Sick skunk loach?

[Icewall42]

So, I had a pair of skunk loaches for probably 5-6 years, and recently I had to move with all my loaches to the East Coast for school. All the big loaches made the flight, but some of the smaller loaches didn't. One of the skunk loaches died.

The one I had left was pretty big and fat and characteristically feisty but now... he's still rather feisty now that I've bought him a new buddy, he still eats, has all his fins up, and is quite active. But now he's real thin with a baggy-looking belly, he's darkened out a bit, and his black side stripes are greying out from the middle outward. He swims with a bit of an arch.

My skunk loach has been this way for a couple of weeks with no change in condition. I'm used to treating clown loach problems (though I still have horrible luck adding new clowns, they either die or disappear) but I have no ide what's wrong with this skunk. Does he have an internal parasite? Like a fish equivalent of a tape worm?

As an off note, I still have no idea why I can't introduce new clowns. I must have gone though 6-8 new ones and they've all died or vanished. Yet I have two very large clowns, 8-9" and 6-7", one 10 years and the other 5. I'm completely baffled on that one.

[chris1932]

Have you tryed isolating him and feeding him alone? Or give the tank a shot of Garlic Guard. I had the same problem with a Beaufortia and I soaked some algea pellets in Seachem Garlic Guard. Did the trick and now he eats without any fuss. He got the hang of it. If it is a bacterial infection you may try feeding him some live food with either Kanaplex or Focus mixed in. If it is bacterial either one of those will clear it up. Wish you the best of luck.

[Icewall42]

Hmmm, I may try the Garlic Guard and algae pellets if the condition persists... unfortunately, I can't isolate him since the tank is situated in a temporary home and there no room to set up even a ten gallon.

Live food might be real hard to come by until I can find the rights venues. But frozen food might be a possibility. Is it possible to soak the live food and feed that to the skunk loach?

By the way, thanks so much for your input.

[mikev]

It is perfectly possible for a loach to have a tape worm, and moreover it is common. If you search this forum for my old "UltraCarePX" thread, you will see the stats on my loaches. While I never kept skunks, there is no reason to think that the internal parasites in them are less common than, for example, in clowns.

HOWEVER: you had you skunk for 5-6 years, parasites do not come out of nowhere and it is not easy to get a tapeworm in a tank. Most tapeworms come with the fish from the breeder or from the wild. So tapeworm per se is not likely. Not eating/wasting can also be caused by a bacteria, but a direct roundworm, and probably by a few other factors.

IMHO, try antibacterial stuff, but if you want to use anti-parasite, go straight for levamisole.

hth

[Icewall42]

Well, thanks to your info, sounds like the tapeworm/parasite theory might be ruled out. As I've mentioned, the skunk is definitely eating (though he seems to have a little trouble, the flakes go in and out of his mouth till he can swallow) but not gaining girth. I've had luck with anti-bacterial medications like Melafix , so I may try that first, then go to the recommended parasite medications if that fails.

I would get a picture in order to provide much better info, but I will be leaving this Monday for two months with someone to care for the fish and treat them for me.

[Mark in Vancouver]

Stress can weaken the overall immune system of any loach and put their balance out of whack. Something that never showed itself as a symptom might suddenly appear. While I doubt tapeworms, it is very possible that it could be another kind of parasite that has been living with the loach but has got the upper hand.

I would focus on keeping the water clean, with an ideal chemistry - don't start using hard water because it's all you've got.

With skunk loaches, signs of ill health will be obvious, and should be addressed right away. It's very hard to say what the problem is, because the stress of bagging could bring on a variety of problems.

[Icewall42]

As an update it is looking more sickly now. It not even eating its rear tail looks all crooked like and it looks like th efins are all messed up (EG rear fin tip piece is missing)