Loaches Online Forum

Hello,
Just looking for some help/advice for a small issue im having with one of my clown loaches. The loach has various patches of white fluffy circles and white mainly along the edges of the fins. It also spends a lot of time floating on the top of the water 'playing' dead. When its feeding time its seems fine and swims around normally and eats lots of food. Although it seems to eat food its very skinny compared to the other clown loach in the tank (which was brought at the same place from the same tank and was about the same size).

I have had my fresh water tank since Jan 2011. In the tank there are also 10 neon tetra's 1x adult molly, 2x 4 months old mollies (born in the tank) and the other clown loach. The tank is about 70L and is kept at 25-26 degrees Celsius. I change the water about every two weeks about 25%. I just tested the pH and its 7.6 or higher (thats the highest my pH reads)

This fish has been sick for a little while now at least a couple of months. About a month ago when the fins were looking damaged i treated the whole tank with melafix (or maybe pimafix). The fish wasn't getting better and i did a few cycles with this med.... but since then the fish has gotten worse and the fluffy stuff has appeared.

Everyone else in the tank looks fine........

After reading some posts on here i think i might up the temp a little bit and i might try and get the pH down a little. Any help would be great.

Sounds like fin-rot and a fungus infection.

Your aquarium is far too small for the loach, so once you sort out the infection, either find it a new home or upgrade to a *considerably* larger aquarium.. I have never kept clown loaches before because they grow large enough and are active enough for me to want a 6*2*2 ft tank for them.

What are your ammonia and nitrite readings?

For the moment, I recommend you start doing daily 20-30% water changes with temperature matched, dechlorinated water and clean the gravel every day so that the water quality improves. If the loach does not start recovering in a week or so, you'll need to treat with a medication. In my experience, melafix never works.