Loaches Online Forum

I'm sorry to post about a topic I see has been dealt with before, but at least in medicine every case has it's peculiarities.

Background...

My pair of Clown Loaches have been doing well for the year and a half I've had them. A few weeks ago they have been shyer than normal, but I noticed the larger of the two was floating in random orientations near the surface. They both have lost substantial weight.

I came here and read what I found in a search, and treated the fish with four days of Maracyn and Maracyn II.

I also bought a food which contains three ingredients to treat parasites, however the fish wouldn't eat it.

Two days after finishing the treatment the fish now swims upright, but hangs near the surface.

I noticed that one of the operculum moves fairly rapidly, but the other not at all.

I'm not sure what to do next, but I've included some pics that I'm afraid aren't very good. Hopefully they may reveal something despite their low quality.

This is a heavily planted tank where I use a combination of R/O and potassium softened water.

Hardness, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate- all well within normal limits.

I did have a mouth fungus problem among other fish earlier this year, but it seemed to spontaneously clear.

That's all I can think of. The photos which follow is of the side where the gill plate doesn't move.

Is there something more I should do, or do I just wait and see how this goes?

In the first pic, see the hollow over the head area? This fish is in trouble, and I would continue treating for skinny disease. Find an antiparasite that you add to the water. Different wormers treat different groups if internal parasites, so you might need to use 2 different medicines. I would work with a rotation like this:

Levamisol (if you can find it)
Kanamycin (antibiotic that may treat different bacteria than M/MII)
Prazi Pro

Do a full treatment with each medicine, but do not use them at the same time. Use one, clear it from the water, use the next...

Antiparasite meds usually follow a cycle of treat for several days, then take a break of perhaps a week, then treat again. This is because many parasites have some phase of their life that they are immune to meds, and other phases where they can be killed. So treating kills a certain portion of the population, then the next generation hatches so you treat a week or so later to get these...

Another source of fish antiparasite meds is dog and cat wormers. I have used piperazine mixed with frozen food.

Hi Diana,
I just thought I'd give an update and it's a good one!

I had a great deal of trouble finding medicine for parasites, but I did continue antibiotics for two weeks.

I can say that everything is looking great!

I appreciate your help

That is great! Thanks for checking back

Which medicines did you finally find, and how did you use them? What doses, what schedule?