Loaches Online Forum

anyone help me with my clownloach,she i think shes a she has got rather fat over last 2/3 days now she aint eating not even bloodworms ,she aint swimming just sits on tank bottom breathing rather quickly,my other 6 loaches seem as healthy as ever ,they live in a 400 ltr aquarium with mostly barbs n tetras n corydorus 3 weather loaches 2 powerheads with airline attatched run on a fluval 406 tests show nitrate level nil and ph 6.8 lots of caves hiding places all other fish seem ok my poor loach turned 21 this year and was leader of the pack . sadly my oldest clownloach died this friday afternoon she must have weighed about a pound ,i buried her in the garden ,now ive only got 6 clowns who will take over her job as boss my oldest clown is now eleven years old got some catching up to do ,will they miss her i will.

This doesn't sound good to me, although it must be said you have done terrifically well keeping Clown Loaches for 21 years.

I wonder if the poorly Clown Loach is at the end of her life and organ failure means she is failing to osmoregulate. That would explain the swelling up which could be water that is normally removed from the body by the gills and kidneys.

The water quality is obviously great (though I struggle to believe nitrate is absent!). I don't think there will be anything you can do apart from checking other water paramaters such as temperature, oxygen etc. and possibly ich (white spot).

I dread the day when mine leave me, but I hope to have celebrations when they reach 20 years old (Next January).

Sounds to me like a possible infection/ dropsy going on. Usually once they are swollen up it is very hard to save them but not impossible. I would look into treating her. I can't wait till my clown babies are huge like that. We've only been together a couple years but they are a huge part of the family and would be a devastating loss. Good luck.