Can't keep clown loaches alive.

[KyleBradley]

I have lost now in the past month 6 clown loaches. I bought them 4 at a time and then added two more. One lasted a few weeks, but the others all died within a day or two. I have other fish in my tank, and they're all fine. I've also read that clown loaches need the water very clean. Looking at these pictures that I took two days ago, would you say my water is clean enough?

http://members.tripod.com/k_bradley/myaquariums/id3.html

I have Danios, two irridescent sharks, a glowlight tetra and three corydoras in that tank along with the giant gourami. All the other fish are a couple of months old and aren't sick at all, but the loaches keep croaking. They don't show any signs of fighting or being bitten by the gourami. They just lie on the bottom dead or get stuck to the filter strainer. Oh yeah, I've also had an albino frog in there since day one about two months ago. He's fine. And I've had two plecostomuses in there that both died. I had my water tested at PetCo, and they said it was fine. I do regular water changes, and I'm at a loss as to why I can't keep clown loaches or plecos in there.

 

[PlecoCollector]

Clown Loaches tend to be very sensitive fishies. They get stressed very easily, so being moved from one place to the next (Breeder --> Fish store --> Your house) is hard on them. They are also very susceptible to diseases such as Ich and Wastings Disease.

So here come the questions:
How big where the Loaches you bought? How were there colors? Where did you buy them at? What did you feed them? Did they have hiding places?

Water can look clean, but still have parameters that are harmful to certain fish. Clown Loaches (remember they have skin, not scales) and Plecos are very sensitive to water. I know Plecos need highly oxygeniated water, though I'm not sure about CLs. Both fish types need caves or somewhere to hide, since they're shy. CLs especially. If you haven't already, it'd probably be good to invest in your own water testing kit, so you can keep a constant eye on it.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

when pet stores say "it's fine" you should ask what the exact parameters are. they probably dont even kow what the colors are. the just look at them and say fine.

 

[Lotus]

Your tanks are all heavily stocked. I would worry that your nitrates are high. I really wouldn't advise clown loaches unless you plan much larger tanks. Also, what kind of filtration do you have on those tanks? Clowns need a fairly high oxygen content in the water.

 

[KyleBradley]

I have an Emperor 280 with bio-wheels on all of my tanks, and on my 30-gallon that is kind of overstocked, I also have a Penn-Plax 150. Those two are both made for tanks bigger than a 30-gallon, so I think I've got great filtration there.
But on the 39-gallon in question, I have the Emperor 280 and I have a bubble wand buried in the gravel.

You were right when you said that the pet store just looked at the color..they didn't have a color chart or anything. One clerk just showed it to another and asked her opinion, which was that it was fine.
I actually do have my own testing kits for ammonia, pH, nitrates, nitrites, etc.. All individual kits, and they all show fine, but the reason I had the pet store test the water is because they didn't want to give me a refund after the second clown loach died. So I took them a sample of my water to prove that my tank was healthy.
The clown loaches were about 1.5" when I bought them, and their colorings were fine. When they died, they were kind of pale. One had ick, and I treated it with a very small amount of ick treatment after removing my charcoal filtration. I know that since they have skin and not scales and can die from ick treatments, so this is why I used about half of the recommended dose.

So now my tank is down to one shark, 6 jumbo danios, a glowlight tetra and the giant gourami. I took all the other fish out when the gourami went in, but I can't really overstock the other tanks anymore. I think the danios are fine because they are really fast and can get away.

As for plecos, I thought they were a very hardy fish? Are they really sensitive?

 

[PlecoCollector]

From what I've heard, it's really best to buy Clown Loaches that are larger (2.5-3 inches), because they can take a little more than their younger companions. If they were pale when they died, then they were probably stressed. Did you provide them with caves/tubes to hide in?
With the Ich, I learned when I bought mine, that most Clown Loaches come with Ich because of how easily stressed they are. Mine had it for about a month, but in a very mild and seemingly non-contagious way. It's all gone now. I treated them by raising the tank temp and putting in some Aquarium Salt, but I don't really think that did much for them. It more went away on its own.

I've found Common Plecs to be very hardy, but many seem to die because of people not realizing that they require extra food besides algae.

If it helps at all, I have a horrid time keeping Hillsteam Loaches. I've had two who have both died and were seemingly fine before and very active. They just may not be the fish for your tank.

 

[bala_aquarium]

well i hope its all ok.i want clown loaches but im waiting for a tank to arive(i ordered online)