll be doing daily water changes now for quite a while. The temp is now down to 29C and slowly dropping. I unplugged the other heater too.
Platies and clown loach are acting normal and not stressed and I can tell the platies have even grown up during the high temp period.
It seems salt and high temps affects everyone differently.

[Loachloach]

Well, guys, talking to myself again.

I think the cory maybe coming around, but you can't really tell with corys because they are so tough and are not easily killed.
If it dies, it will join my long list of mishaps. It's been moving around from place to place often enough though. This little tank has been the quarantine tank for a lot of my small fish like my bristlenose pleco when he was a tiny baby many moons ago, my ottos, which spawned in it while in quarantine, etc... so it should be good for the cory. It's just too small long term being just a 7g tank but the cory is tiny, just 1.5cm long.

What I am learning is that the cory was fine at certain salt concentration but started having problems at higher and longer periods of salt/high temps. I got too comfy seeing it browse around in the middle of the treatment and not really taking into account that there's a limit. It's my fault as I didn't follow the plan fully and went with slightly higher salt concentration and higher temperatures than suggested for "sensitive" fish. It's a good experience which may still have a bad outcome.

However, the loach and platies absolutely have no problems with what I did and if anything are looking very good. So that's why some people's experience is good, some people's bad. It's all about different fish.

I've seen no more flashing since last night when that platy did it. I dropped the heater down to 27C just now. I am starting to doubt I ever had white spot........It's been a while since I ever had a sick fish and I maybe rushed into things and should have waited to actually see white spots..... My point is that if the fish got white spot, which got cured, I still should have seen the parasite first growing on the body, developing into a visible white spot, then eventually dropping off?.............Unless it was in their gills or unless it's a different parasite like gill flukes which got under control with salt, UV?....

On the good side, I am loving my new clown loach to bits. He's got some great personality. Today, because I was looking at the tank every so often, being at home all day, I would stick my big face right near the glass scanning the fish. The clown loach would come straight in like my dog does, and start pushing the platies away, thinking I am going to feed him and trying to get all the attention......super cute....Why are small clown loaches so friendly? When I first got my 5 loaches, they absolutely hated me. It took me a couple of years to actually see them relaxed when I am near the tank...... They used to go into hiding as soon as I opened the door of the room. There was no way I could go near the tank and them staying out. I think when I got them, they were slightly bigger, but I maybe wrong because I didn't like them and refused to pay attention to them at the time. I must pull one of my old videos and see...Anyway it wasn't love at first sight. But with this loach it is...

[Maarten B]

Good to read the clown and platies are happy. Hope the cory will recover.
Also nice to see all the detail of this treatment. Keep it up!

[Loachloach]

Thanks Marteen.

Things are looking hopeful for the cory. I saw it sifting around this morning.

[Loachloach]

I spoke too soon. The cory is dying a miserable death right now. It's in a net upside down barely breathing.
So much about dosing a cory tank with salt. I feel gutted for the poor thing. It was so cute.

[Loachloach]

Well guys, the little cory didn't make it, sad story in the end I don't want to ever contemplate again.

On a positive note I think if I ever dealt with white spot, it's all gone. I hope I did and I didn't sacrifice a poor cory for nothing.

The clown has quickly learnt that me being near the tank means food and comes up straight away.
I found an easy way to feed him without him going crazy after the platies. When I put my hand in, he lines up near my fingers. He's still afraid to go the full mile and eat from my fingers but stays about 3-4 cm away waiting. I give him a slightly larger size NLS pellet which he is able to catch in his mouth and then goes down at the bottom munching it till it's finished. Otherwise he can't seem to see the smaller pellets fast enough to catch them before they hit the bottom and thus starts chasing the platies away instead.

He grabs the bloodworms the same way so it's getting easier feeding him. He's a little piggy and very outgoing considering he's the only loach. He'd eat 6-7 times a day very small portions and it's good now that I can target feed him or he rather targets my fingers....

The TDS after daily 20% water changes is only down to 500ppm around. The heater is set too 26C and today I measured 29C in the tank. I think the LED light heats up the tank a bit too while it's on and it's been warm all week here.
Everyone is very active and the platies are being spoilt now growing fast. I don't normally feed them frozen treats daily.