PHOTOS

[FranM]

I do have pics and video. Some are better than others. I will know when I see that bone along the lateral line become barely perceptible. That’s what I’m hoping the result will be.

[Loachloach]

Yes, that's a good way to evaluate it as the fish should start filling out.

[NancyD]

My fingers are crossed for your loach. I think it will be a while before see good, visible results.

[FranM]

You both have been so great.

Let me tell you he looked no better last night. I’ve hand fed frozen foods for years because it was cool when the loaches would easily come up to feed and they are so velvety soft. Now it’s become a necessity.

The silver dollars would avoid the hand at all costs. Now, they are just as eager to come right up to feed and many times they nibble on a Loach! Freaks me out. I try to lure them with their own on the other side of the tank but one always manages back over. I wonder if this clown is always stressed it’s never going to improve?

So many stressful things happening. Apartments that would take a large fish tank are not places I want to go. My fiancé is aggravated that we are getting limited because of fish tank. I can’t go smaller with the fish I have and I really want to upgrade too (another cost). Anyway..... I’m thinking of giving up the clowns (but to whom—I’ve tried this before and I really want them in a home not a fish store). They yoyos will thrive in a 55 and the silver dollars already have.

[Loachloach]

Tough decisions Fran. If you can't upgrade perhaps its best to give the clowns away. At the same time no one would take the skinny guy, and he'd be doomed. I hope he recovers for you but it maybe too far gone. No one knows, time will tell but he must be willing to live, having lasted that long in this condition.
If you've set your mind on wanting a bigger tank, I am sure you'll find a suitable apartment with some more patience. If you don't, and rush into things, you may regret it long term, once things settle down, at least I know I would...

Its good to hear the silver dollars having improved appetites, though I hope not for loach meat

[FranM]

Ahhhahahaaaa. They are animals the silver dollars!!

Yes I agree, no one would take the skinny clown unless he/she was a real enthusiast. And to make matters worse, we have lost power for the last 12 hours. I have a battery operated air stone in the tank and I’m keeping the gas fireplace running. Thank God for the the gas fireplace!! However the tops it will get in the room is prob 76. Could be a lot worse!!

[Loachloach]

As long as the air pump is running, it should be ok. 76 is fine for the fish too. I hope you get your power back soon.

[FranM]

22 hours later, we have power!!


Down side as of tonight. The clown looks the same. I see no improvement. So either the stress of the last 24 hours has impeded progress or the dewormer hasn’t worked. Tomorrow is the last day of round 2. I don’t know. It’s disapponting.

Antibiotics will destroy the biological filter right?

Thanks, my advisors.

Fran

[NancyD]

You certainly have been having all kinds of problems Fran. I'm so sorry.

What's the timeline on your move? Maybe you can rehome the SDs now & maybe the yoyos. Keep feeding the skinny clown by hand for as long as you can. Some caring loach lover might really like a hand feeding special needs clown or you'll find the right apt. It's been a long time, but back in our apt. renting days fish & birds were not considered "pets" (we had both then). I'm sure it could be different now or where you live.

It would be nice if he made some visible weight gain, I know it's too soon to say yet. Can you post a recent pic? I don't recall him looking "emaciated", although thin.

I also hope your BF is understanding of how difficult this is for you. My husband also teared up when we had to "donate" our last clowns before our East to West coast move. We didn't have time to find a wonderful home for them, we did the best we could in the time we had. I think their chances were better at a lfs than the handfeeding discus & the smaller loaches we did find "great homes" for. There was a severe power outage soon after we moved & the people I kept in touch with lost ALL their fish. Sniff, it's still hard to think about. I haven't kept any "botia" type loaches since, but I will again...maybe soon, I'm often tempted.

You'll do the best you can for as long as you can. That's all you can do. Teary hugs!

[FranM]

Thank you, Nancy.

I see you feel my pain. The good news is I’m not under the gun to move. My mother and I actually live together and I’m here four days a week. The other three I spend with my fiancé. There’s no sense in purchasing the bigger tank now only to remove it again whenever we move. My ideal is to have it set up in a new place and have it ready to go. I had a company move the tank from my in state move last time and that cost $225. They don’t move the tank only the fish. Once the fish were caught the tank water was saved onto the moving van and refilled when I moved the tank to the new place. I can only imagine what the cost is now.

I won’t budge in giving up an aquarium. It’s my hobby and I would be resentful if I didn’t have it. It drives me crazy yet I can’t live without it. LOL. I’m just going to be status quo for now. I’m praying the right rental opens up. I don’t want to give up any of them but I will try to compromise and be practical. It must’ve been extremely difficult moving for you moving from east to west. It’s so rewarding to keep the lives going so long. That was an awful disaster to have lost all the fish.

Thank you for your understanding. I do want to explore another treatment. I will keep hand feeding, of course. I will try a pic now. Ty.

[FranM]

https://s26.postimg.org/ilvhkrvbt/499_C ... C941_B.jpg

https://s26.postimg.org/z9mzn9xt5/9_B61 ... _E13_E.jpg

Postimages doesn’t seem to allow video uploads so these are screen shots of the videos. Not the best but you should be able to see the indention of the tissue in the top half.

[NancyD]

Yes, I see he still looks thin...but nothing like my "veggie" loach, he was emaciated.

I'm glad you have some time to regroup before you have to move. Maybe you can run often over to your mom's during your move to handfeed your special loach until you find a great home for him.

[Loachloach]

I don't know if its the angle of the pictures but he looks very slightly better to me?

For reference, here is my sickly loach below straight after treatment last year, after recovering his normal colour but he was still skinny/pinched above the eyes...

https://youtu.be/vfZDLrmgPVQ

Less than a year later below....I can't quite recall when he filled out to be honest. I knew the med worked when he turned yellow from being white as a sheet, so I sort of stopped taking pictures of the progress.

The one in the middle


The one on the left

[FranM]

Your skinny video is exactly what mine looks like now. What was it that you used for treatment? The Flubendazole dewormer powder?

Today I will change water since I could not on Friday and Saturday due to storm. I’ve performed two-4 day treatments of the Kusuri. Should I retreat or wait a couple weeks?

Thanks for all the input Loach and Nancy.

https://youtu.be/A-fZZ0dyR5g

Here’s the video I uploaded to YouTube. The video that plays right after was that same healed clown in 2016. It took a year to get him healthy. Now here I am again in 2017-2018 dealing with the same.

[Loachloach]

Your skinny video is exactly what mine looks like now. What was it that you used for treatment? The Flubendazole dewormer powder?

Yes.