Very Sick Clown Loach

[Geoff-]

I inherited a 3ft tank from a friend of mine, home to a community of fish including 3 large clown loaches approx 7 years old.

Moved the tank on Sunday, gave it a good scrubbing as it was caked in algae (friend has a broken wrist and so can't clean the tank). I would guess it's about 200L, we managed to put about 25L of old water in and the rest was new water (neutralised with Prime of course). Then added all the fish. About 24hrs later I noticed 1 neon tetra had perished but this wasn't much of a concern as the neons were quite old.

On Thursday I noticed one of the clown loaches behaving very strangely - and looked very much like it was in distress. I have heard loaches will "play" dead but this looks baad. I have never kept clowns before but have about 1yr experience with a smaller tank w/ live plants and a variety of fish.

A day later a lot of the fish were breathing rapidly, and I attributed it to not enough oxygen and added an air stone. After a few hours they all started breathing normally again.

My friend had previously mentioned the tank would drop its pH, so I checked the pH and it was quite low, about 6.2. I got quite concerned and added about 4 teaspoons of baking soda to stabilise it as I was worried about having such a low pH so fast (my tap water is pH 8 and my other tank maintains a value of 8 between water changes). After the addition (which I did gradually over about 8 hours) the pH was around 7.0-7.2.

I also gave the filter a spring clean and noticed some carbon in it, which I removed. I don't use carbon in my other tank and figured that if it was stripping all the hardness out of the water it would be the reason for the low pH. As an additional buffer I found some shells in the stuff my friend gave me and added a couple of them to the tank to hopefully leach some carbonate out and improve the buffering.

The day after was when I noticed the loach was acting very strangely. Previously to this they mostly hid inside one of the ornaments, would occasionally come out once the tank lights went off but generally very shy. Most likely still affected by the move.

Here's a video of the sick guy

I have been guilty of changing too many variables! Since I saw him behaving this way I put carbon back in the filter and added some peat to try and gently lower the pH again in case it's pH shock. However it has been 24 hours with no improvement, he is still acting in the same way.

Any ideas? Would love to save this guy.. he looks like he's gonna die any time soon

The other 2 loaches are still behaving normally although they are quite shy and stay hidden. I assume they are still a bit stressed after being relocated.

Temperature 26-28C
pH 6.8 (just tested, has stabilised here for the last 2 days)
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates ~10

 

[techen]

I'll start with this, your tank is too small for them so please rehome them they'll have stunted growth which causes stress and even death.

I also recommend not playing with PH its not easy to rise or lower it. It can bounce and drop at any time. The fish has most likely gone into PH shock. Leave the PH be and let it settle. Keep messing with it and he will die.

But like I said you need a good sized tank for clown loaches, find a bigger tank or rehome.

 

[fluttermoth]

How exactly did you 'spring clean' the filter, OP?

At a guess, I'd say that you've probably knocked out the beneficial bacteria in the filter, leading to toxins from the fish's wastes building up in the water.

Do an immediate, 90%+ water change (drain the tank right down, leaving just enough water for the fish to swim upright before refilling with temperature matched, dechlorinated water; don't forget to switch your heater/filter off first) and see how things look then.

If you can get your water tested, especially for ammonia and nitrite, that would be very useful; you need you own test kits really, if you don't have them already.

Don't try and change the pH; swings in pH value are much more harmful to fish than a stable pH, and clowns are ok with acidic water anyway.

In the long term, if the fish pulls through this (and I feel I ought to warn you that it doesn't look good), Techen is right, you will need to look at rehoming or a larger tank; clown fish do grow very large (see livira's 1125l tank for clowns, here; http/www.fishforum...water-aquarium/)

 

[Geoff-]

Already own a test kit thanks, see my original post. I cleaned the filter as I always do, by rinsing it in old tank water so I don't kill the bacteria. I have been testing for ammonia frequently and it's always zero so there is no problem there.

Anyway, I did a large water change tonight and will see what happens. The other 2 loaches are behaving normally as are the tetras.

 

[techen]

He posted his water stats at the end which is why I didn't suggest he uncycled the filter. I bet its the PH swings.

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm sorry; haven't got my thinking head on today at all

It's the cold, my brain got frozen walking the dog

 

[techen]

Its snowing here D:

 

[Geoff-]

Don't try and change the pH; swings in pH value are much more harmful to fish than a stable pH, and clowns are ok with acidic water anyway.

I normally never tinker with it, but my tap water is pH 8 and my other tank stays at 8 between tank changes. I've never even seen it hit neutral.

Despite a huge water change during the move with pH 8 tap water (dechlor and temp matched of course) it dropped to 6.2 after a day. That to me is a big worry!! I found this out after the loach started acting strangely so I think he had already been shocked at that point and I tried to get the pH up a bit with the baking soda.. it probably would have been better to use more tap water instead but I only buffered it up as far as 7 with the baking soda so it should have been less of a shock than tap water anyway.

My friend lives in the next suburb so I'm sure his tap water is the same as mine. The other 2 clown loaches, 2 siamese algae eaters and several tetras all behaving entirely normally. Just this guy has had a bad turn.

 

[Geoff-]

Euthanised the fish, it was still active mentally but not recovering physically. Thanks for the advice, better luck next time.