Loaches Online Forum

mistergreen wrote:
You're talking about massive contration of salt or the reverse (basically distilled water).. I doubt that was the problem.

It doesn't need to be a massive shock. Just enough to stress the fish.
This has really got me thinking though.
A fish like a clown loach has an unfortunate journey where it might go through osmotic shock and/or environmental stresses once, twice, or several times from the time it’s fished out from its natural waters, then moved to the exporter, then shipped to the importer, then to the local fish dealer, and then into it’s final destination.

An analogy would be like it’s an earth quake to the fishes body. The initial tremor cracks the structure, the aftershocks weaken the structure to the point of failure. The aftershocks may be days or weeks after the initial shock.

Osmotic shock also weakens the immune system, and that can open the door for deadly bacterial intoxications and/or parasitic infections. Whatever the cause, I can point the blame on that the fish were new. I would expect some problems when getting new fish, especially if there was no quarantine, and if some of the water parameters were not known. IMO, pH and temperature are not nearly as important as knowing the Nitrates, gH, kH, and TDS of the lfs’s bag water, tank water, and source water. Acclimating needs to done slowly nevertheless.

There’s a lot more to acclimating.
The fishes senses need to get accustomed to the waters temperature, ph, it’s lighting, sounds, vibrations, and smells.

The fishes internal organs need to acclimate to the new water chemistry, which are things like gh, kh, tds.

The fish needs to build up tolerances to the new biological environments, that includes micro organisms, bacterial colonies, yeasts, molds, and parasites. Some good, some bad.

The fishes temperament needs to adjust to being in captivity with no place to go, and they must adjust to living in a hierarchy with other fish.

The fish needs to adapt to it’s physical surroundings. To find a safe place to rest, to not get sucked up by filters, to not keep running into the glass, to know where to get food.

It’s a lot for a young fish to take all in at once. It’s a lot for a new fish owner to take all in at once also.

I think about being in the fishes “shoes”. I imagine being dropped off in the middle of a rainforest in Borneo, with nothing but the clothes on my back. I think I would fall ill and die after a few weeks.

It's time for lunch and for me to zip it. It was nice chatting here the last few days, but I've got some work that I must do now.

Anyways, I hope this problem resolves itself. I wish good luck to the fish Shazam.

chefkeith wrote:It's time for lunch and for me to zip it. It was nice chatting here the last few days, but I've got some work that I must do now.

I hope some of this work involves your river tank with the tree root system.
We really enjoyed the pics and video. Waiting for more!!!!

No. I need to start working on my final web project for a class I'm taking. It's due Wednesday night and I haven't started yet. After that I have 10 days of free time before I start my next class. I hope to have the new tank done in that time.

Sorry for hijacking the thread again.

chefkeith wrote:Sorry for hijacking the thread again.

My fault. Sorry

Hi guys! I've basically ruled out the water quality theory- before the new clowns came in, everyone was completely fine. Then they came in and they were the very first to go-
Now the reason I'm ruling it out, although it's a great theory, is the fact that it only affected clowns, and it only affected them one by one.
If there was a problem with the water, wouldn't it have affected more than just the clowns, like the sensitive Pictus Catfish, and wouldn't it have killed more than one? A bala shark died of it the other day. It was a very, very sad occurence. It had been a time gap between the dead clowns and the bala. Sad thing was they were very satisfied fish- very playful and enjoying the currents. Then one day, one of them is gone. Same thing, black blotches. All other fish in the tank, perfectly fine. Again, if it was water quality, I'd assume the clowns or the pictus the first to go- not a bala shark I'm very frightened for the fish. It's at least a week till the new shipment of medication arrives and who knows who could die next in that time. I'm very sad because I love these fish very much as well and both of us are completely stumped as to what we could do.
He'd been treating his other colder tank for a dojo with fin & tail rot (it was a new arrival at the pet store)
Funny thing is, Donna does keep her clowns for a little while before selling them. And they seemed fine... I guess it may have taken a bit for the bacteria to manifest itself. Not only did three of the clowns in my friends tank die, but one did at the pet store at well. They were very shocked because they hadn't had a clown death for a very long time.
I'm very concerned, now that we see the bacteria is fair game to all fish in the tank. With the clowns you were certain who had it, so we'd be able to quarantine & treat them. Who knows who might have it next?
I've been very paranoid about my tanks since seeing this. I felt awful because he takes such meticulous care of his tanks and things like this still happen.
My clowns are gaining both girth and length, Lewellyn is about 2 inches now (he was extremely tiny when I got him), Alfie 3, and Luigi at 3 & 1/2

It could be a virus too... There's no cure for it though..

Well, the remaining two clowns are acting mighty suspicious so they're currently in quarantine. If one of them starts developing the blotches I'm assuming he's going to let the other clown go free- no need to condemn it :S
Hopefully this will gain some control over whatever it is!