Help With Clown Loach... Scars

Hello all; I joined this site so I could get help with my poor clown loach, as well as future advice on different topics. I have a 30 gallon tank with a clown loach, guppies (breeding... lots of babies) and snails (small ones everywhere). I had other fish at one time - zebra tetras and neon, a few tiger barbs... all finally died... I found a few bodies but most ended up missing...

Anyways, I've noticed these strange looking scars on my clown loaches body. I'm not sure if it's a disease, or scars from fights of the past. Honestly it looks like fish ulcers or bites from the baby guppies (do they do that?) He seems healthy enough... swimming around the tank at ease, doing the weird clown loach swimming upside down thing from time to time. Strange thing is, he has been in the front of the tank often. He normally always hides in the back and only
Comes out when there's no one around. For the passed couple of weeks he has been swimming all up front. That's when noticed the scars and his odd behavior.

I've had a fish tank since I was little, my dad introduced me to keeping fish very young. Needless to say, I'm not very good with the tank settings. I'm pretty sure my PH and all that is alright. I have seen ick, fungus, tail rot, bloat... most fish diseases. Never this. Not sure if it is a disease at all. I have been putting triple sulfa packets in the tank just in case it's gill disease. Can anyone help figure out what this is???

 

Wow that looks really bad it looks like bites tiger barbs can be really nippy

 

Hello all; I joined this site so I could get help with my poor clown loach, as well as future advice on different topics. I have a 30 gallon tank with a clown loach, guppies (breeding... lots of babies) and snails (small ones everywhere). I had other fish at one time - zebra tetras and neon, a few tiger barbs... all finally died... I found a few bodies but most ended up missing...

Anyways, I've noticed these strange looking scars on my clown loaches body. I'm not sure if it's a disease, or scars from fights of the past. Honestly it looks like fish ulcers or bites from the baby guppies (do they do that?) He seems healthy enough... swimming around the tank at ease, doing the weird clown loach swimming upside down thing from time to time. Strange thing is, he has been in the front of the tank often. He normally always hides in the back and only
Comes out when there's no one around. For the passed couple of weeks he has been swimming all up front. That's when noticed the scars and his odd behavior.

I've had a fish tank since I was little, my dad introduced me to keeping fish very young. Needless to say, I'm not very good with the tank settings. I'm pretty sure my PH and all that is alright. I have seen ick, fungus, tail rot, bloat... most fish diseases. Never this. Not sure if it is a disease at all. I have been putting triple sulfa packets in the tank just in case it's gill disease. Can anyone help figure out what this is???

Hello there,
To help you better may I know your water parameters?

 

Baby guppies aren't aggressive so they shouldn't be biting the loach. I can also see a member posting this so to get it out of the way, eventually you will need a bigger tank for your loach. They can get up to 12 inches, some other sources say they can even get to 16 inches long. A 75G should be the size of tank for an adult clown loach, some members might even recommend a 100G.

It would help to know your parameters, is there any sharp decorations or anything a fish can get snagged on in your tank?

 

Wow that looks really bad it looks like bites tiger barbs can be really nippy

They ar very notorious fin nippers, but I don't believe that they nip on fish bodies, at least not the ones which are alive.

 

Baby guppies aren't aggressive so they shouldn't be biting the loach. I can also see a member posting this so to get it out of the way, eventually you will need a bigger tank for your loach. They can get up to 12 inches, some other sources say they can even get to 16 inches long. A 75G should be the size of tank for an adult clown loach, some members might even recommend a 100G.

It would help to know your parameters, is there any sharp decorations or anything a fish can get snagged on in your tank?

Agreed. Personally, I would recommend a 100 gal for a school, you'll see more personality that way

 

No no this is HITH, caused by poor water conditions, its erosion of sensory nerves in the head me, treat it with tetra parasite guard and keep water clean and parameters stable

 

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. The tiger barbs have been gone for a few months now unfortunately... like I said, I never found their bodies. I was thinking perhaps the loach has old scars from them? I have a 30 gallon size tank set at 77 degrees Fahrenheit... I have a growing light and live plants. I thought a 30 gallon tank would be fine with one clown loach and all guppies. What other water parameters should I post,?

 

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. The tiger barbs have been gone for a few months now unfortunately... like I said, I never found their bodies. I was thinking perhaps the loach has old scars from them? I have a 30 gallon size tank set at 77 degrees Fahrenheit... I have a growing light and live plants. I thought a 30 gallon tank would be fine with one clown loach and all guppies. What other water parameters should I post,?

Water parameters of ammonia, nitrate, nirtrite. But it looks like you already have an answer. I would still appreciate to know your parameters so we can find out the cause.

 

Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels.

 

Here's pictures of the tank.

 

Here's pictures of the tank.

Do you have a test kit on hand? Sorry, not trying to be rude

 

Due to their adult size a 100 gallon would be best, especially considering these guys are schooling fish and prefer to be in groups.

 

Ok so I looked up pictures of the HITH and it's got to be that. I have no idea what my ammonia and nitrate levels are. I'm a terrible fish parent. I just make sure my water temperature is good and refill it once a week with well water adding that aqua safe stuff. The guppies do fine....

I would love to save my clown loach though and I guess I'll have to buy one of these water tester kits when I get the treatment for the HITH...

 

Due to their adult size a 100 gallon would be best, especially considering these guys are schooling fish and prefer to be in groups.

Agreed. Watching them swim around in schools is the best thing ever.

 

Ok so I looked up pictures of the HITH and it's got to be that. I have no idea what my ammonia and nitrate levels are. I'm a terrible fish parent. I just make sure my water temperature is good and refill it once a week with well water adding that aqua safe stuff. The guppies do fine....

I would love to save my clown loach though and I guess I'll have to buy one of these water tester kits when I get the treatment for the HITH...

You can take some of your aquarium water to your LFS, most will check your parameters for you.

 

Thanks everyone for your help I will update with what happens !

 

Thanks everyone for your help I will update with what happens !

Good Luck! And Happy Fish Keeping!

 

The pattern of ulcers is curious. It may have started as HITH but it really looks like a bacterial infection.

If the gills were affected his gills would be moving very rapidly.

In the picture of his left side, you can see he's lost a lot of body mass. It doesn't look so bad in the picture of his right side.

He may have nematodes but bacterial infections can cause wasting as well.

I would put him in a hospital tank and treat with kanamycin, hopefully in combination with nitrofurazone. Alternatively, TMP-sulfa (not to be confused with triple sulfa). Control ammonia in the hospital tank by doing water changes.

Water quality is likely to have been an issue.

He's pretty sick and if it were me I would take him to an aquatic vet. It's usually not that expensive. I've always been charged so little compared to when I take "regular" pets in that I feel like a thief.

 

My clown is definitely emaciated on the one side. I feel bad he's not eating much. I'm definitely going to get a water quality test kit tomorrow... I've never had a problem with it in the past, maybe the live plants and algae is causing an imbalance ? The snails seem to be thriving ....

 

My clown is definitely emaciated on the one side. I feel bad he's not eating much. I'm definitely going to get a water quality test kit tomorrow... I've never had a problem with it in the past, maybe the live plants and algae is causing an imbalance ? The snails seem to be thriving ....

The tank, and therefore his habitat, is too small and will cause health problems. Usually fish are fine in small tanks until they reach a certain size. When their growth starts to become stunted they can have all kinds of issues with their organs and death is typically the end result unless you upgrade them to a suitable tank.

 

The tank, and therefore his habitat, is too small and will cause health problems. Usually fish are fine in small tanks until they reach a certain size. When their growth starts to become stunted they can have all kinds of issues with their organs and death is typically the end result unless you upgrade them to a suitable tank.

I guess I'm just confused as to why one clown loach is not ok in a 30 gallon tank. It's not like I have a school of them or anything. I have one clown loach and like 10 super tiny guppies. By this measure it would seem a 20 gallon tank can have one fish...
I used to have a giant angel fish, a plecostamoius, 3 tetra barbs, and 3 zebra tetras in this tank and they thrived for over two years. I haven't been adding any new fish specifically so he can have his own space.

 

A clown loach can get over a foot long, and they are active schooling fish, which means you need to keep a group of them in order for them to thrive.

 

HITH can be reversed, I've had to do it a lot at work. All it takes is clean water and food enriched with vitamins, especially vitamin C. HITH comes paired with parasites sometimes though, particularly hexamita, so if you suspect those, you can take additional measures. But the very basic thing will be to provide an environment that isn't too stressful for your loach, keep the water in good condition, and feed it well. If you are interested in learning to test your water yourself, people here will be happy to help you with that.

 

Wow, can't figure out how to quote a post in this new setup! The reason it seems so few fish can "fit" in a tank that may seem so big for their physical size, is because of their activity levels and environmental needs - like tetras, most are pretty small fish, and a school of 6-8 takes up only a small amount of space in a 10 gallon tank - but they are very active and need space to swim, and constantly running into the walls without enough room to explore will stress them out. Stress is what leads to many fish ailments because it diminishes the immune system. Your loach is unhappy living alone, no matter what he looks like to you, because he is a wild animal and his instinct says he is safe and secure in a group, which he does not have. When he reaches a certain size, which may not be big enough to make you think wow, he's outgrowing this tank, his body will tell itself that it is in too small an environment and will release emergency stress hormones to inhibit growth, to avoid becoming too big. These hormones inhibit body growth, but not organ growth which means that as his organs continue to grow, they will be increasingly compacted and squished together. This leads to a slow, painful and totally avoidable death.

 

Hello again! Update on my tank and fish. I purchased a water eating kit and everything was great except my ammonia was a little higher than 0 so I did a good cleaning and water change and it went back to 0. All the fish seem more lively since then. Unfortunately the loach isn't eating. He is still alive and not moving around much, but won't eat anything. I try to put food right by his face but he freaks out and tries to swim away from it. I'm not sure what I should do, at this rate he is dying of starvation.