Please help - What's wrong with my clown loaches?
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Please help - What's wrong with my clown loaches?
I have never seen marks like these before. The fish eat well, don't flash/scratch, and otherwise seem very healthy. I've had this particular loach for about 15 years, and I've never seen this before. Please help me figure this out. Thank you! Scroll down for the same picture, zoomed in.
Very nice clown loach.
Can you be more specific with the marks? Is it the white marks? I see a some white marks, but I can't tell if they are just dirty glass or not.
Either way, maybe this is a water quality problem.
What is the actual total water volume of the aquarium system? (filters included)
What are the water parameters of the aquarium and of the source water? (kH, gH, TDS, nitrates)
How often are water changes done and how much water is changed? How high are the Nitrates before and after each water change?
What do you feed the fish, how often do you feed them, and how much do you feed them?
Tell me about that big green and white rock. What kind of rock is it and how long has it been in the aquarium? Is algae making it green?
Can you be more specific with the marks? Is it the white marks? I see a some white marks, but I can't tell if they are just dirty glass or not.
Either way, maybe this is a water quality problem.
What is the actual total water volume of the aquarium system? (filters included)
What are the water parameters of the aquarium and of the source water? (kH, gH, TDS, nitrates)
How often are water changes done and how much water is changed? How high are the Nitrates before and after each water change?
What do you feed the fish, how often do you feed them, and how much do you feed them?
Tell me about that big green and white rock. What kind of rock is it and how long has it been in the aquarium? Is algae making it green?
Thanks, chefkieth! I love him or her, too!
I'm talking about the white marks that look like little scrapes, or pits. It's tough to tell, because this fish doesn't like to be stared at. It's not dirty glass, though. Some of the other fish have similar markings.
It's a 120 gallon tank with a wet/dry that includes a 13.5 gallon sump. The filter itself is rated for a 175 gallon tank, and I purchased an additional 50 bio balls, and the pump is supposed to flow at 900 gph. I have 2 Penn Plax Cascade 700 canister filters rated at 185 gph. I chose these filters, because I wanted lower flow for the 2 18 watt Coralife UVs to hopefully kill parasites. Each canister filter has 2 250 ml bags of Purigen and regular sponge filters.
I ran out of test strips that show all the parameters, but the last time I tested my water, my nitrates were less than 5 ppm using a Seachem test kit. The Seachem pink scale is difficult to pinpoint. My PH is high. I discussed this with Diane (?) before, when my Kubotai had some type of lump, which healed completely, by the way. The scale of the Wardley kit only goes up to 7.4, and that's what it reads. If you could recommend good, and reasonably affordable test kits, I would appreciate it.
I do water changes religiously. At least 50+ % per week with a gravel wash. Inbetween the weekly gravel washes, I do a gravity water change, meaning, I just hook the Python up to the faucet, start the siphon, then turn off the water. I have never done a before/after Nitrate comparison, but I will.
I feed OSI spirulina and HBH rainbow color flakes sparingly, because flakes can be messy. I only feed the larger flakes, then give the smaller bits to a friend for his smaller community fish. Pellets that I now feed are New Life Spectrum, Omega One super color, and I recently bought OSI spirulina pellets. Other foods are Hikari sinking wafers, freeze dried mysis shrimp and Hikari frozen bloodworms. I feed them twice a day, but the evening meal is always when I soak the food in Vita Chem and Garlic Extreme diluted with water. They've been getting more veggies now than I've ever given them. In the past I'd give them spinach or zucchini on a veggi clip every once in a while, and maybe some shelled, thawed frozen peas. Now I give it to them every day, but gave cucumber a try for the first time. They went NUTS over it. It was really a nice surprise for me!
I have a tendency to over feed sometimes, but make sure that what goes in the tank is eaten, and not sucked into the filter, or left to rot. I watch them eat. I use a turkey baster, and all the loaches eat directly from it. If I didn't do this, only the dominant loach would get all the food. He actually grabs the turkey baster and tries to yank it away from me! I have tried spreading the Hikari wafers all over the tank, but he's just a greedy pig and eventually steals any remnants from the smaller fish.
The rock you see is just light green slate. I've had it, and my red slate, as long as I've had this fish. The dark green areas are algae. The driftwood is Swahala, and the gravel is natural. Nothing else has changed, except I gave away several adult rainbowfish, and bought 6 smaller ones, in addition to baby yoyos, striatas, and a couple kubotai. I had initially quarantined my new fish in a 20 gallon tank, but 2 striatas somehow managed to squeeze out of a small gap in the back of the tank and died. I thought the same had happened to 2 of the yoyos that I bought, but they were in the power filter, which was a nice surprise. Anyway, I didn't want any more suicides, so I put them in the 120.
I've been doing some reading about Levamisole before I found your reply, and I found your online calculator. It wouldn't hurt to dose my fish with this medication, as long as I don't overdose, especially since I had a problem with my kubotai. I'm not a fan of medication, but this sounds like a good idea for wild caught fish. If you've made it this far, thanks for listening to my rambling, and I appreciate the help!
I'm talking about the white marks that look like little scrapes, or pits. It's tough to tell, because this fish doesn't like to be stared at. It's not dirty glass, though. Some of the other fish have similar markings.
It's a 120 gallon tank with a wet/dry that includes a 13.5 gallon sump. The filter itself is rated for a 175 gallon tank, and I purchased an additional 50 bio balls, and the pump is supposed to flow at 900 gph. I have 2 Penn Plax Cascade 700 canister filters rated at 185 gph. I chose these filters, because I wanted lower flow for the 2 18 watt Coralife UVs to hopefully kill parasites. Each canister filter has 2 250 ml bags of Purigen and regular sponge filters.
I ran out of test strips that show all the parameters, but the last time I tested my water, my nitrates were less than 5 ppm using a Seachem test kit. The Seachem pink scale is difficult to pinpoint. My PH is high. I discussed this with Diane (?) before, when my Kubotai had some type of lump, which healed completely, by the way. The scale of the Wardley kit only goes up to 7.4, and that's what it reads. If you could recommend good, and reasonably affordable test kits, I would appreciate it.
I do water changes religiously. At least 50+ % per week with a gravel wash. Inbetween the weekly gravel washes, I do a gravity water change, meaning, I just hook the Python up to the faucet, start the siphon, then turn off the water. I have never done a before/after Nitrate comparison, but I will.
I feed OSI spirulina and HBH rainbow color flakes sparingly, because flakes can be messy. I only feed the larger flakes, then give the smaller bits to a friend for his smaller community fish. Pellets that I now feed are New Life Spectrum, Omega One super color, and I recently bought OSI spirulina pellets. Other foods are Hikari sinking wafers, freeze dried mysis shrimp and Hikari frozen bloodworms. I feed them twice a day, but the evening meal is always when I soak the food in Vita Chem and Garlic Extreme diluted with water. They've been getting more veggies now than I've ever given them. In the past I'd give them spinach or zucchini on a veggi clip every once in a while, and maybe some shelled, thawed frozen peas. Now I give it to them every day, but gave cucumber a try for the first time. They went NUTS over it. It was really a nice surprise for me!
I have a tendency to over feed sometimes, but make sure that what goes in the tank is eaten, and not sucked into the filter, or left to rot. I watch them eat. I use a turkey baster, and all the loaches eat directly from it. If I didn't do this, only the dominant loach would get all the food. He actually grabs the turkey baster and tries to yank it away from me! I have tried spreading the Hikari wafers all over the tank, but he's just a greedy pig and eventually steals any remnants from the smaller fish.
The rock you see is just light green slate. I've had it, and my red slate, as long as I've had this fish. The dark green areas are algae. The driftwood is Swahala, and the gravel is natural. Nothing else has changed, except I gave away several adult rainbowfish, and bought 6 smaller ones, in addition to baby yoyos, striatas, and a couple kubotai. I had initially quarantined my new fish in a 20 gallon tank, but 2 striatas somehow managed to squeeze out of a small gap in the back of the tank and died. I thought the same had happened to 2 of the yoyos that I bought, but they were in the power filter, which was a nice surprise. Anyway, I didn't want any more suicides, so I put them in the 120.
I've been doing some reading about Levamisole before I found your reply, and I found your online calculator. It wouldn't hurt to dose my fish with this medication, as long as I don't overdose, especially since I had a problem with my kubotai. I'm not a fan of medication, but this sounds like a good idea for wild caught fish. If you've made it this far, thanks for listening to my rambling, and I appreciate the help!
Last edited by jwyfk on Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
It sounds like the loaches have supurb water conditions.
The Aquarium Pharmacuticals Test Kits are good, but also cheap. A TDS meter can be found on Ebay for a decent price.
I'm not sure what could be causing the white marks. Hopefully someone else here has had experience with this.
If the problem gets worse though I'd probably treat the fish with Melafix in a quarantine tank.
The Aquarium Pharmacuticals Test Kits are good, but also cheap. A TDS meter can be found on Ebay for a decent price.
I'm not sure what could be causing the white marks. Hopefully someone else here has had experience with this.
If the problem gets worse though I'd probably treat the fish with Melafix in a quarantine tank.
I do my best to give them a good home. Sorry about my ultra long message last night. It was a bit too much information. Thanks for the advice about test kits. I found several TDS meters. What brands are good, if you don't mind me asking?
Do you think it's possible for baby yoyo loaches (I recently bought 6), to nip at the loaches and cause these marks? I have no idea what happens when the lights go out.
Do you think it's possible for baby yoyo loaches (I recently bought 6), to nip at the loaches and cause these marks? I have no idea what happens when the lights go out.
I only have experience with the Hanna TDS-4 meter. It's a good accurate meter, with a long lasting battery. I haven't had to change the battery yet and I've had the meter for 2 years now. I use it about 10 times per week also. I check the TDS of the aquarium before, during, and after I do water changes. The TDS meter saves the time and effort that it takes to do nitrate tests.
I'm not sure if the Yoyo's could do that. I guess it's possible. If it's not from bumps, scrapes, or fighting then I'm not sure what it could be. I would guess that a flesh eating parasite could cause it, but I'd think that the Yoyo's would be infected with it too if that was the case.
If it's a minor problem, it should heal quickly. Lets hope for that. Let us know if it gets any worse though.
I'm not sure if the Yoyo's could do that. I guess it's possible. If it's not from bumps, scrapes, or fighting then I'm not sure what it could be. I would guess that a flesh eating parasite could cause it, but I'd think that the Yoyo's would be infected with it too if that was the case.
If it's a minor problem, it should heal quickly. Lets hope for that. Let us know if it gets any worse though.
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