spotted clowns - what is it?

[will123]

i have 2 clown loaches in a 35 gallon community tank. over the past month both of them have developed spots all over their bodies (not on their fins). no other fish in the tank are sick and the clowns don't seem to be behaving sick - they aren't flicking and they haven't lost their appetite. clearly something not right! has anyone seen this before? please let me know what it could be so i can get them on a course of treatment immediately. here is a link to a picture of one of them.


thanks very much
will

[chefkeith]

Your right, that doesn't look like ich. The spots look uniform, like goosebumps. There has been a few cases of these uniform spots or goosebumps occurring. I'm not sure what the treatment was or if there was one.

Here are the threads to those cases-

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=13291

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=12423

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=7317

I think the only common thing was that everyone had hard water or something that was leaching in the tank. In the picture, it looks like there are white sea shells in the tank? If those are shells, they need to be removed.

If this is a water chemistry problem, you can fix it with small daily water changes. Don't add anymore salt to the water. Remember small water changes, which are no greater than 20%.

[will123]

i did a 25% water change and i'll write back if there's a change in their appearance. it also just occurred to me that there were 2 changes in the tank that also correlated in time to the spots - i changed the carbon from those prepacked guys to that loose pour it into the bag yourself and i added something called NovAqua water conditioner to the tank. since the tank has been disease free for at least a year and there have been no new fish additions in that time i guess water conditions, as suggested, are the most likely culprit.

can fine carbon particles interfere with the fish? i am obviously no longer going to use the water conditioner but has anyone else run into problems with such stuff?

thanks
will

[shari2]

When I use it (usually only if I need to remove meds), I use the loose carbon. Always rinse it well, first. It's covered in that black dust. I rinse then throw it into the foot of a pantyhose, rinse some more, tie it off and stick it in the filter. Never had a problem with it that I know of.

[chefkeith]

I expect that it will take a few water changes to clear it up. It you didn't add the salt, I'd suggest larger water changes. How much salt did you add to the water?

There could be something bad about the activated carbon. Not all activated carbon is the same. What brand did you use?
Last month, someone reported problems with a clown loach that might be having allergic reactions to activated carbon. Here's that thread-
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=16857

[will123]

i didn't add any salt - but i haven't in a while. is this healthier for loaches?
i am using activated carbon from Mars....although after your comments i've also just removed that.

[chefkeith]

i didn't add any salt - but i haven't in a while. is this healthier for loaches?
i am using activated carbon from Mars....although after your comments i've also just removed that.

I guess I was looking at another thread where someone was using salt. Anyway, salt is bad for loaches when used regularly.

IMO, salt should only be used in special cases, where there are no better alternatives.