froglover1982

We recently decided to move our evil Gourami into a tank in the hall becasue we can't add anything in with her. I decided to go with Clown Loaches and for the first time ever have found out what "ICH" is. The question i have is more about the snails in the tank. We have raised the temperature, currently at 82 degrees and slowly added aquarium salt to aid in the recovery of the clowns. I read that the salt would kill the sails so i put them in the quarentine tank, how should i treat them? I wasn't sure if they could get "ich" and don't want to reintroduce them to the bigger tank if they have it.

AlyeskaGirl

You can raise the temp to 84 for two weeks. Just a reminder that loaches are scaless fish so be careful using salt. Do water changes with good gravel vacs to pickup any spores.

As for the snails I have no clue, hopefully someone will be along to answer that question.

Amanda

The snails don't carry ich themselves, but the water they have on them can carry the spores.

Butterfly

Hope you don't mind I moved your thread from the saltwater section to the Clown Loach section in freshwater. You will get more appropriate answers here.
Clown Loaches are notorious for getting ICH. The slightest chill, over stressed, less than pristine water quality. Loaches don't appreciate salt or most other ICH meds . The easiest way to treat loaches of any kind for ICH is to raise the water temp to 82F(good job) leave it for 14 days, do frequent large water changes(warm water has less oxygen so need more water changes) and substrate vacuums(to clean up dead ICH). This will see your loaches in good shape.
On another note, clown Loaches get really large and seven in a 75g will get too crowded soon. Clown Loaches are wonderful and interesting fish. Here is some good information and some cute pictures too
http://www.loaches.com/species-index...a-macracanthus
Carol

froglover1982

Thank you all for the posts, i have been watching my clown all day and appear to be acting normal, i have been doing water changes along with subtrate vacuuming, keeping my fingers crossed. The salt i have added thus far hasn't appeared to cause any stress on them. It's like the more i research the more different answers i get. The salt was actually recommended by someone with clown and said the medications are more harmfull to them than the salt. I'll continue the water changes and vacumming along with the higher temp, hope this does the trick. Thanks again!
Thanks Carol for moving my thread, i'll get the hang of this someday .

Attached Images

DSCN1903.jpg (453.3 KB, 57 views)

Iron waffle

Most medications are not loach friendly as they are scaleless, thus exposing them to the chemicals rather than just he ich being exposed. same for the salt. I believe the best way to get rid of ich is to raise the temp to no more than 84* for a few weeks and water changes until the ich is gone, it works every time

Butterfly

No problem
Beautiful clowns by the way salt tends to be an irritant but if you haven't added much it may not affect them although I personally wouldn't add any more. Keep us posted on how they do.
carol

froglover1982

My babies appear to be doing good this morning. Maggie and Nemo, the biggest one and the smallest one are doing their usual swim around together. I plan to do another subtrate vacuum and water change in a few. At this time my question is the temperature. I read not to leave it up for more than 10 days, most of the people on the forum say 2 weeks. Will the added 4 days make that big of a difference?

Butterfly

It won't hurt a bit to leave it up. It takes 14 days for ICH to go through all it's stages and die. The extra four days are needed, if you still see any remaining spots after the 14 days the temps need to stay up a couple more days. As long as the water is being oxygenated they will be fine. In fact the link I gave you on Clown Loaches says their preferred temps are 78-83F . Six of the people on the site collaborated on a book about Loaches http://www.loaches.com/loaches-in-bo...turing-loaches. These people really know their loaches.
Carol

froglover1982

Thanks again. I went to the link and it appears that most of the books have a link to order however the one created by people in the forum does not. Where can i buy it?

froglover1982

To add, before raising the temp i added two bubble stones to assist in oxygen, which i heard they needed due to the raise in temp. Every now and then you see them diving into the bubbles, likes it's a carnival ride .

Butterfly

You can get it from Amazon.com or your local book store will order it for you.
Carol

froglover1982

I found it on amazon. It's amaizing how much I've learned after getting these guys. I researched for about a month before, guess i should have come here first . Thanks again!

Butterfly

There is so much conflicting information out there that it's hard to know what to do I trust this site implicitly in their advice on Loaches of any kind, have for years and never gone wrong.
Clowns are wonderful, We had our for four years when we moved and lost them. They were 7 & 8 inches, my husband called them puppies because they would always come to the top and wiggle for food whenever they saw me
Carol

froglover1982

Sad to say I've lost 3 of my loaches, 4 left. It looks like 3 of the 4 have ich. The temp has been up for about 4 days now. Is there anything else i can do? My dragon goby and angles all appear to be ok, but my clown are loosing their battle . The temp is at 84 degrees. Should I go with medication?

Butterfly

Sorry you lost the clowns. I personally wouldn't add the meds but you have to do what you think is best. Are you still doing daily/frequent water changes? The oxygen content needs to stay up.ICH is one of those thing clowns are so suseptible to and it can be really rough on them. Keep us posted.
Carol

froglover1982

I've been doing daily water changes, and subtrate vacuuming. I have two stones, one at each end of the tank, with a 4' tank, should i add more? I also lowered the water level to add more splash from the filteration system, supposed to add more oxygen as well. I also turned my sweeper upward, another added help,so I read. I also ordered the book,mention above, but not sure it will get here in time. I guess I'm at the mursy of those pesty little parasites, for now.

Amanda

Aw, sorry to hear about your loaches.
Unfortunatly, ICH is a hard disease to rid of. I had a pretty bad case of it in 2 tanks of mine.
Good luck!

Butterfly

Sounds like your doing all you can do.
Carol