My Clown Loach needs help!

[Janelle]

Yesterday I was looking for my clown loaches and I noticed that one of my clown loaches is all red around the gills (redder than my other ones) and he has some red spots on him that looks like burst blood vessels. He is also not eating and getting thin, but he is not losing his color. He's not swimming around much, just laying on the bottom in the same place. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong with him? Any comments are appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Hi Janelle,

Sorry to read what's happening. Can you give some more information about your set-up? Like tank size, other fish, maintenence ad parameters - amonia/nitrIte/nitrAte.

 

[Feline]

Are the red spots around the skin or fins?

Are the gill covers look like swollen, or rotting away? Any worm-like parasites you can see with naked eyes?

 

[Janelle]

They are in a 45 gallon long tank with a fantail goldfish, 3 clown loaches, 8 zebra danios, and 3 neon tetras. nitrite, nitrate and everything is fine. The red dots are around his gills and on his side. There are no visible parasites. The dots look like they are on the inside... sort of like what a burst blood vessel would look like. He is getting really skinny, but I got him to eat some frozen bloodworms today. He doesn't swim around with the other loaches. He just lays on the bottom all day in the same spot. About a week ago he got jumped into the filter. I don't know how long he was in there before I got him out, but he could have maybe gotten scratched or squeezed against something. Now that I look at him, his gills do appear a little swollen. And he is starting to swim a little, but obviously struggling. I hope he'll be okay!

 

[harried_mom]

I am sorry to hear what is happening...I don't know what it could be.

If you have a hospital tank, you might want to isolate him to keep others from picking on him and prevent spread of disease or whatever has him by the gills. Have you started treating the tank with anything?

 

[Feline]

Hi! yes like Harried_mom said, you could put it in the hospital tank for now if it's not too stressful for him (Mine would probably have a heart attack if I tried net them out again )

Is your tank cycled? Are the ammonia and nitrite levels both at 0ppm? What exactly is the nitrate reading?

I asked because it could possibly be poisoning from one of the above.

But from the haemorrhage of the skin that you mentioned, could be a bacterial infection as well.

So could you tell us the exact water parameters of your tank? In the mean time you could put some stresscoat to the tank, or may be some melafix.

Good luck!

 

[Janelle]

I'm not sure what the ph is at the moment.. I am going to the pet store to tomorrow to get some more test strips. Last time I checked (a few weeks ago) it was fine. He is getting progressively worse. I moved him into my 12 gallon eclipse with my guppies and he's just floating around.. Looks like his tail is broken. I'm afraid he will most likely be dead by morning My other clown loaches are fine and still very active. Is there are cure for a broken tail (if that's even what it is, but it looks much worse)? Thank you for all of your help you guys!

 

[jams.alaskan]

Sounds like an injury from the filter incident, I'm sorry that it is happening to you. What type of filter? Is there a way to insure that his buddies don't try the same thing?

ALASKA

 

[Janelle]

It is a wet/dry filter. I fixed it so they can't get in. I put him in a hospital tank with an airstone. Right now he is completely white and his stripes are extremely light. He is laying on the bottom on his side with his tail clamped up. When I got home I thought he was dead, but I can see his gills moving and every couple of minutes he tries to move his fins. I'm going to go get melafix today! I hope he's okay!