Loaches Online Forum

hello all,

Is it common for a clown loach to vibrate?my 11 inch clown loach keeps on vibrating...tail and abdomen. Is it ok?

Apart from that, he seems to be doing quite well..

Thanks!

I have never seen any of mine do that, if they are sat in one place occasionally the do flick there fins out but not like that

Hi Chen,

I've never seen anything like that. My first thought was that maybe he was constipated.....straining.
Hope he's OK.

Suprisingly enough...when he sleeps, the vibrating stops..

constipation?how to fix it?

Do you feed algea tabs to this one?

No..he wouldnt eat anything green..wild caught fish...very picky.

Try to add a power head on the bottom where he can lay in it to increase the O2 to this one.Big boy might need a bit more flow

why?What will it do? his usual place is near the return pipe from the sump..3000 litres per hour..

I have another powerhead, but if i put it too low, im afraird the sand will screw the impeller up.

Thanks..

Try the Big chap with some fruit! Melon,Banana in particular.

Daphnia is also good for constipation if he will eat tiny foods.

is this a symptom of constipation in the first place..?

no, he would only eat live tubifex and market prawns..

Thanks alot..

ckk125 wrote:is this a symptom of constipation in the first place..?

Not sure! What you need is someone who keeps XXL Clowns like Emma.

Thanks alot again.

i just placed lettuce into my tank..hopefully he eats it later early in the morning.

i'll try to get a sharper photo of the stomach to determine whether the clown is constipated or not.

Thanks again.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but is his breathing a little rapid?

Is he behaving normally otherwise or is he settled in one place twitching like this alot of the time? Eating, browsing the substrate, swimming around with the others? Is his stool (feces/poop) normal?

It almost looks involuntary, like a spasm...but I'd think if it were neurological it wouldn't stop when sleeping?

In some fish a twitching movement similar to this is used as a courtship ritual. Male angelfish twitch their dorsal and tail fins to catch the attention of a female, some cichlids do the same. However, this doesn't seem to be the same thing. He seems to be sitting alone in the corner, no females in sight?

Do you feed the market prawns cooked or uncooked? Uncooked fresh meat could be carrying parasite eggs...also an internal flavo bacteria infection can be indicated by aimless swimming or spasms.

really hard to say. It's good that you're so observant. All to often subtle signs of stress that are early indicators of problems go unnoticed, allowing a disease to progress to the rampant stage where it is difficult if not too late to treat. The hard part is figuring out what those early symptoms are indicative of...