Clown Loach Confusion!

[Mattbonsai]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, but have had trop fish for about 6 years.

I have 4 Clown loach in my tank i've had 3 of them for 5 years, and one for 1 year, and these are what I want to ask about.

On Thursday, I did a water change, as per usual, but this time I gave the whole tank a good scrubbing down, as It was well over due, I cleaned the filters (in old water) cleaned the glass and sorted the ornaments, It may, or may not be of relevance, but I took the Clowns cave ornament out of the tank permanently, and made them a new hide away in the back with the rocks in the tank.

I've just noticed today, and I've never seen it before, that all of the clowns have this weird colouration on their fins, on their fins, the natural colour fades, even though the rest of their bodies are still dark in colour, and quite large blotches of the darker colour are left in the faded area?

Does anyone know what this is? they've never done it before, So I'm slightly concerned.

I've attached some pictures.

Thanks in advance.

-Matt-

[Lady Hobbs]

Loaches lighten in color when stressed but frankly, you have the skinniest loaches I have ever seen. You need to read about skinny disease as this sure looks like a case of it to me. Or they just plain are not getting enough food.

Their bodies are actually concave!

[Mattbonsai]

I think it must be the pics giving that look, they are 'concave' as you put it, I prefer fat lol, I was actually concerned about the Little 4 stripe one, a few months ago when he / she started swelling up, but now I'm happy that it was just he / she maturing.

I've seen them lighten many a times, they do it most of time when they come out for food, its the light that does it, too bright for them I think. But its those dark patches I've not seen before.

-Matt-

[Lady Hobbs]

I don't know. They look pretty sick to me. They should be a deep gold, too, not yellow.

[angelcakes]

theres an attchment of mine below,as lady hobbs pointed out they need to be deep gold and black striped,there body lightens in colour when they are stressed,laying up(hiding for a while) you took the clowns cave out which they see as somewhere safe,i would suggest putting it back,unless your clowns are getting stuck or to big,but i would if i was you definatley look into skinny disease to be safe,but if there not getting enough food start feeding with frozen bloodworm to boost the protein and put in some cucumber(weigh it down with a spoon) no clown can resits......,my question for you is what other fish do you keep with your clowns?

[Lady Hobbs]

Nice looking loach! What I don't see mine do is what I see in his pictures. Mine don't tear to the top to get food. This also tells me they are very hungry. Mine sit there and wait for it to come to them (except when they get flakes) but like you, mine get flakes, pellets, blood worms, squash, cukes, watermelon, banana and lots of stuff. Also romaine lettuce, spinach leaves. green beans and broccoli. What mine will not eat is peas.

[Bobo the Clown Loach]

Nice looking loach! What I don't see mine do is what I see in his pictures. Mine don't tear to the top to get food. This also tells me they are very hungry. Mine sit there and wait for it to come to them (except when they get flakes) but like you, mine get flakes, pellets, blood worms, squash, cukes, watermelon, banana and lots of stuff. Also romaine lettuce, spinach leaves. green beans and broccoli. What mine will not eat is peas.

They LOVE spinach. I have 2 and they will finish off a leaf in a few hours at night. As well as the loaches, my otos, plecos and snails love it. Anyway, back on the topic. I may be wrong here but it looks like the loaches may have a fungal infection on their fins, which would cause the spots. But still check out skinny disease just to be sure.

Quick edit. I think that food is stuck to the side of the glass like a cube of tubifex worms but the angle of the picture makes it look like they are coming to the surface.

[angelcakes]

Nice looking loach! What I don't see mine do is what I see in his pictures. Mine don't tear to the top to get food. This also tells me they are very hungry. Mine sit there and wait for it to come to them (except when they get flakes) but like you, mine get flakes, pellets, blood worms, squash, cukes, watermelon, banana and lots of stuff. Also romaine lettuce, spinach leaves. green beans and broccoli. What mine will not eat is peas.
mine dont tear to the top they wait at the bottom (except flakes)ive never given them banana could you explain how i would feed them with it,mine also like angling baits such as maggots(my hubby treats them to a few now and again) not often because there pigs for them,i echo the peas they dont like them at all.......and yes going to the surface for food excepting flakes i would say they are very hungry.

[Mattbonsai]

They're coming to the surface because its a Serra Nip Treat stuck to the glass, they absolutely love them! Mine like a diet of frozen peas (mine like them too) frozen blood worm, and live, flake, tubiflex, cucumber (I find plant weights work well to hold them down), freeze dried daphne, and If I'm feeling generous, live daphne.

I put the cave back in last night, I took it out because the paint had started fading, it was old n nasty, they haven't moved back in yet.

Theres only a few tetras and a sword tail in with them, but these have always been in with them.

I'm going to do a water change in a bit, put the ornaments back how they were, and hope for the best.

I have looked up skinny disease, and I have seen hundreds of clown loaches that are skinny, I worked in an Aquatic store for over a year. These are a healthy weight, their colour does look unhealthy, but If I turn the light off, and just keep the light on in the room, their colour goes the lovely dark orange, and black, the bulb is a power sun, and its too bright, but they've been ok with it for well over 6 months. I normally have a bulb for plant growth, but since i've no live plants left, I decided to change it.

I will look into fungal infections.

-Matt-

[Mattbonsai]

I just took a photo down to where I used to work, and asked one of the staff with 40+ years experiance, he said it was excess mucus, created by the fish in retaliation to the removal of their cave, crossed with the new arrangement of the tank.

I have now put their cave back in, brought some live plants, and treated them to a bag of daphne and bloodworms, washed first to avoid a whitespot attack.

Cheers,

-Matt-

[Katt]

They do look stressed and on the thin size. have you tryed snail`s, shrimp and cod.?
To help put some weight on them give frozen bloodworm`s, they go crazy for them.
Feed Morin and night if you can, different food`s of course.
What`s your temp at ?

[angelcakes]

I just took a photo down to where I used to work, and asked one of the staff with 40+ years experiance, he said it was excess mucus, created by the fish in retaliation to the removal of their cave, crossed with the new arrangement of the tank.

I have now put their cave back in, brought some live plants, and treated them to a bag of daphne and bloodworms, washed first to avoid a whitespot attack.

Cheers,

-Matt-
im glad you have it sorted :19: ,living in cheshire have you heard of a-z aquatics its on the borderline of cheshire/staffordshire,if you like travelling go there,the fish are in excellent condition and the advise is spot on.thats where i got my clowns........ill find you the linkso you got directions,it is a pain to find.but an interesting morning/afternoon out,ill go and get the link

[angelcakes]

http://www.a-zaquatics.com/or/findus.php

heres link for a-z aquatics

[Lady Hobbs]

Be careful with caves, tho, as they can easily get stuck in them. I use only pvc pipe so they have two ways in and out. Problem with some of the things you buy, the entrance is larger than the exit and they get packed in there and can't get out.......(like the castle I had that killed one.) Piles of wood works good for caves for them, too, and they love the wood.

Mine are only in their "caves" day and night for short periods but mostly out and about.

[angelcakes]

Be careful with caves, tho, as they can easily get stuck in them. I use only pvc pipe so they have two ways in and out. Problem with some of the things you buy, the entrance is larger than the exit and they get packed in there and can't get out.......(like the castle I had that killed one.) Piles of wood works good for caves for them, too, and they love the wood.

Mine are only in their "caves" day and night for short periods but mostly out and about.
in agreement.........,i have a large cave with a large entrance,the rest is coconut housing with large holes(which they love) and large peices of wood.:19: i had to take out my boat ornament has they were getting stuck.

[Mattbonsai]

The cave is starting to get a little small, or their getting too big, so I will have to wean them off it over the next few months, I'll decide what to use a bit later, I like the cave their in now, so I might keep an eye out for another.

The trouble I've found with bits of wood and rocks is you get sharp bit sticking out of them, and the clowns snag themselves from time to time, especially when they dart back in when you come into the room.

I might look into PVC pipe, I can bury it at the back of the tank out of view.

My clowns are most active in the evening, i'm rarely in here the rest of the time so I'm not sure what they do when I'm away.

Cheers for the link Angelcakes, I normally go to Clearwater aquatics in Tarporley, theres a few very knowledgable people there, and even though the shop is in a bit of a run down condition, the fish are kept in good nick. I got my fish from there, my tank from Grosvenor garden centre nr Chester, and my Fluval 205 from Stapely nr Nantwich.

-Matt-