Dead Clown Loach, another may have ick.

Vipex23

Large Fish
May 26, 2003
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#1
Woke up this morning and saw 1 of my 7 loaches dead. No noticable signs of ick but he was very pale. Do you think he got pale after he died?, because I never noticed it that pale before. I'm also starting to notice another loach may have ick (little white spots on body and fins). I don't have a quarantine tank available. Do those anti-ick medications that you put in the tank work? What should I do? Will all my fishes get ick and die?

NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 10
 

fishboy

Superstar Fish
Oct 22, 2002
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#2
Most likely pale after he died.


On medications do not use ones with copper,malachite green, or any other of the such. Go with the salt method. Raise your temperature up to 84 (gradually!). This speeds up the ich's life span, which makes it die quicker. Start adding salt(again gradually!) until 2 tsp per gallon is achieved. After that you must watch carefully. When you do water changes you must replace the salt. Keep this up for about 2 weeks at a level of 2 tsp of salt per gallon, and a combination of high temperatures, you should be rid of ich in no time. Note that cories do not do well with this treatment at all. So if you have cories in the tank do not try it, or move the clown loach into a different tank or move the cories. Also if you have live plants salt will affect their growth, so if you do use a hospital tank would be alot easier.



Ich is in all fish when you think about it. Are these fish new? Most of the time ich is caused by poor water conditions or stress... is this a new tank?What are you keeping them in with? Any stress or new things done to this tank lately? If you treat them they should be fine, just be patient and keep up with the treatment.




Anyway Good luck with the ich,





--Daniel
 

fishboy

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Oct 22, 2002
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#5
Originally posted by ArkyLady
Are you sure the loaches will be ok with salt? I always thought they didn't tolerate salt very well.
They don't respond well to heavy metals in most ich medications like malachite green and copper, but i have never heard of clowns not tolerating salt. Maybe you are thinking about corydoras catfish, which do not tolerate salt...



BTW: Welcome to the board!:)
 

Last edited:

420Loach

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May 26, 2003
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#6
that sucks! i hate losing a clown loach!

the salt method works as well as raising your temp. i saw some meds that claim to be safe on scaleless species but i am reluctant to buy any.

i read the back of a bottle of ick guard and it said for weak, small or scaleless fish,use ick guard 2. but i wasnt able to find any. you can also pick up a 10 gal at wal mart for around $10. leave the bottom bare and add a heater($10-$16) to raise the temp. also put some kind of hiding spot so the fish doesnt stress out.
 

ArkyLady

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Jun 20, 2003
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#7
Thanks for the welcome :D

I just always thought they were scaleless and wouldn't tolerate salt either. Good to know! I'm doing some major rearranging on my fish tanks and plan to get some clown loaches for my 55 gallon when I restock it in a few months. They are just adorable fish :)
 

dana307

Large Fish
Jan 6, 2003
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#8
I've done the malachite green with corys in the tank to no ill affect. Are corys similar to loaches in regards to scales? stupid question perhaps but I don't know tooooo much about loaches yet. Good luck. Salt and temp do work if you can't add the rid ick.