Clown Loaches and meds/salt

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catfishacr

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 3, 2014
355
18
18
Iowa City, IA
Hi, I've ordered some Clown Loaches. It will be my first time keeping loaches. I've heard/seen alot of people talk about how sensitive these fish are to some meds. and salt. Is salt completely a no go and what meds are a no go? I was hoping someone could give me the lay down? Thanks!
 
Loaches can be prone to getting ich. However, with good husbandry and stable temps they should be fine barring you don't add unquarantined fish. If they do get ich you can bump the temp up to 88F and keep a salinity of 3% for 2 weeks to take care of it. Use solar salt from Home Depot that people use for water softeners and double check there are no additives. Do not use table salt. If you don't have a digital salinity meter do this: add 3 tsp (1 tbsp) per gallon that will get you to 3%. Be aware that if you have live plants after you reach 2% they won't be happy and could yellow/die.

Good luck and enjoy your clowns!

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loaches are sensitive but not as terribly as people say. I have used salt and Paraguard with them with no ill effects. just watch your dosing and you will be fine.
 
Also they prefer warm water, 84 deg or so...do fine in many meds other then quickcure. Be cautious if u use that with them. Other then tha the, they're good. I have 3 x 8" ones in my 350gal, they act like a pack of dogs, where one gose, they all go!

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Thanks everyone all that info really helps. My loaches were spouse to come via fed-ex today but got delayed till tomorrow. I'm praying they will be alive tomorrow :)
 
Regarding salt use, I use it on all smaller clowns as I found most have ich when purchased from a local pet chain, with no problems at all.
The clowns have never developed ich this way.
Raising the temps into the eighties helps too, but it takes too long and is not a guaranteed fix as there are temperature resistant strains I understand.
 
1 - 1 1/2 tsp salt per gallon, turn up water so it NEVER drops below 86 degrees. I shoot for 88 degrees - Clowns don't mind heat. If you are prone to over stocking or have little surface agitation, add an airstone to keep oxygen levels high. After no sign of white spots, maintain treatment for another 7 days. I usually do water changes/full gravel vac every day until 1 day after no sign of white spots. As for salt - table salt - iodized or not - it doesn't matter - works fine. It should be sodium chloride, not some other kind of salt. (you could use marine salt if you have the bucks I guess)

My pod of clown loaches is over 10 years old. Have prescribed this treatment to countless others with great success. Hope this helps.

As for temp resistant strains of ich... if the water EVER drops below 86 degrees, it gives the killable stage a chance to survive and find a host. Hence, I shoot for 88 to allow for inaccurate thermometers.

I use this on all my fish - for corys I only use 1 tsp/gal salt per gallon. For central americans cichlids, heck, rub them down with salt and broil them, they'll probably survive! (if they don't, bon appetit!)
 
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