New baby clown loach - Am I dealing with a sick loach?

[Coryloach]

Hi,

I will first give a brief history of the events.

I bought two new baby clown loaches last Christmas Eve. I also bought 9 harlequin rasboras at the same time. The clown loaches were in really poor state, especially one which was white as a sheet and skinny but I bought him due to his odd markings, a round double spot in the middle.

After acclimating I put them in quarantine in a well established small tank from which I had just moved out several years old khuli loaches and corydoras.

Within a week two of the harlequin rasboras died from columnaris which they must have brought with them as I had only read about this disease online previously. In fact I have almost never dealt with bacterial diseases of any kind...only parasitic. The columnaris seemed to kill pretty fast...

So I acted quicky and treated them with an antibiotic. The treatment finished a month ago and since then the remaining 7 harlequin rasboras have been doing really well and have coloured up nicely.

As for the clown loaches, at first they didn't seem eager to eat. After the antibiotic in the second week they started eating and getting more outgoing each day.Now they happily browse around all day and I can say they are normally active for small clown loaches(I have another 8 older ones)

One of the baby oaches is very colourful, a normal orange colour for a small loach.

The pale loach however, is still quite pale in comparison although he was way worse when I got him at first. Its been about 6 weeks since purchase, and from quite a skinny and completely white/yellowish colour with missing black bars, he's now looking quite a bit better, but not quite as good as the other one I bought with him or any of my old loaches as a matter of fact.

I've been doing a large water change every 2nd day since I bought these fish so the water is spotless...

So, is he still sick of something? I am not willing to be testing random treatments as he's actually eating very well and is quite active. His belly is not sunken, but that colour....is worrying....

See for yourselves on the video below....Excuse the algae ridden glass...Its my shrimp tank and they eat that stuff, so I don't clean the glass but the tank water is very well maintained..

Please tell me if you've seen a clown loach like that and what could possibly be interfering with him getting a normal healthy clown loach colour? They just gorged themselves on bloodworms...If it wasn't for that pale colour....see the other loach, I wouldn't be worried at all...

And a bad picture. I think I can compete with anyone for worst photographer...

For the sake of giving the full history. This below is the last rasbora that died just before it turned belly up on the 31st Dec 2016. The looks just screamed columnaris to me...though the one before died without much visible damage but they were so small when I bought them(pic is zoomed) it was hard to see...

And the rasboras now

 

[smjack]

What would you give feed your rasboras? Because you are feeding more for the loaches? As for the temperature, don't worry if it got ich. The rasboras can withstand temperature upto 32c. We get that water temperature in the summers. That pale colored loach is weird.

 

[tlindsey]

I would most definitely be concerned with the little loach. Had a loach that was pale but wouldn't eat like the others and got skinny didn't survive.

 

[Coryloach]

He's been eating normally, as much as the other one, and is as active. His belly is not sunken but perhaps he's got something. I wouldn't have any idea what. His condition is way better than when I bought him but the colour is definitely a worry...
Any ideas what the issue maybe?

 

[Coryloach]

What would you give feed your rasboras? Because you are feeding more for the loaches?

I feed them NLS pellets of two different varieties/ingredients combo, and also some fluval flake for the rasboras in particular because they seem to like to eat from the surface and the pellets sink fast enough. I also give them bloodworms from time to time. They don't have ich. I've had them for 6 weeks already so I think white spot is now out of the question. However, the pale loach may have something internal but besides the colour he's showing no signs of disease behaviour wise. I am eager to transfer them to my other tank as they'll enjoy the space and company of other loaches but still not sure if this loach carries anything contagious or not...

 

[smjack]

Perhaps he got that in the shop. Maybe it will get fat with you feeding them

 

[Coryloach]

Perhaps he got that in the shop. Maybe it will get fat with you feeding them

Well, from my perspective they surely got all they had/have in the shop because I have other clown loaches, one of which was quarantined in the same tank a few months ago. The tank had 6 old kuhli loaches and 3 years old corys as occupants which are now moved to two other tanks I have.

He is not as rounded as the other loach after looking at him for a few days.
But today he looks like he's gained colour over the last week and he's not "white" anymore, more like paler orange. I tried to take a video but since I've no intention to clean the glass yet, one can't see very well on camera.

The other loach looks very healthy now, he was skinny and poor looking too but not pale like the other when I got him. The pale loach is still very active and is eager to eat.

I've ordered prazi and I am thinking of treating the tank. It will be harmless to the shrimp and fish so I guess worth a try in case its some internal trematodes from the wild. Its only a guess and I hate guessing.....

The only problem is, the med(called fluke solve) calls for no water changes for 3 weeks which I can not do without jeopardising the fish, so I'll be redosing at each water change every 2nd day.

The fish are so used to the water changes now, they start searching for food the moment I turn off the filters and start draining the tank, as I drop some food at the same time. I've always done that in all my tanks and it works well to make fish feel good about me messing around....The clowns are not afraid of me anymore. I'd be pouring water in one corner and the loaches would be a few inches away munching on stuff...Very cute.

Fingers crossed I get this loach back to good health and he lives a long normal life. That's the best I can do for him......unless someone has a better idea.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Coryloach]

Well, from my perspective they surely got all they had/have in the shop because I have other clown loaches, one of which was quarantined in the same tank a few months ago.

The previous loach I bought end of September last year below. He also went through a colour transition. I got him because he was the only clown loach in the shop and I felt sorry for him not having any company. He's been getting on well with the old boys(for the first two weeks ran away from them) and he likes joining the barbs and SAEs at feeding time too...He's the reason I bought two new baby loaches to keep him company as he's very active at lights on unlike the old loaches I have.

 

[Coryloach]

So I noticed the pale loach is definately not growing as he should. He's a tad smaller than the other loach, not so wide in girth also besides the colour difference. There was no size difference when I bought them....

I started treating the tank nearly a week ago with Fluke Solve which is basically praziquantel. I've been doing the water changes but smaller and replacing the med removed...not sure if works well that way...

Here is the latest blurry pictures to compare...

The pale loach...keep in mind he's just after feeding on some frozen food so the belly looks fuller than usual...but he eats well as I already mentioned before....but he does get bullied a bit at feeding time by the other loach....

I do think...looking at the pictures...he looks slightly better than before..What do you think?

And this is his buddy under the same light conditions and dirty glass.

I couldn't capture them together, so you may not be able to see the size difference but there is in reality.

 

[Alistair]

I think youre doing a great job caring for them. As long as he isnt showing symptoms, and is eating well, I wouldnt treat him except just keeping the heater on the warmer side. Good feeding and water changes should have him in ship-shape soon. The prazi treatment that youre doing should be fine too.

Another noteworthy point is that this dude seems to be a kalimantan loach, looking at his last stripe extending on to the claudal pendicule, the same as the other brighter one who is also exhibiting kalimantan colors. If this guy was a sumatran variant, we could attribute the difference in color to the separate collection points. But this seems to be indeed a case of a pale loach. Hope he is hale & hearty soon.