How to treat/cure skinny loach?

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Adamrhh

Adamrhh

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Jul 6, 2010
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I bought 2 Clown Loaches awhile back around 2 months ago and the one is really skinny and narrow compared to the other one which has doubled in size. He eats and swims fine, but I know it must be something wrong. What can I dose with and can I dose the whole tank or do I need to quarantine.
 
Would Prazipro treat this he's skinny like the fish below I bought two of them from the same tank and the one is nice and fat like the other picture but the other one is really skinny he eats and everything so he appears to be healthy swims around and is really active he just has a skinny little bone popping out I bought them at the same size as well and the other one is basically dwarfing the other one size. image.jpgimage.jpg

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Sorry to hear about the loach, I noticed quite a bit of redness around the gill as well. You are probably going to want to treat the whole tank as a precaution. I would try either Lemavisole or Prazi-Pro and follow up with an antibiotic. Do you keep your tank temp above 80? Less stress on the loaches and better for their overall health. Make sure the tank is well oxygenated. If possible feed the loach at least 3 times per day, not huge portions, but enough to help keep him going for now. Keep up immaculate water conditions. I currently use Thera a antiparasitic pellets mixed with their regular food, couldn't hurt right? Hope the little one makes it through this, do not waste any time in getting treatment started. Good luck.
 
Thanks, the pictures I did forget to mention are from Google. The first perfect might be a little worse then mine, mine I do not notice any of that redness. I'm getting a bottle of Prazipro in a few days, I'll update you. Thanks!
 
Levamisole HCI (get from a farm supply/feed store near you) and Prazipro have worked for me.
Here's a guide on dosing, and a bunch of other information for Leva.
I'm not sure if they can be safely used together, but a round of leva, and a week of prazi (dosed every 3 days) has sorted more than a couple loaches out that hadn't gotten quite as bad as the guy in the picture you posted. I generally repeat the process after two weeks if I'm sure they've parasites just to be safe.
 
Your loach may not even have worms.


Skinny disease is often caused from internal parasites, typically spironucleus, not nematodes.

If your fish are still eating then treating for internal parasites such as spironucleus is relatively easy. See following link for more details.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?523470-Treating-Hexamita-aka-Spironucleus


As far as worms, PraziPro aka Praziquantel is an is an anthelmintic cestodicide which is basically only effective at treating tapeworms, flatworms, & flukes. It contains <5% praziquantel by weight, and is designed specifically to be used as a dewormer, not to treat internal (or external) parasites such as flagellates, flukes, etc.

For nematodes (round worms) you're better off treating with levamisole as per the directions in the following link.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa091

The author of that paper linked to above, Dr. Roy Yanong, is an Associate Professor and Extension Veterinarian, Program in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida, Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory.


An excellent read on Levamisole, how it works, and how to effectively use it to treat round worms was previously linked to by MilitantPotato - http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/levamisole-hydrochloride-1/talkback/1185808900/document_view



Personally I would start with an anti-parasitic treatment, then follow up with a deworming agent if that doesn't correct the problem.
 
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I would treat with Metronidazole. Use the recomended in tank dosage in addition to this soak some pellets for 15 - 20 mins in a ten gallon dosage using just enough water to desolve the metro. Pour the whole thing into the tank and let the fish eat it. Do this for about 5 days. If tape worm is suspected use API general cure (metro/prazi) the same way as discribed above.
 
Metronidazole is a good option to use as suggested by Tom, if the 3% epsom soaked pellets don't get the job done. (followed by a deworming agent such as Prazi)

IMO unless your fish is knocking on deaths door, it's always best to start with the least caustic treatment and work your way up.
 
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