Loaches Online Forum

It more a matter of sudden drastic TDS changes (total dissolved solids) that effect most freshwater fish (I have never kept saltwater fih but it's similar, in a kinda reverse way). Many fish can handle a wide range of TDS IF it is changed gradually over time. It's sudden big changes, especially high to low TDS, that really causes big trouble. My cheap solution is a $20 TDS meter on ebay. But long term I'd never keep almost any loach in truly "brackish" water.

Arden wrote:
Ok.... this is wrong.
First of all ICH is not one but a variety of parasites. The two most commonly found in aquariums happen to be
Ichthyophthirius multifiliis and Cryptocaryon irritans. The former being "freshwater" ich and the latter being saltwater or "Marine" Ich.

For the sake of discussing we are talking here exclusively about Ichthyophtirius multifiliis or freshwater ich. ICH is present to some degree in all natural waters. The reason it does not effect fish to the degree it does in home aquariums is that in the wild when it reproduces it is diluted and swept away by the mass of the waters it inhabits. The salt content of these rivers is purely irrelivant.

that's the basis of my statement. i've read that ich can't tolerate salt as much as fish. doesn't that mean that the low mineral + salt content in freshwater bodies make the ich less likely to thrive, thus lowering their "acitivity" making them unable to adjust to the water condition. if ich can divide thousands of times in an aquariums, wouldn't their by millions of them in an open body of water? aside from all the bullsh*t i'm sure that it's primarily the salt + heat that keeps ich spores down in the natural environment.

off topic: don't fish go upstream to spawn? you can correct me if i'm wrong, but then clowns would be residing in between pure freshwater - brackish environment

if ich can divide thousands of times in an aquariums, wouldn't their by millions of them in an open body of water

No, there are not millions of them.

Their prey is so far apart that millions of Ich die in the wild because they cannot find a host.

Of those that do find a host, for example a lucky hatch of Ich where a school of fish are resting, there are hundreds of fish, so each fish might only get one or two Ich parasites. This is quite a tolerable parasite load for the fish.

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Clown Loaches do not live "Between brackish and fresh waters".

They live in fresh waters.
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Many fish do travel upstream, and down. The most obvious example is Salmon. They are born in pure fresh water. They live for a while in the stream or lake, then travel downstream. Most of the trip is in fresh water. The last bit of 'downstream' is brackish. Then they are out in the ocean. They live for a while in the ocean, then return through the brackish water to the fresh to spawn.
Clown Loaches do not do anything like this. They may travel within their river, but they do not go out to sea. They do not go downstream far enough to enter brackish water.

There are quite a few other species of fish that are kept in aquariums that do thrive in brackish water.
Some are quite adaptable, moving up and downstream into fresher or saltier water, even out to sea. Others follow the tide in and out so stay in a fairly constant salt level. When you keep brackish water fish you do some research to figure out the optimum salt and mineral level for the fish. Some brackish water fish are born in fresh then mature in the sea. When you keep these fish you will adjust the salt level of their aquarium over time to replicate their life cycle in the wild.

It's highly unlikely, but I think it's possible for clown loaches to survive, if the water temperatures are high enough. I've seen clowns live in both African rift and brackish like conditions. Not that I recommend it. In my own experience, they seem quite adaptable and tolerate table salt (pure sodium chloride) up to 3,500 PPM. With sea water type salts in aquariums, it's a different story.

When Aquarium Salt (evaporated seawater) is added, which includes calcium salts, the pH rises, and the ammonium ions change to ammonia, which is much more toxic to the fish. It's the free ammonia spike, not the salt, that the clown loaches they are most sensitive to. In a natural environment, there won't be that problem, as any ammonia is diluted to trace levels.

Also Like NancyD mentioned, clown loaches are also sensitive to sudden drastic TDS changes.