Fungus on clown loach

Hello everyone, my first post and I'd like to get some advice and help please. Recently all the loaches in our 270 gallon aquarium develop what we think is fungus infection. They don't look like white spots or ick, just some whitish mark on their tails. No marks on the body.

We've separated them into a smaller 'hospital tank' of 20-30 gallon. Water quality is good, ammonia and nitrate reading is good.

I've been reading quite a bit on treatment and got confused on whether it is a good idea to increase the temparature of the hospital tank using a heater. I've read some forum which says higher temparature at around 82-84F is recommended because it expedite the life cycle of the fungus and presumably makes it die faster.

But I also ready other forum saying that fungus unlike ick thrives and grows faster in warm temperature, so don't increase the temperature. Apparently warm temperature of water only works for ick and white spots not for fungus.

Appreciate your clarification and help please. Thanking you in advance.

 

Before you treat anything ,it would help if you could post pictures of the loaches so members can ID the problem and tell you how to help them. In the meantime welcome to the forum and glad that you joined us. Fungus infections and ich are caused by totally different reasons. Ich looks like salt grains, fungus looks like cottony lumps or patches. Alison

 

Along with a photo, actual numbers for pH, temp of the main tank, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates would help. Also, how often and how large are your water changes?

 

HI Alison and el337, thanks for your replies. It's a rather huge tank, 6 feet long so I'm guessing it's about 250 gallons. Reading is 0 for ammonia, 20ppm for Nitrate, 0 for nitrite. Half water change done every 3 months. A bit difficult to get picture of the loaches because they are all hiding and I don't want to stress them further. Will try again later.

We've removed the loach from the original tank, separated them into a 20 gallon tank. Got 50% new water and 50% from the old aquarium. We're also using Melafix and a heater to increase the temperature to 80F. Please help recommend if I should keep the temperature raised at 80F, raise it further or just take out the heater?

I'm confused on the right course of action on water temperature given conflicting recommendations on forums. Thank you all.

 

It's true that you wouldn't want to raise temps for infections other than ich but 80 is not high at all for clown loaches. In fact, I believe that is average or even on the low end. What's the temp that you keep them in normally?

And a 50% water change every 3 months doesn't sound like it would be enough especially for clown loaches. It's possible that this is what's causing the issue. What are you using to test your water parameters? I would start doing more frequent water changes at the minimum weekly and do water changes at least every other day in the QT they're in. How many loaches do you have and what other fish are in the tank?

I don't know if Melafix would be really effective for fungus but a pic would help so someone can identify what's wrong with them and advise a better treatment.

 

Is the QT tank cycled meaning the nitrogen cycle? How big and how many loaches are we talking about? Alison

 

I am reading this with interest but as my Clown Loaches have been disease free for 21 years I have little to add to the excellent advice above.

They came to me with ich but I manage to cure them.

I keep mine at 80F. I feel they are happiest at this temperature .

 

How much food to feed loach?

Sorry guys did not get back earlier. We lost 1 loach who was swimming erratically anyway (probably swimming bladder). The other 3 seems fine. The big one has a white mark on the front of its head (can be seen in the picture), but I don't think that's more a scratch than white spot. Will keep on monitoring.

By the way, on a slightly different note. How much and how often do you guys feed loach. I mainly use Tertra bits. I've read that to prevent over feeding, you're supposed to only feed fish to the extent that they finish eating in x seconds/minutes. X usually being 0.5 up to 3 minutes. This is to prevent left over food from decaying and raising the ammonia level. But with loach, I find this advice difficult to follow. They are often hiding and only come out later (usually when we switch off all the lights). So there will always be left over food till the morning. How do you guys handle this without over feeding? Thanks all for your help

Edit: sorry not sure how to upload the picture, still new to the forum

 

I think Redshark1 could best advise you on feeding your loaches but could you answer our questions above?

Here's how to attach a photo.

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/how-to-attach-pictures-to-posts.169875/

 

Hi, I'd like to know what other fish you keep your Clown Loaches with in the big tank.

I feed twice a day. I feed a variety of foods including in order of quantity:
tetra prima granules, gmc catfish pellets, freeze dried gammarus, frozen bloodworm (after thawing and rinsing), Spirulina flakes, Tetramin flakes, freeze dried tubifex and HikarI massivore tablets.

I find that granules and pellets are great as the Loaches will spend time searching for them and if they are spread around the tank no one fish can monopolize the food source.

I feed the Gammarus generously as I feel the roughage provided by the shells will be beneficial and this food is very cheap.

My fish come out of hiding and display at the front glass when it is the time for their feed. They seem to be accurate regarding the time and help me to remember their feedings.

Regarding how much I know how to feed, bear in mind that I have had these fish for 21 years and I only feed them what they need so if they look on the thin side I adjust things and feed a little more.

You might be shocked at how little I feed six big fish up to 10.5 inches long. But they are not thin.




On the water changes, I change 50% per week but I do this in two 25% water changes.

One is a gravel vac at the weekend when I have more time, one is a simple water change midweek.

 

This is the picture of my aquarium. Basically it's 270 gallon, but we had to put a horizontal divider between the arowana and the loach (we saw the arowana ate a medium sized loach in front of our eyes and it wasn't pleasant).

So the arowana is now in the top half on his own and the 5 loaches are at the bottom half along with 2 dragon fish and 2 black ghost.

The divider has green mesh netting that allows food dropped to go through (big enough holes for food but too small for the loach to go up).

Only problem is that it is difficult to control the amount of food that actually gets to the bottom so it's normal to have excess food that I guess creates all the problems with bacteria and perhaps even ammonia spike.

Any suggestions welcomed. Thanks

 

How are you doing gravel vacs then? What are your parameters? If you're not able to get the extra food and detritus off the substrate, I imagine your levels are pretty high and are the cause of the fungus.

 

The dividers are not permanent. Can be easily removed to vacuum the gravel which I try do once in 2-3 weeks.

 

You still haven't provided parameters? pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates? What temp do you keep the main tank normally?

Not sure on compatibility of those fish together and if that divider is really ideal.

 

HI el337, actually parameters were in my original post. Reading is 0 for ammonia, 20ppm for Nitrate, 0 for nitrite. Half water change done every 2-3 months. Temperature is set 30 Celsius.

Which fish are you thinking as not being compatible? So far besides the arowana chomping away at the one loach (hence the divider), none of the other fish has been aggressive against each other. Thanks

 

Sorry, missed that post. I see it now on post 4.

Someone else will have to comment on stocking but I definitely think the fish would benefit from more frequent water changes. I'm surprised the nitrates only get to 20ppm with only a water change done every 2-3 months. What test kit are you using?

 

A decent picture of the disease symptoms on the Clown Loach is the most useful information you could give.

You have moved them to quarantine. This provided an excellent opportunity for a picture.

What are the dimensions of the aquarium i.e. length x width x height ?

What species of arowana is that ?

I have to say I also find the nitrate level of 20ppm unlikely with the stocking and water changing regime and feel there must be some mistake.

You are now doing water changes of at least 25% per week now right ?

Could you describe the filtration you have ?

I may not know much about diseases but I do know how to go 21 years totally disease free.

At the moment you are not doing it in my opinion because:

1. You are not doing the water changes necessary.
2. You are stressing your fish.

"we saw the arowana ate a medium sized loach in front of our eyes".