Dilemma with my CL and 30G tank

[dwayne]

Hello everyone...

I am new to the forum but I have been here a few times and normally the forums are good to me but I've never actually had to post. I am posting now because I am beyond my knowledge of taking care of fish tanks and have lost 3 loaches (well almost 3, one is slowly fading) in the passed 3 weeks. I'll try to make this short, but ultimately what I am trying to do requires me explaining the entire situation.

Nearly 2 years ago now I started a 10G tank with a few fish... I was eventually exposed to clown loaches because my tank was overrun by snails. I ended up liking the Clown Loaches more than the fish in my tank. The guy at the pet store told me they needed to be in pairs or packs with more than 1 so I bought 2. About a year ago (about a year after I bought them) I moved a few hundred miles away and they lived through the move and I still have them 2 years later. Then I decided I wanted to get a bigger tank.

So in January of this year I went out and purchased a 30G tank and built it up and cycled it with some regular fish. I bought another Clown Loach and threw him in the old 10G tank and let him hang out and get used to the water. Then I go out and buy two more Clown Loaches and throw them in the new 30G tank and let them hang out for awhile in there. I notice that newest Clown Loach in the 10G tank still seems pretty small for having him for a few months but he seems filled out so I don't think anything is wrong. The other two loaches in the new 30G tank seem to be doing fine now and its been a few weeks now.

This is where the disaster happens. I decide everything is okay and I want to start moving the smaller tank into the big tank. (STUPID ME) I take the newest Clown Loach from the 10G tank and just throw him in the new tank without any sort of temperature migration or anything. At first it looks like hes stressed a little but hes swimming and eating and everything looks fine. About a week later he starts getting really skinny and eventually he dies. The other two in the same tank seem to be doing fine.. About another week or 2 later Another one starts getting sickly and passes away.... This time I google'd Skinny Clown Loaches and all this disease stuff comes up.

I don't really think its Skinny Disease because the original Clown Loach came from my 10G tank and I still have 2 loaches in that tank who are disease free who have lived for nearly 2 years. A week ago had another dead Clown Loaches die from the 30G tank which had the same symptoms and now I have another one going down the same hill with those same symtoms. But it still doesnt make sense because I have another Clown Loach in the 30G (for a total of 2 who is fine).

All 3 of these clown loaches have come from Pet Smart, 2 were purchased at the same time and 1 of them is still filled out and the other one was purchased a little before the rest.

If you have followed this jumbled post up until.. Thank you for reading through.

Currently I have 2 Clown Loaches in the 10G tank who are doing great, and 1 healthy and 1 sickly Clown Loach in the 30G tank who is quarantined in a hanging box off the side of the tank who probably wont make it through the night. I had my water tested at the pet store today and they said my pH was a little high and my nitrates were a little high. I do not do regular water changes (maybe once every 2 or 3 months) and I rarely clean my tank but my tank stays pretty clean.

All in all, what in the world should I do? Is there a possibility my tank has a parasite attacking them or is it just my tank that needs to be more consistent. I normally just dump a gallon of water in there with some Prime water treatment when the water gets low and feed them twice a day once at night and once in the morning.

Thanks for your help and if you have any questions please ask.

[UVvis]

Just a couple things.

First off, in my opinion, fish keeping isn't about the fish, as much as it is about maintaining a healthy environment for the animals first, and dealing with the fish second. Keeping water conditions as good as possible is the goal. This means more water changes will likely be in order. Removing as much environmental stress as possible will help the animals fight off disease and illness.

Next, we could use some more information. What is your pH? How high are your nitrates? Any more information about a your loaches, how they were acting, any lesions, anything odd, what they had been eating, how long did it take for them to go from moribund to mortality?

[EmilyMarie85]

For starters, can you please tell us what your water parameters are? Ammonia? Nitrite? Nitrate? Chances are that your local fish store is using a dip-strip test kit, which are known to be inaccurate. Get yourself an API liquid test kit if you can http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/p ... catid=4454 - accurate and last a lot longer than the dip-strip tests.

Secondly, clowns really need good water quality - one water change every 2 or 3 months is not enough. You should be doing weekly water changes, especially in a tank as small as 30 gallons.. a 10g and 30g tank is really too small for clown loaches. Here is a good starter read for keeping clowns: http://www.loaches.com/species-index/cl ... cracanthus

A clown loach can get skinny disease while its other tankmates (including other clowns) can go on unaffected. Pics would help, but if they do have skinny disease you will need to deworm them. If you do a search here for skinny disease and levamisole you can find some really good information.

[ClownFishy]

For starters, can you please tell us what your water parameters are? Ammonia? Nitrite? Nitrate? Chances are that your local fish store is using a dip-strip test kit, which are known to be inaccurate. Get yourself an API liquid test kit if you can http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/p ... catid=4454 - accurate and last a lot longer than the dip-strip tests.

Secondly, clowns really need good water quality - one water change every 2 or 3 months is not enough. You should be doing weekly water changes, especially in a tank as small as 30 gallons.. a 10g and 30g tank is really too small for clown loaches. Here is a good starter read for keeping clowns: http://www.loaches.com/species-index/cl ... cracanthus

A clown loach can get skinny disease while its other tankmates (including other clowns) can go on unaffected. Pics would help, but if they do have skinny disease you will need to deworm them. If you do a search here for skinny disease and levamisole you can find some really good information.

My apologies for the late response, but I wanted to thank you all graciously for your advice. I'm new to fish/aquarium environment care, so evidently, I'm unaware of what types of water and temperatures these loaches are comfortable with. Obviously, the water needs to be as pristine and clean as humanly possible. Aside from the anti-pollutants that are put in, would filtering the water be helpful at all? Just curious. Thanks, folks!