Clown Loach unhappy/unwell?

[davebarrett]

Hi all, my first post having found you!

I have a 70 or so litre tank with:

1 betta
4 neon tetra (were 5 until sometime this week)
6 glowlight tetra
6 guppies
2 Chinese loaches (sucking loaches)
3 clown loaches.

The tank has been running for about five months now (at least!), and I have had no problems (apart from normal new tank teething problems such as brown algae, an initial case of ich when I added plants from my local fish store - from which I will no longer buy anything as the fish I got from there also died).

I got three clown loaches together, and they were all about the same size (one or two inches). In the time I have had them (about three months) they have been great, always around and very playful. One has grown huge (up to three or four inches), one has grown slightly less, and the third has hardly grown at all. Not particularly worried about this, I'm sure the little one will catch up if he wants!

About four days ago I noticed that the large clown had disappeared. The medium clown was around, but not as much, in fact only the little clown is up to his normal tricks.

The large clown is sheltering in the castle in the tank (i.e. completely out of sight) - I double checked this yesterday, and he is still alive. He will not come out of the castle , and when the medium size loach comes out it doesn't seem quite as happy as usual or even as good a swimmer, having to rest frequently.

One of my neons has also disappeared this week (completely! Can only assume it died, as it is definitely not around - I cannot find a body however, though I have had this problem before with neons when they die!), so I am concerned that something is up.

Anyone have any suggestions that may help? The other fish all seem to be ok, though to be honest I am not sure they are eating as well as they were up until last week - they used to all fight over the food, etc, whereas now the tetras don't seem all that bothered (though they are still eating).

Thanks in advance.

Added:

Sorry, just read the sticky for info to be posted with requests for help! Here are the details I have:

1. Water parameters. (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, temp', Hardness etc). I have no idea, no testing kits.
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms. As above.
3. How often you do water changes and how much. Every two weeks a 20% water change.
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water. None, except for TetraSafe when doing the water change.
5. What tank mates are in the tank. As above.
6. Tank size. 70l or thereabouts (that is the amount of water it holds anyway).
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish? No. last fish added were the sucking loaches about two months ago.

 

[amanda]

Hi.
I thought I would reply, not with much help really, but just to say I have 2 clown loaches and one of mine hides under my 'divers mask' feature all the time. I have had them since July and every night they both lie down together on their sides! I asked my local aquarium shop about why one hides and why they both lie down on their sides together and they said they have never heard of that before ever! They are both still alive and well and have been since July - they just act very strange 24/7!!! Maybe thats why they are called clowns? Who knows (I am relatively new to being a fish mum as you can probably tell!)
Anyway - just knowing that I have a hiding clown that is fine hopefully will make you sleep better!!!!!!

 

[davebarrett]

Thanks Amanda... it would make me feel better if it wasn't for the change in behaviour! My clowns always did hide for a bit, but were always playing throughout the day and would eat everything I gave them (with a particular liking for bloodworms!). Now the big clown will not emerge at all. I have checked his hiding place again today and he is definitely in there and alive, just won't emerge. The medium clown keeps him company for most of the time, but does emerge at various points throughout the day.

I think I was being paranoid about the medium clown not being able to swim properly though... seems fine when he is out. The small clown is apparently oblivious to it all!

I did a small water change today, then ran out of dechlorinator. I will get some more tomorrow and do a 40% change. Hopefully this will perk the poor clown up a bit...

 

[babyfish]

You really should invest in a test kit, they sell test strips which cover

PH

NITRATE

NITRITE

HARDNESS

You can cut these strips in half which will double the amount of tests from the same kit.

Try changing 20% of the water weekly instead of fortnightly and make sure you give the gravel a good clean each time you do a water change

 

[davebarrett]

Yeah, I will get some testing stuff on my next visit to the fish shop... things seemed to be going so well up to now that I haven't... not a good excuse, I know.

I'll update when I have some readings...

 

[babyfish]

Ok, good luck

 

[davebarrett]

I'm pleased to say it appears that my loaches were going through a shy phase (with the exception of the smaller one, who has no problems with confidence!).

I did a water test, and while the water here is very hard (which I have now reduced), there were no problems with it (the tank water, that is!!) - nitrite at 0, nitrate less than 100 (also high due to the water here, and I am also reducing that gradually). I am reducing levels simply by using RO water from my LFS, no chemicals or such (I hate them, so presume the fish would too!).

I have added many more hiding places for the loaches in the tank and given them a large piece of wood (aren't they lucky! ), and that seems to have chilled them out lots (previously the tank had a couple of hiding places and lots of plants). I always see all three of them playing chase first thing in the morning now.

 

[Joviella]

Good to know that your clown loaches are happy and well Dave. Regular water changes are good to reduce nitrate and so are live plants.HTH.

 

[davebarrett]

Yep, i agree with the live plants... they also look good! I have always had live plants in the tank, but I have now put some more in, and got some tubes, and a nice bit of African wood. I will be adding more wood slowly to create more natural hideaways, and will also be attempting to get plants to root in the wood. Should be fun!

I am now considering custom building an aquarium as part of a fitment to go along the wall in my front room.... should be an interesting and rewarding project!

 

[Al Bundy]

I feel your pain My clown loach have been hiding in a hole in some driftwood for 3 days now. Not seen anything of them.

 

[FanOFish]

I have two and the bigger of the two is very shy. They have been with me for over a year and have grown quite a bit. As long as he is growing, he must be eating so I wouldn't worry much.

Clowns are much more social the more you have. However, I'm not sure how big 70 liter tank is....around 20 US gallons I guess. I don't think you can add any more clowns as they can get 5-6 inches in no time.

Good luck

 

[bccromer]

Clown loaches can act very strange sometimes. That doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong with them. They just may be slightly stressed out. You can tell this to by their stripes getting a light black and not being as pronounced as normal. Mine would do it sometimes when they got hungry, and have heard of others doing this when the water got too cold. This is one way you can tell if something is bothering them, although many times you don't know what it is. Some clown loaches are also known to sleep on their side. This is perfectly normal as well and doesn't mean anything is wrong. Some people think they are dead when they see this, but they aren't. Basically as with any bottom fish your loaches are going to be bound to hide some. Although they are normally very active, I wouldn't worry if they disappear for a few days as long as you are sure that they are still alive. They will get some food sometime if they get hungry enough.

Brad

 

[ostrow]

When you get them so small they are very hard to keep. They can contract ick very easily and are difficult to treat, and more often than not die of the disease. I have found that the only thing that helped me to keep them alive was to add a small UV sterilizer with slow flow to kill parasites, to decrease the frequency of water changes as that tends to stress the fish and loaches especially as you tend to disturb the substrate quite a bit doing the water changes in f/w tanks, and finally to make sure I regularly drop sinking disks (I like the Marineland Bio-Blend bottom feeder disks). With small loaches make sure you break the disks into 2 or more pieces, as it is quite easy for unbalanced feeding and it sounds like yours are experiencing this ... that smaller one is more active because it is trying, and failing, to get enough food. When I had this they invariably died of starvation soon after my noticing.

I may soon be flamed in this thread on this board for the comments on UV and water changes, at least this is my experience which is why I post less in the f/w areas here. But many f/w keepers have also experienced persistent ick problems and UV has helped all of us. There was a time a couple years ago here when others also shared that positive UV experience. I'm still happy with my choice. But different keepers have different approaches.

Make sure you get sinking food and split it to give the smaller loach a chance.