Loach questions
- Thread starter rhinod56
- Start date
Most loaches would probably eat snails, but clowns are the ones that you hear the most about. They grow REALLY slow though, so if you buy them small you wont have to worry about them outgrowing your tank for awhile. I had one for about 6 months and I didnt notice any growth!
well the other day I decided to try a small maybe 1.5" clown loach, that or a 6-10" and its for a 12 gallon, so I didn't feel like running around town finding one in the middle.
2.5 days later it died. I'm thinking maybe PH shock, but I spent about 45minutes acclimating the dang thing... was going good till end of day 2.. then it just was half way curled and wouldn't stop convulsing...hours later, same thing. left for work..come home..dead....
nitrites 0
nitrates about 35
ammonia 0
ph about 7.7
oh well back to the store with the receipt in the morning...
2.5 days later it died. I'm thinking maybe PH shock, but I spent about 45minutes acclimating the dang thing... was going good till end of day 2.. then it just was half way curled and wouldn't stop convulsing...hours later, same thing. left for work..come home..dead....
nitrites 0
nitrates about 35
ammonia 0
ph about 7.7
oh well back to the store with the receipt in the morning...
Yoyo's and Dojo's do a great job and are quite cheap. Clown's are nicer and they do grow super slow.
I am having trouble sustaining clown loaches. My first one which as lived for several months now seems to be doing fine. Just really nice color with bright red fins. and hangs out with the two irridescent catfish on the left side of my tank. But the other ones that I have bought to accompany them cant seem to survive. And its getting to be very frustrating since it is recommended that they live in groups of at least 3.
At first I bought a medium sized clown loach. It died after a month or so. Two other small sized one died after a week. and now this one doesnt look so good either. They all get kinda listless and disinterested and after a while just dont make it. Any suggestions as to what the problem might be?
At first I bought a medium sized clown loach. It died after a month or so. Two other small sized one died after a week. and now this one doesnt look so good either. They all get kinda listless and disinterested and after a while just dont make it. Any suggestions as to what the problem might be?
Did they get skinny, even if they appeared to be eating? This is a clown specific (I think) condition known as knifeback... The flesh seems to hang on their bones, if you get what I mean.ckwa32;487028; said:
It's caused by an internal infestation - worms I think and it is curable.
I bought 3 liitle clowns to keep my big one company about 6 months ago. They all did great, in fact they are still havin fun in my tank!
A month or so later I got 2 slightly larger ones and one of them went all skinny and died, the other went from strength to strength. Still got him too.
Then I got another one a month or so later. He got big really quickly, in fact, out of all the clowns I have, he grew the fastest. Nearly as big as my original 6" Clown now. Unusual to grow that fast I reckon.
Finally, I got another smaller one. Ok for a while then started to get skinny and listless. By now I'd read up on what might have caused the earlier one to die and everything pointed to "knifeback". So I isolated this one in a 4 uk gallon tank and treated him with Waterlife STERAZIN. Worked a treat and I moved him back into the main tank once his treatment was done. He's now plump and healthy and happy and runnin with the rest of the Clown posse!
Hope this helps, as Clowns are such a long lived and entertaining (not too mention expensive) species, I'd hate to lose another one, and I'm sure you feel the same way.
(Watch out for exposing them to cold water as well. They don't like that either!)
All the best, let us know how you get on...
