Clown Loach's.....Should I just give up?

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Tokis-Phoenix;1051240; said:
Yes and catfish pelets aren't found in clown loaches natural habitat either...You're completely missing the point though. Fish medicines like "anti whitespot" by Interpet are specifically designed to not be harmful towards fish like clown loaches and not put a strain on their health, while on the other hand salt is not designed as a safe medicine for clown loaches.

Successfully treating clown loaches for ich can be a difficult process, but i talk about the salt med thing from experience and from facts. I have known so many people to kill or harm clown loaches with salt, while i have known no one to have killed a clown loach with meds like "anti whitespot" by Interpet.
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Not everyone has access to this Interpet medicine. I never even heard of it so I can't say how effective this Interpet medicine is compared to salt. IME if done properly salt shouldn't kill or harm any loaches. I know others here have this experience as well that's why people have been recommending it.
 
is300zx;1051463; said:
Not everyone has access to this Interpet medicine. I never even heard of it so I can't say how effective this Interpet medicine is compared to salt. IME if done properly salt shouldn't kill or harm any loaches. I know others here have this experience as well that's why people have been recommending it.
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Trust me, many people advise not to use salt with clown loaches- i was quite shocked when i saw so many experienced fishkeepers here advising people to use salt on such loaches. People who i respect as very knowledgable people on loaches strongly advise not to use salt on loaches, for example these are the words straight from the people who run www.loaches.com;

"Dose the tank with Ich medication. DO NOT add salt despite the advice that is sometimes given. Generally speaking, loaches can't deal with salt and it ends up being a further stress on them"

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=2599


Loaches.com is the Plantcatfish.com equivilent of loach keeping, these people know their buisness and are very knowledgeble on keeping hundreds of types of loaches, they are often the leading people when it comes to the latest research on loach keeping across the world. So i trust what they say- i have also met many other experienced fishkeepers who agree with this and about not using salt on clown loaches.
 
Hello - I'm just getting into this tread bc I think I have a mild problem with ich. I have two tanks, 30 gallon each. Tank one has several different community fish it. I tried adding 2 clown loaches a few weeks ago (to rid myself of some snails, and to hopefully have them grow larger and put them in tank two), and neither lasted more than a week. Shortly after I put them in my dojo loach died. This was a bummer, as I have had him for quite some time. My two cory catfish died also, although this was in a two week time frame, so I can't say it was necessarily related. The clown loaches had a bit of white spottiness to them, but I could not see any ich-signs on the dojo or the corys. I have since replaced the dojo only, and have had no problems.

My tank two has only a larger pleco and two parrot fish. Last Friday I introduced a 10" ornate bichir, with intentions of him getting larger, which would warrant myself getting a 55G tank. The bichir was acting normal/as I expected (being generally mellow, even when the pleco was not in the mood for company) and he was eating a minimal amount, which I attributed to him getting used to his new tank. Last night I came home from work about 7:30 and he was very much diagonal with his tail up to the top. I gave him a nudge and he was alive and receptive. I had just done a 20% water change the day before, and the PH and ammonia levels were all good. I did some research and found other bichir owners had similar problems of tale buoyancy and it went away. I had also read fish can get "gassy" sometimes? I figured I'd leave him and visit the LFS he came from today to see what they thought. Well I got up this morning and there he was, totally vertical and dead. He has white blotchiness by his gills and in the "armpits" of his fins. I raised the temp in both tanks a bit before I left the house this morning, as I will now be treating both tanks for ich.

My plan is, for tank two, now housing only the pleco and parrot fish, to treat with raised temp, salt, water changes, and some type of ich-formula. Both of these are scaled fish, so I see no problem with the ich-formula.

My question is, for tank one, I have several different tetras, and four loaches in there. What would be the recommended solution besides water changed and temp increase? I read that ich formulas can be bad for tetras, and salt bad for loaches...

I do have a 10G tank I was going to use for feeder fish for the now deceased bichir. Should I use that as a temporary tank for the tetras and loaches? If so, how long should I keep them in it while the salt and/or ich formula is in tank one?
 
Can you describe the exact symptoms of the ich please or that your fish are displaying in general?

Do not use salt in the tank, a fishes tolerance to salt is not actually based on whether it is "scaled" or not (this is a common myth), but rather it is down to what sort of habitat the fish originate from in the wild and the salt levels naturally found in its habitat. Plecos in general do not take to salt well, nor do most tetras, so i would advise using a different med instead if what your fish have is ich.


What are your exact and most recent stats for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and ph in the tank? How often do you clean the tank (water change, clean substrate and filter etc) and how do you go about it exactly?

How did you go about acclimatising the new fish to your tanks exactly?


More info is needed on your situation for use to give you any informed/good advice :) .
 
yup, i am now giving up
all of my clowns are infested with ick. i had about 24 loachs, got them a week or 2 ago. they are covered in ick. i knew it was going to happen. as soon as the last loach gives i am taking my 180 down and selling it. if i cant seem to care for my favorite type of fish. i dont want any atall. keep posted for a sale of the rest of my fish.
 
This disease is easy to treat. You should be keeping these fish at 80-82 deg. When treating ich you need to add salt and raise the temp to 86.
 
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