Loaches Online Forum

I have 5 clown loaches I bought the other week, they are no larger then an inch or less and two of them are decent sized. The other three are incredibly thin, their last half of their body almost looks like its as thin as their tails are. Two days ago they were taken out of the 125 gallon they were in and put into a 20 gallon just by themselves so I can fatten them up a little bit. I know they are social so I got all 5 instead of just the 3 I was worried about, but should I separate them? I have bloodworms, flakes, loach wafers, algae wafers and shrimp pellets which might work best to fatten them up? I've red about clowns being really thin when younger or getting some kind of parasite or diereses which makes them thin. All I have for meds atm are Kordon Ich Attack ( works for internal parasites it says ), API Pimafix and API Melafix

Thanks

It is quite common for clown loaches to have a load of internal parasites when they are purchased. Many people treat all new clowns for skinny disease, regardless of whether or not they show symptoms.

Check out this article for good info on the subject:
http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/l ... chloride-1

It is unlikely that the Kordon Ich Attack will do anything against internal parasites.

Thanks, I did check out that article earlier but gave it a second readthrough. I've never heard or seen of these meds anywhere, apparently in Canada awhile ago they banned selling deworming medicines so you can only go to the vet to get them which... is pretty expensive. I wonder if theres any other meds that do the trick

Prazi-pro is a deworming med designed for fish. It is a good one, if you can find it.

I do not know if parasite meds designed for external parasites will work on internal parasites. I rather think not, though of course you can try it. Especially if the label says it works.

Old wives' tale: Feed garlic.
Fish like it, and there is supposed to be some anti-worm qualities.
It will stimulate their appetite.

While you are looking for the worming meds, get started with antibiotics, if you can get them. You will need something stronger than Melafix or Pimafix, though. Kanamycin is good, or Maracyn (Erythromycin) combined with Maracyn II (Minocycline).

It's been discontinued from the manufacturer for a while now, but you might just be able to find some "Jungle Anti-Parasite Medicated Fish Food". I've used it to successfully treat skinny disease in clown loaches, and it might be available (if you can find some) in Canada without prescription, as it is technically fish food.

Prazipro has been discontinued? I found some where now being made by Hikari
http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/md-hp ... +4oz..html

I don't know about Prazipro.

I was referring to a specific product, "Anti-Parasite Medicated Fish Food" which was made by Jungle Labs. It doesn't even show up on their website any more, but there is still some available on the market.

If you have access to azoo products , you can use azoo antiemdoparasite , its safe for even sensitive fish