Clown loaches and the struggle with ich

[leeD]

Well I really enjoy clown loaches.. We keep getting them at work..new shipments.. different suppliers.. and always they aquire ich in our system and on our seperate tanks.. We got new batch in and they were doingt really great..like amazing.. so i took 3 and put them in with my arowana..they were doing great..but now they have ich and 3 other ones in an angel tank i have.. Does everyon else have this problem with these fish? they seem super super delicate.. more so than my discus... Any tips? and how should i treat my arowana tank..? emphasese on not hurting my arowana at all..

Lee

[Shane Tesser]

Cure them Lee...raise the temp a couple degrees and get yourself armed with one of the many meds available. I use a med called aquasol..and it has never let me down. I believe from knowing where you work that all of your tanks run off one very large filter system...i would only be guessing..but im thinking that this is where the possible transmission of the disease would come from. Ich is very curable, and yes it spreads like mad. Stress is a large factor to this....clowns in an arrowanna tank? I have always found these fish to be very hardy...i had 17 of them in one tank actually..and i think after about three or so years now i still have about 13 of them at last count....or at least that is how many i could count while they were schooling. You have now started to keep delicate fish..so with that you should have a hospital tank...especially when you are introducing new animals..you should quarenteen them! I keep a spare 10 gallon for this..and a 36 for larger fish. All you need is the water, the tank, the heater, an aqua clear filter and thats all i use, and i never have had problems with the spread of disease. Imagine how long your discus would last with ich...trust me..not very long.

[leeD]

Hi thx for the advice.. I have a spare 10 gallon i set up as a hospitol tank before and plan to put them in it.. I treated them with noxich which ive always used with success.. I was just woundering more about others experience with clown loaches as ive always had trouble with them.. thx shane

Lee

[Atlantic]

Hey Lee,
Ick cant live above 84 degrees. Slowly up the temp to 84, if you want, you can add some aquarium salt for freshwater tanks, just follow the directions on the box. i keep my temp at 84 and never have probs with ick... the arowana are fine with a little salt, but im not to sure on the loaches...just dont add more then 1tbsp per 5 us gallons...and in 3 days the ick should be gone man...good luck

[Shane Tesser]

Yes salt does work...however i wouldnt temp it with the loaches as they can be sensitive to any changes in water type. If anything you may want to dose fishes individually as opposed to an entire tank with salt..say by dipping or bathing them in a salt solution...dosing certain tanks..ie one that is fully planted..would be very bad!

[Lizzy]

Lee, you have been given some good advice. Use that quaranteen tank ALWAYS! That is the only way to prevent desiese in your main tanks. Frankly, I think that anyone who introduces new fish to an established healthy tank is just asking for something like that to happen. If you're going to take the risk...especially with sensitive fish...watch them VERY closely and be prepeared with medicine and knowledge of what to do.

It sounds like your SP doesn't have a UV filter on the system. Burlington has one and we rarely have a problem with ich...if we do, it's gone in a couple of days and it doesn't spread. We are also very observent and ich is caught and treated before it spreads through a batch of fish to the point where they all die of it. Clown loaches are sensitive, and they must be handled with care and watched closesly.

I also wanted to point out that ich can travel on nets and anything that is used on different tanks. At home, your quaranteen tank should have it's own net, water change bucket and vacume, etc. If the same stuff is used on all of your tanks at home, there's no point in quaranteening because you'll spread desiese with the stuff. Even if you dip your hands in a sick tank (or quaranteen tank), then in a healthy tank, you have just infected the healthy tank.

Last but not least, take those loaches out of your arowana tank. I would not concider them to be compatable fish at all. The clowns will be lunch soon...they don't grow as quickly as arownans do. They would be much happier with the others in your angel tank.

Lizzy

[corr]

I'd just like to add a couple of points. Ich is succussfully killed by raising the temperature and using salt. 82 to 84 degrees actually speeds up the life cycle of the parasite. But Shane is right, if you're going to use this method with Clown Loaches, do it very slowly. My dosage of salt (and most used on the net) is 1tbsp/5 gal. Add this slowly too. Salt kills the eggs. Any table salt or pickling salt can be used. You don't have to buy the "aquarium" salt at the lfs.

This method has worked for me every time I had Ich in a tank with the exception of my Clown Loaches. It did kill the ich but the stress was too much and they died anyway :(.

Be careful with store bought meds as most will say use half dosage for scaleless fish.

[sunset]

I have found "rid ich" to be very effecient and safe. I would only suggest using half to 1/3 the dosage of salt when treating any type of scaleless fish. It can actually burn them, because they have no protection. My two loaches just got over a case of ich actually, and I used rid ich, and 1/3 salt dose, and raised the temp for about 4 days, and it was gone, and no apparent stress on the fish. I would also not keep clowns with an arro, unless they are very big, but clowns grow REALLY slow. Good luck with them.

[Lizzy]

Here's an exapmle of how sensitive clown loaches can be:

I have just moved to an area that has nice soft water with a low PH...just like the clowns prefer, and even though I aclimatized them slowly, they all have ich now. I started treatment right away with salt and Nox ich and in 24 hours, they are already showing improvement. If I hadn't caught it when I saw the first couple of spots and the first "scratching", they would be beyond help by now. My poor clowns :(

Lizzy

[17730turtlegirl]

if you change about a third to a half of the water and give all not just the affected ones a strong salt bath (125 ml aquarium salt to slightly less than a gallon of water) for about 5 to 10 mins that should cure them up good but remember to give them the bath in a hospital tank or bucket and check on them every minute or so to make sure they are not getting too drugged looking if they are simply add another half gallon of water right away to the bath and theyll be fine

[Youkai]

Clown loaches are scaleless and super sensitive to salt. The amount of salt you are talking about could have some bad consequences. The salt won't 'drug' them, but will burn them.

[homebrewed]

bump the heat to 84, ick can't survive that temp and it won't harm your loaches. its a better trick then filling the tank with unneeded chemicals and what not