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Clown loach releasing eggs?

Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:37 pm
by water patters
Hey guys, I have a question for you...

Do clown loaches release eggs? Our largest clown seems to be a little bit more bloated in her midsection than usual. Two of our other clowns, one who is definitely a male has been chasing her, and showing a lot of interest in her vent hole. This is a recent deal going on as well.

I believe I read somewhere that this is a sign of mating perhaps. I'm just hoping everything is healthy with out larger loach.

Thanks for any information you can shed on this,

Kelly

Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:18 pm
by water patters
One more thing, she isn't eating either.

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:01 pm
by water patters
Is it possible she could be constipated? If so, how would we remedy the situation?

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:45 pm
by palaeodave
If she's constipated then feeding cucumber would probably help. Lady loaches do get full of eggs from time to time, so it's probably nothing to worry about. Got any pictures?

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:49 pm
by fhm_usa
Do you have any pics? and how big is she?

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:16 pm
by chefkeith
I believe I had a clown release eggs with the same behavior from the other fish. The others were constantly checking her vent area. This lasted for about 12 hours or so.

A few days later the larger clowns went on a strange midnight swim where they were swimming together in a corkscrew formation. This was really strange because all the smaller clowns went to sleep while this was going on. Then things went back to normal.

Water temp and TDS were lower than normal. I forgot to plug in the heaters while I did a continuous mist water change for about 24 hours. Atmospheric pressure was very low also because the remnants of a hurricane were passing through.

I have a thread about it-

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=15186

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:19 pm
by chefkeith
Yes, a picture would be nice. We can compare her to my clown if you'd like.

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:58 pm
by water patters
We're not so sure at this point it's an egg thing. She really took a turn for the worst this afternoon.

She's extremely lethargic. We were able to net her, and move her into a q-tank without any fight whatsoever. The other loaches were starting to nip at her.

I'm attaching a few pics so you can see her. She's about 6" long. Her coloring now is more speckled, which isn't normal for her at all.

To be honest, I'll be amazed if she makes it through the night.

I read on the fish health forum, that some people are recommending epsom salt for constipation. Do any of you think this would help her out?

Here are the links to some pictures we took of her, after we moved her to the q-tank.

http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt14 ... 150132.jpg

http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt14 ... 150135.jpg

http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt14 ... 150136.jpg

http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt14 ... 150139.jpg

Thanks again for any help or advice you can give!

-Kelly

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:22 am
by mickthefish
Kelly, i've known epsom salts work but not every time.
even if it does'nt work it won't harm to try it, it won't cause any stress to the other tank-mates.

mick

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:12 am
by water patters
She passed away last night. We tried putting some Epsom salt in the hospital tank we had set her up in. I think it was just too little too late, unfortunatly. I wish we knew what went wrong with her. She's been a pretty heatlhy loach the 4 years we've had her.

We're hoping this isn't something that's going to spread to the other fish in the main tank. We're planning on giving the main tank a good cleaning tonight, and give them their 3rd dose of levamisole. We have a skinny loach in there that we've been treating.

With regards to that skinny loach, we treated him last summer for skinny disease in a hospital tank, and thought we had cured him. Is it possible that the levamisole isn't doing the trick? He's been eating, and active as usual this whole time. He just can't seem to put on any weight.

Thanks again for you help,

Kelly

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:32 am
by mickthefish
i'm sorry to hear that Kelly.
i would have opened her up just to see if she was in roe and there was'nt a lot of fluid in the stomach cavity.

with regards to fish recovering from skinny, it takes a long time for the fish to gain weight back on, and from what i've seen they never gain the same body lines as they had originally.

mick

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:26 pm
by wasserscheu
mickthefish wrote:i'm sorry to hear that Kelly.
i would have opened her up just to see if she was in roe and there was'nt a lot of fluid in the stomach cavity. ...

mick
Yes Kelly, it would be great if you could check, whether she was gravid.
My alpha (about 5" or more in the meantime?) has exaclty the same proportions during the last 8 months as yours and I assume she has hardened eggs in there. I've lost kuhli's and Otocynclus due to "egg-constipation".

I know it's an akward favour I ask you, She was such a pretty clown, 6" I am very sorry Kelly about your loss. And I actually worry for months that mine ends up exactly the same.

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:17 pm
by Ardillakilla
mickthefish wrote:i'm sorry to hear that Kelly.
i would have opened her up just to see if she was in roe and there was'nt a lot of fluid in the stomach cavity.

with regards to fish recovering from skinny, it takes a long time for the fish to gain weight back on, and from what i've seen they never gain the same body lines as they had originally.
If the fish bloated up really fast then egg binding is unlikely since the mass of eggs doesn't grow that quickly.

Clowns that have been properly treated for "skinny" will regain a normal plump look within a few weeks.

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:21 pm
by Ardillakilla
water patters wrote:With regards to that skinny loach, we treated him last summer for skinny disease in a hospital tank, and thought we had cured him. Is it possible that the levamisole isn't doing the trick? He's been eating, and active as usual this whole time. He just can't seem to put on any weight.
The use of levamisole is based on the assumption that only worms can cause the fish to lose body mass. If that assumption is incorrect then levamisole or other dewormers won't work and there are many reports of exactly that happening.

Try antibiotics.

You could always consult a fish veterinarian.

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:30 pm
by mickthefish
antibiotics are very hard to get in the UK as are fish vets, our only choice is take the of the shelf gear and hope it works.
you could go to the normal vets but first it'll cost a fortune and second he has to believe it's for the treatment of fish, then by the time he/she has decided to allow it your fish are dead and buried.
mind thats my experience witth the vets local to me. :twisted:

mick