Clown loach emergency

[hsherman1986]

Ok, so I have a pack of what was 9 clown loaches in a 55g tank (I know, too small, but they are still small, and I plan on upgrading). Came home last night and found one dead, and one not looking well (swimming at the surface with what looked like a white fungus all over his body). Found that one dead this morning. I am battling ick in this tank. Noticed it the other day, so we slowly raised the temp. I think something is wrong with our heater, because it stops at 84* even if we turn the dial up more.

Now, all but one of my clown loaches are hiding, and its feeding time. This is not normal. I am very scared for my fish right now, not just because they are my pets, but because all of my clown loaches are "different". They each have different than normal stripes, and will take some time and heavy searching to replace all nine of them. One of them even has four stripes, and I am the most scared for that one, as I realy don't want to loose him. I have had him for about 8 months now, and he is starting to get really big.

What can I do for my clowns to make sure they survive through this? And is it the ich that is killing them? I have a smaller spare heater that I could add to this tank to help raise the heat more, should I add that and quit messing with the other one? PLease help me out here, my entire clown loach population is at stake

 

[Zagz]

The white fungus could have been the beginning of the fish starting to rot. I would get another heater and add it to the tank to get that temp over 87. At 84 the ich's life cycle is sped up and harming the fish more.

 

[hsherman1986]

ok, i took the heater out of my new 30g and added it to the tank affected. I did this before work. The tank was at 84* at that point. I just got home, and the tank is now up to 89*. Thank goodness. No improvment in the rest of the loaches, but they are no worse. Hubby just dosed with Pimafix to help with a couple ragged fins. I will keep you guys updated.

And the fungus being their bodies starting to rot would make sence. So that is something that i should watch out for in the rest of the loaches? DOes that mean definite death, or can I still save them if I notice that on any of my other fish?

I have dealt with ich before, and have had success treating it with heat alone, i just could not get the heat up high enough to kill it this time around. So right now, I have both heaters running in there, and will keep it that way. Once this is over, I will be buying another heater for this tank. EIther that, or I will buy a new one the next time I am at the lfs (I am checking out one that I have never been to before on sunday, so I will look at heaters there and see what they got).

Do you guys recommend a specific brand? I have a Guaranty (thats the brand name) right now, its the heater that came with the tank a year ago.

Thank you so much for your help guys, I really appreciate it!

 

[Zagz]

It does not mean certain death. Have you added aeration or lowered the water level to increase splash in the tank? I have ebo jager heaters, they work very well. Others can offer their 2cents on what brand they find good.

 

[hsherman1986]

the filters add a bit of aeration already, but I will be doing a water change tonight when I get home from work, and will leave the water level a bit lower to provide more aeration. There used to be an airstone in there, but I have no idea what happened to it.

 

[Zagz]

With the higher temps the extra aeration is necessary.

 

[hsherman1986]

right. i added an airstone back to it before i left for work. still no better, but no worse either. My maccoluchi rainbows are showing ich now, but not as bad as the loaches. Got some meds, hopefully it will go away soon. I have the next two days off, so I will be able to keep a close eye on everyone.

 

[Zagz]

Don't add meds, heat alone will kill the ich. Loaches are extremely sensitive to meds.

 

[hsherman1986]

ok, didn't add the meds, but somehow the heater came unplugged last night, and the temp dropped back down to 80*. Found 3 of them dead this morning, and one looking like he is on his last leg. I am actually in tears this morning. *Gosh, I am such a girl* It wouldn't be so bad, but 2 of them that I found dead this morning were the ones I was worried the most about. My most prized clown loach, Quattro. He was the only clown I have EVER seen with four stripes. And my largest, Trey. He was almost 4" long. RIP guys, I will miss you both dearly. And the one that doesn't look so well is the third that I was the most worried about.

No one else has come out of hiding today, so I am not even sure if the rest of my clown loaches are even still alive this morning.

This has not been a good day today. May this be a lesson to everyone. GET A QT TANK AND USE IT!! I didn't, and that is exactly why I am having this problems right now. I now have a 10g set up that I will be using for QT so that this doesn't happen again. I can't believe i was so stupid, and let this happen.

EDIT: 8 have died, and the last one is probably about to....

 

[Zagz]

Oh I am so sorry, what an incredible shame. I am sure you are devastated. Do you have cats? If so cats could be the culprit of the plug coming unplugged.

 

[hsherman1986]

nope, no cats. not sure how it happened.

I had woken up, and could not go back to sleep (though I very much wanted to) because I could not stop thinking about my loaches. So, I got up, turned on the lights, and immediatly saw my prized four striped loach, belly up, covered in that white "fuzz", dead. I started crying, and got hubby to pull out the body. After further inspection of the tank, I found one of my largest in the same position behind the driftwood. Then found one of my other smaller ones behind the driftwood on the other side of the tank.

After flushing those bodies, and not seeing any of my other loaches, I took the driftwood out of the tank, and that is where I found 3 more bodies. They were only dead under there for less than 48 hours, as we had removed the driftwood two nights prior to check on everyone, and everyone was still alive at this point (hows that for how fast this all happened)

I have defintly learned my lesson here. I saw an amazing sight last night though that reminded me why I wanted to keep these guys so badly. I started a 20g shrimp and snail tank, and went to go pick up some shrimp from a local hobbyist. When I first walked into his 2br apartment, I was greeted by a 150g with a school of tiger barbs, a school of austrailian rainbows (same rainbows I keep), a couple (i think they were) GBR's, and a pack of 20+ clown loaches. The smallest loach was probably around 6". None of them were hiding, they were all out in the middle of the tank, swimming back and forth. They looked so beautiful in his tank, I just can't think of the right words to describe it. I probably spent the first 5 minutes at his place mesmorized by his tank and his clown loaches.

I will get more. I have owned these fish since the first few months of my fish keeping. Quattro was the loach I got for my other loach once I found out thet were schooling fish. The other loach did not make it, but Quattro kept going. SO we got him Trey to keep him company (he was my largest). Then Una and Doce, and then we just couldn't stop buying them

And to end of this post, here is a pic of the happy family. That is Quattro, right up front. I think that is Trey right beside him.