Help me...hubby came home with clowns...I am not ready!

[kimmers318]

Some of you may remember my posting a couple of months ago about having problems keeping clown loaches....wasting away after months of appearing healthy. I had accepted the fact that they weren't meant to be for me (at least not right now) and was moving on exploring other types of loaches. I had planned in the (way off) future to try again when I was mentally ready and had purchased some anti internal parasite medicine prior to purchase. Well, my husband did a not so bright thing and came home with 3 small clown loaches Sept 27 in the hopes that I would finally get my clowns. I have mixed emotions about this purchase....and had warned him that I did not want him bringing any home after we saw them the previous weekend because I am not ready to go thru falling in love and losing them again. The inevitable has happened, as much as I tried to harden my heart and tell him "these are YOUR purchases, you take care of them" I have fallen in love all over again and am diligently watching and treating with what I have available.
They are currently in a 20 gal long, sand bottom, with 4 kuhli loaches and 2 cory cats as their tank mates. They are only 1.5 inches long and should be okay for awhile until I am ready to move them to my 64 gal. (The 64 is planned as a winter project to change over to sand, along with my dwarf puffer tank.) I am not having any water issues....this tank has done extremely well for me. Yesterdays water parameters were am-0, nitrite-0, nitrate 5, ph-7.6, temp is 82. The ph is a little high, I know, but the ph at the store was also so I will lower that over time. I treated with prazipro the next day....fed them with pepso only for 3 days...although they snacked on snails in the tank. I began a 7 day course of melafix 10-2-06 after the pepso treatment because they do have red gills. I started the course of pimafix today in case of any internal bacteria. (the pimafix had to be located and purchased). They are eating like champs, and for the first time today I heard the famous "clown clicking" at feeding time. I do not know for sure that any of them have any internal parasites, but since it is so common among small clown loaches figure it would be best to treat with levimisole (sp) as recommended by most loach lovers on this site. I am hoping that the above listed treatments will keep them as healthy as possible until I can get it ordered tomorrow. I held off ordering it to see if the preventatives/treatments that I had readily available would be enough....but I am afraid that won't be the case. Although when they came home there was what to me looked like slight abdominal swelling, and it has decreased, I do not want to chance losing these guys in a couple of months.
Sorry to be so long winded, but now, I need you experts to tell me the best place to order the levimisole online....the best form to order it in etc. and what dosages I should use. The shop owner these were purchased from claims he has had NO problems keeping clown loaches from his supplier, and does have a couple of maybe 5-6 inchers in his show tank, but I don't want to take any chances. Send me in the right direction oh loach pros and I will follow your course of action!
Here's to hoping these guys become the tank busters we would love to have in a large show tank!

[mikev]

Hi,

Pimafix is a pretty bad idea with loaches, see for example this older thread:

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... ix+loaches

There were reports of melafix being also dangerous at least to some species.

To get levamisole, see for example this

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?p=8908#8908

PraziPro is not likely to do anything that Levamisole would not.

Sorry for the brief answer, good luck, hth

[kimmers318]

Thanks for the information Mikev...had not yet read anywhere that pimafix wasn't good for clowns, or even that melafix can be problematic. I will stop both and do another water change today. Told you I wasn't ready for these clowns! I had planned on my next purchasing having all preventative meds and research here and in my brain ready to go to save the world....not have a purchase thrown at me.
As for the prazipro....it was bought last time while I was trying to save the last clown and didn't work, so I didn't have high hopes for it. It does say you can do another course in 5-7 days...do you think I should just try that? Or should I still order the levamisole and treat just in case. If it helps I can try to get some shots of the bellies....I am not sure how noticeable it would be if there were parasites. These guys are very comical (as clowns are usually) and with them starting in my smaller tank instead of my bigger one like previously, I notice much more of their activity. Line out my course of action and I will follow it.
Another ?...the bottle of pepso food also suggests on the back that internal parasite guard can be used if fish show signs of internal parasites, the pepso claims to be an intestinal parasite treatment, should I maybe try some of that too or would I just be better off doing something else?

[mikev]

kimmers318,

very welcome.

IMO, prazi is generally not to be used for internal parasites. Levamisole simply does better job. And the types of parasites that require urgent treatment are not covered by Prazi.

Or should I still order the levamisole and treat just in case.

I think so. IMO, every wild-caught bottom fish should be treated with levamisole.

If it helps I can try to get some shots of the bellies....I am not sure how noticeable it would be if there were parasites.

Do you see anything out of the ordinary? With internal parasites you usually don't see anything. If you do see something, sure, explain what you see and post pics.

The other useful thing would be for you to explain and provide pictures of "red gills". Young skinny fish often has very red gills, lets see if you really have something to worry about right now.

good luck.

[Martin Thoene]

Are these Clowns 1.5" in total length? If so, it's highly likely that the red gills are just perfectly healthy gills seen through the very thin skin. Remember gills are full of blood, so extremely red. As the fish get bigger, the skin tissue thickens and gradually becomes opaque.

Martin.

[shari2]

Just keep an eye out for their respiration rate. Watch them when they are hanging out and when active. It will be slower when they aren't moving around and will speed up when they are active. If you see them 'panting' when just hanging out, observe and see if it slows back down or is a constant thing.

I agree with martin that red gills in little baby loaches are kinda normal. Pale gills would be more of a problem.

This is the levamisole I use:

Levasole Pig Wormer

And here is a handy dandy dosage calculator created by chefkeith:

Levamisole Hydrochloride Stock Solution Calculator

Hope all goes well with these three little guys. You can do it. You already have a good setup in your 20 for treating if needed. Levamisole won't hurt the khulis or cories, in fact it may be good for them too. And never fear, we are here and will try to help.

As for the abdominal swelling? Do you see their bellies get bigger then smaller? Could it be related to feeding? When my clowns were little their bellies would really stick out after eating, then go back down. The larger one's still do if they eat alot at one sitting. They can be piggy--that's why I use the 'pig dewormer'...(just kidding )

[botiaboy]

Don't worry about red gills.When I first got mine the gills were red too.Theyve gotten a little bigger though and now their orangish.