HELP, clown loaches dying!!

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wg666666

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jan 20, 2009
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Philly
OK, I went away for 2 days and 1 night and my wife and sons took care of my fish. When I got in yesterday at 6PM, one loach (5-incher) is stuck in a plant dying....took it out tried to save with a little salt but it was already dead......the others looked OK but were hiding, which they NEVER do.....this evening, the two smallest ones(that I have had for 6+ months) are lying sideways, not moving much, and even when netted didnt do much to escape..there are no signs of ich, and no scratches or anything on them.I am really starting to panic..

My tank is a 220 high, with a jardini arowana 18-inches and a total wimp thaey have lived together for 1.5 years, NOT the problem, a catfish, 7 silver dollars, 4 small geophagus, 3 anostomus anostomus and 2 large yoyo loaches(6-inchers). There are 5 clown loaches left, from 4 to 7 inches left.....all fish EXCEPT the loaches doing fine, eatring well acting normal...the remaining loaches are just hiding under a big driftwood piece NOT eating....totally unlike them!!....pH = 6.8, ammonia = 0.0, nitrites = o, nitrates = 1...I changed about 25% of water last night after the one clown died.......

Any suggestions while I go and change some more water??
 
OK, I caughtthem all out (and some were very sluggish:cry:) and put them in a 20 long with one of the outside filters from another tank, and essentially did a 75% water change, added a little salt and set the heat up to 85-ish (was 82). No sign of ick, and no external signs.......now I guess I wait and see....anyone have any suggestions??
 
Are you sure your family didnt do anything out of the ordinary? Something funny might have gotten in the water that's killing the loaches. I'm pretty stumped as to why they'd be dying like this - that is, if they ARE dying. Maybe that one loach was just gonna die for whatever reason but not the others. The loaches might be hiding because they're spooked.

Is there plenty of aeration?
 
Plenty of aeration, FX5, 2 big outside filters loaded w/bio stuff, huge power head.....I was wondering that myself about something gettin in tank (windex or something my wife might do when I am away??,) so thats why I gave them a 75% water change....but the weird part is the other fish are acting/eating fine?? Some of the hiding loaches are also very sluggish, not even running from the net, and the 2 smallest are like sideways and not doing much...UGH!
 
It does sound weird that they're not giving much effort in getting away from the net, but being sideweays is normal for them. How does their breathing look? If they're breathing really fast it usually means they're in distress.
 
Some are breathing fast, 2-3 look like normal breathing......the sideways thing I know about, but this time its cause they are in trouble. I touch them with the net and dont sit upright.....One thing that happened was last Monday night we lost power for 6 + hours. I have a portable generator and kept the tank going, but every 30 minutes I unplugged for like 10 minutes to run the aerator in my trout pond....maybe they got stressed out??....I have done all I can for now, So I am heading to bed...Thanks for your help!
 
The same thing happend to me a few months ago, over about a three day period i had 5 out of 9 die. I gave four to a friend and they did just fine. I looked in the gills of the ones that died and i found nothing. they didnt have ich or anything like that. I did further investigation of all my filters and never thought about looking at the hang on filter. Well i came to notice my roommate used a bolt to angle a filter because it was making a lot of noise. The bolt was completely rusted and i removed it did several water changes over a week and put my loaches back in
 
Just a sad update, 4 of 8 are dead, the biggest died this Am, was 6.75 inches and really high bodied and fat. Not a mark on it, no ich, gills perfect and pink inside....then the two small oddballs that I got a few months back, at around 2.5 inches....3 of the remaining 4 look strong, the only oddball left, a 4 stripe, is a little sluggish, but not breathing heavy anymore........this is really depressing.....All fish in the main tank eating fine and healthy, WTF!?
 
Sorry that you lost some of your loaches. I have a school of 9 of them ranging from 4-7.5 " Despite what some people say about clown loaches and not being tolerant of certain water conditions, I have found them to be pretty tough. However, they dont do well when they are spooked or when there is not adequate filtration or when the oxygen level is low. Good luck with the remaining ones
 
No more dead today.....the 4 survivors are looking pretty active, including the 4 striper that looked sluggish before....Im gonna keep changing like 25% water in the main tank for the next 3 days and then reintroduce them........
 
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