Loaches Online Forum

About 3 months ago i purchased 3 clowns about 1in long. Have them in a grow out tank a 33 long with some sids and acouple of ottos. Two months go by and sids are healthy, ottos doing great and two of the three clowns look to be getting bigger than the third. Couple weeks go by and notice a black spot on its abdomin(Sp) area and it looks skinny... It now is in a quaratine tank. He is really thin but, looks for food and stays active. In the grow out tank i do weekly water changes (30-40%) also i have an uv sterilizer just to keep water clear and for precaution. Keep water at about 83 degrees (seen specs of ick). Got any idea whats wrong with this guy? Sometimes he goes to the top upside down by the waters edge as if looking for food. Gills look alittle red and breathing alittle more than usual... Any help would be great!

Most bottom fish have come into contact with internal parasites, and I would treat this fish (and all of them) with a fish wormer.

Have a look here at Loaches using the term 'skinny'
This is a related problem when the fish has not only internal parasites, but also some sort of low grade bacterial infection.

Treat all the fish because they have all been exposed.
The UV is good, but it will not kill the parasites inside the fish. Be careful with medicines and UV. If a medicine is light sensitive then UV might also degrade the medicine.

thank you for the response diana. yeah i kinda figured that i had to treat the whole grow out tank... funny though the two other clowns are always at each other. before eating, after, and even when i do water changes! all the sids do is watch them squabble haha. again thank you

Each fish has its own personality. The two that are healthier feel up to playing. If it is really squabbling then a larger group will give them more possibilities to spread out the aggression. (You needed an excuse to get several more, didn't you?)

Yeah these guys are going into the 125g tank that has my 8 alittle bigger clowns. Hopefully ALL of them will be healthy enough to join them soon!