# Sick clown loach



## lnk (Mar 10, 2013)

Noticed today that one of my clown loaches wasn't looking too good. Its tail is looking kind of beat up and it looks like it has some white spots on it. All other fish are fine. In the tank there is a severum, 2 small plecos, 6 black skirt tetras and 5 clown loaches. 

This doesn't come at a good time because I am leaving for holidays for a week on Friday. Any idea what the problem could be?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

tough to tell in the pictures. You sure its not ick. Loaches are known for it. If I was you id get him out of there if possible. He looks sick! His back looks arched which is never a good sign


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## lnk (Mar 10, 2013)

It could be ick, but I am not sure. I have had ick in the tank a few times now. It seems to come and go, but only one clown loach seems to get it at a time.

I have no other tank to put it in unfortunately. I will try the ick medication and see what happens I guess.


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

looks like ick don't forget loaches are scale less use half dose I would remove carbon and treat right away if youre going away use quick ick or anything that claims to be fast! I use paragaurd myself but takes longer especially at half dose. No salt either loaches are sinsetive! Good luck


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

i go full dose with scale less fish they will survive if u get it fast


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

And I will bump up the temp to real high...and keep the temp high even after they recover.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

If it looks like salt spots. Its Ick. If you get it all the time something is up with your tank. Raise temp to speed up icks life cycle. IME very tough to treat loach3s for ick. The
y are sensitive.


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Moving this to the Hospital section.

If it looks like salt specks, it's ich. Higher temps and half the recommended regular dose of an ich medication like Kordon Rid-Ich usually fixes it, but if it's a recurring issue it may be breaking out due to stress. Is there any fighting in the tank, and what are your water parameters at? We got a whole bunch of loach babies off somebody who had been keeping them in hard water, causing major stress and "ich-iness". As soon as they were treated and went into softer water with no aggressive tank mates, it stopped.

If it's a fungus, it will look like larger fuzzy patches and may be caused by an initial injury or scrape...sometimes they scratch themselves squeezing into tight spots. Can you get a closer pic?

Either way I would start by testing your water parameters and doing a big water change on the tank.


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## lnk (Mar 10, 2013)

Just tested my water. 

Ammonia - 0
Nitirte - 0
Nitrate - 10
PH - 6.5-7

I had ick twice in the sumer, once in July and once in August, but tank has been fine since then. 

When I had ick other times I did a half dose and it wasn't working, but the full dose worked fine with no ill affects to the fish.

From what I can see the white on the fish doesn't look like grains of salt. It just looks like white patches on the skin. I will try and get a better picture, but they are fast and tend to move around a lot so its difficult.

I did dose the tank with ick remover last night and I will do a water change today as well.


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## Goldfish (Apr 23, 2013)

Raising the temps is the best thing you can do. I find clowns don't do well in cooler tropical temps (75 or less) and do best above 78. Paraguard is a great product for ich and it also helps with other fungal issues so I would try that. Normal ich specific meds probably won't help at all.


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## Otolith (Jan 24, 2012)

scott tang said:


> i go full dose with scale less fish they will survive if u get it fast


I'd have to agree with full dose. ich is best dealt with by a good water change followed by full treatment and then another water change after 24-36 hours later. The loaches will be just fine, if you half dose, you often end up treating for longer, increasing stress to the whole tank.


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