Clown loach with ich

[Darla4022]

I have a 4 inch clown loach and a 3 inch on, the larger clown loach always hid most of the day in a real conch shell that was in aquarium, long story short, both got stuck in it, had to break open to get them out and back into aquarium. took shell out replaced with a large clam shell. large one refuses to use it, and has been frantically surfing glass. Now the smaller one is doing same thing which he always was the calmer one. NOW the small one has ich I turned temp up today due to just now noticing it on smaller loach. question is: what can I do to solve this problem? Should I remove the larger one? will that help the smaller loach and will he calm down? its making me a nervous wreck! please help soon! d gammill

 

[Momgoose56]

I have a 4 inch clown loach and a 3 inch on, the larger clown loach always hid most of the day in a real conch shell that was in aquarium, long story short, both got stuck in it, had to break open to get them out and back into aquarium. took shell out replaced with a large clam shell. large one refuses to use it, and has been frantically surfing glass. Now the smaller one is doing same thing which he always was the calmer one. NOW the small one has ich I turned temp up today due to just now noticing it on smaller loach. question is: what can I do to solve this problem? Should I remove the larger one? will that help the smaller loach and will he calm down? its making me a nervous wreck! please help soon! d gammill

What are your water parameters? IME Clown loaches are extremely sensitive to water conditions and seem to get ich much more easily and die more often from it than other fish. My suggestion is to FIRST do a massive water change, thoroughly vacuum your substrate and rinse filter media thoroughly in dechlorinated water. THEN because Clown loachs are extremely sensitive to malachite green, formalin or copper based meds (-the usual stuff used for ich), nor do they tolerate salt at any useful level your best option is EARLY heat and time. SO because ich eventually die, aand can't reproduce at temps over 86°F, raising the taank temp above that for 2 to 3 weeks should take care of the problem. I'd slowly (over 24 hours) raise the tank temp to 88°F. Add a few good airstones (IMPORTANT- warmer water holds less oxygen) and increase filter flow if you can. The Ich will get worse before it gets better and it may kill the loaches anyway. The best thing is to prevent it. Obviously your Loaches were stressed and that may have contributed to them getting it. Best prevention habits are doing performing regular adequate water changes, good filter maintenance, maintain tank temp for species, avoid overfeeding and minimize stress. Someone else may have some other suggestions. Keep us posted, good luck!

 

[Darla4022]

What are your water parameters? IME Clown loaches are extremely sensitive to water conditions and seem to get ich much more easily and die more often from it than other fish. My suggestion is to FIRST do a massive water change, thoroughly vacuum your substrate and rinse filter media thoroughly in dechlorinated water. THEN because Clown loachs are extremely sensitive to malachite green, formalin or copper based meds (-the usual stuff used for ich), nor do they tolerate salt at any useful level your best option is EARLY heat and time. SO because ich eventually die, aand can't reproduce at temps over 86°F, raising the taank temp above that for 2 to 3 weeks should take care of the problem. I'd slowly (over 24 hours) raise the tank temp to 88°F. Add a few good airstones (IMPORTANT- warmer water holds less oxygen) and increase filter flow if you can. The Ich will get worse before it gets better and it may kill the loaches anyway. The best thing is to prevent it. Obviously your Loaches were stressed and that may have contributed to them getting it. Best prevention habits are doing performing regular adequate water changes, good filter maintenance, maintain tank temp for species, avoid overfeeding and minimize stress. Someone else may have some other suggestions. Keep us posted, good luck!

water parameters are ammonia 0.25, nitrates 20, ph 7.6, nitrites 0, I have raised temp this am, but the other problem is my large clown loach is stressing the smaller by frantically surfing the glass all day long, thats why my smaller loach got ich. Will he evver calm down or do I need to remove him. but then that will probably stress the smaller one even more. whew problems LoL
Thanks for reinforcing the procedure for ich tho.

 

[Momgoose56]

as

water parameters are ammonia 0.25, nitrates 20, ph 7.6, nitrites 0, I have raised temp this am, but the other problem is my large clown loach is stressing the smaller by frantically surfing the glass all day long, thats why my smaller loach got ich. Will he evver calm down or do I need to remove him. but then that will probably stress the smaller one even more. whew problems LoL
Thanks for reinforcing the procedure for ich tho.

Leave the loaches where they are. Did you do the water change/vacuum etc (to get rid of as many ich trophonts as possible)? Are you raising the temp to over 86F? What size is your tank? What other fish are in there? Did you add airstones or otherwise increase surface turbulence?

 

[Darla4022]

as

Leave the loaches where they are. Did you do the water change/vacuum etc (to get rid of as many ich trophonts as possible)? Are you raising the temp to over 86F? What size is your tank? What other fish are in there? Did you add airstones or otherwise increase surface turbulence?

yes left loaches where they are, did water change, temp rising slowly. tank size 125 gal. there are 5 giant danios, 8 tiger barbs 2 rosy barbs 3 pictus catfish one strawberry cichlid. i have one air stone in there right now, going to get more.

 

[Momgoose56]

yes left loaches where they are, did water change, temp rising slowly. tank size 125 gal. there are 5 giant danios, 8 tiger barbs 2 rosy barbs 3 pictus catfish one strawberry cichlid. i have one air stone in there right now, going to get more.

Great! What I'd recommend is to get 2 more small (2-3") clown loaches now and quarantine them while you are treating the big tank. Once you erradicate the ich and your new loaches have been quarantined for disease and parasites, add them to the big tank. Clown loaches do much better in groups of 4 or more. That may help reduce stress and stop the big one from surfing. Good luck!

 

[Darla4022]

Great! What I'd recommend is to get 2 more small (2-3") clown loaches now and quarantine them while you are treating the big tank. Once you erradicate the ich and your new loaches have been quarantined for disease and parasites, add them to the big tank. Clown loaches do much better in groups of 4 or more. That may help reduce stress and stop the big one from surfing. Good luck!

Ok, Im going to lfs today to get one, then another next week. Mongoose56, thank you so much for the step by step instructions. I really appreciate your timely responses and knowledge of my situation.