Loaches Online Forum

My clown is acting extremely weird he's spending to much time next to the heater and the outlet of the canister, at night he goes to the bottom. Temp in the tank at 83.5 F 28.5c . I did treat the tank at night with melafix thats about it.

Some fish do not respond well to Melafix. I would do an immediate water change, as large a volume as you can to dilute the Melafix as much as you can. Increase the water movement as much as you can to increase the oxygen level in the tank.
Repeat tomorrow to again dilute it some more.

The label suggests that it is not removed as readily by Activated Carbon. I would add fresh AC to the filter ASAP, then replace it in 2-3 days with more fresh.

What are you treating with Melafix?

Do you have good oxygenation at that temperature?

Emma

Heres tank setup


If anyone lives close to me, can someone take him until I get this fluke my tank is having, i dont want to loose him... Baton Rouge,LA

Theres a powerhead maxi-jet 900 I turn on the venturi . Well his been doing this for sometime, but never infront of the outlet.

Can you post the most recent water test parameters?
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH and any other tests you have?
How many fish and what species are in this tank?

maybee lack of cover could be a possible cause?

Im about to do a water change, also going to test the water, and maybe so, need some cover, hum.... coconut .... oo and my heater just failed right now going up there to fix it.


I mean boiler. hahha sorry

I was going to say it seems to be the darkest corner. Lean a piece of slate or wood or coconut shell up against the side glass. That way you can see him if you need to, but he can feel like he's getting away from it all.

And I agree with Diana. melafix is not always well received by loaches. Could be part of the reason he's wanting to 'get away from it all.'

Thanks everyone for your help, I really appreciate it, thank you very much Shari always there Ill keep you updated it. Im going to do a water test and then a water change, or should i do it after?

Do a water test both before and after.
The before might show something odd, the after will show how much that has been reduced. If you have any suspicion that there is anything different with the tap water, test that, too.

before and after. and write it down for us, please.

btw. Your clown is looking a little pale. Not greyed out, but just a bit pale.
I happen to have some tea tree oil. I make my own 'Fake Melafix'. 1/4 tsp. 100% pure tea tree oil with 8 TBS. dechlorinated water. Shake it up well and voila. Way less expensive.

Thought I'd do a little self-experimentation.
What does tea tree oil feel like on skin?

Well, it's not very 'oily'. It's quite thin and readily absorbed right into the skin. Two minutes later, I look at the small spot where it was on my hand, and what do I see? There is a definite pale patch where the oil was.

What does that mean, if anything? I'm not sure. But it was interesting. And another btw--it doesn't wash off well. After two hand washings with warm water and soap the pale patch is still there and my skin still reeks of Melaleuca. I rather like the smell, so that's not an issue.

What I am wondering though, is what would bathing in it be like? Given that clowns are very small scaled fish, how much absorption of such a potent 'natural' substance can they tolerate? Dunno. Just got to thinking about it and thought I'd see how it felt on myself. It doesn't sting. But it is sucked right into the skin. And stays there for a good long time.

i had a striata acting weird like that about a month ago.

I didnt know what to do so i just kept an eye on it, and it acted like that for about 2 days and then was fine. Still happy to this day as far as i can tell.

I cant say the same will happen with your fish, but just a similar experience.

Ok this is odd, tested the water before and after

Before:
AMMO: 0---- No2: .25( its almost to 0) --- No3: .5

After:
Ammo: 0 ---No.2 0 ---No3 0

Thats all the test I have.. O the PH avg. 7.6 - 7.8

Temp : 82.2F 28.2c

I have named him, I never named my fish but o well this name came to me..
Norman . What do you think?

Glad the nitrites are gone. Elevated nitrites stress fish badly. Could have been part of your original problem, or due to the Maracyn activity on the biofilter. not sure.