Loaches Online Forum

Hi there! I am new to the forum. I have a 55 gallon fishtank that houses 3 clown loaches and two plecos. My biggest clown loach has been sick for a week or so. I have treated her with ich medicine for 6 days with a water change in between. She recovered from that. I also treated her with fungus medicine for 2 treatments, which she also recovered from. I half dosed the medicines and only used one at a time.

My water parameters are:
Ammonia= 0ppm
nitrite= 0ppm
nitrate= 0ppm
pH= 6.5ppm

I have two filters on the 55 gallon tank, Top Fin 60 and AquaTech 30-60.

Why is she hanging at the top of the tank when my water parameters are normal as you all can see? I will be doing a water change tomorrow and testing the water to make sure that the water parameters stay the same. What is making her relax to where she is floating around and then she gets upright again?


Please help!!!! I don't want to lose her as she is my biggest clown loach. My clown loaches are 7 in, 5 1/2 in, and 4 in. I have plastic plants (7) in the tank and a big rock which the other two clown loaches hang out at.


Type of fish that are affected (common name and latin name if possible - common names vary worldwide, latin names don't!). Clown Loach, she is about 7 inches

* How long has the tank been set up for? The tank has been set up for years

* Size of tank (dimensions and volume). Not sure of dimensions, it is a 55 gallon tank

* How is the tank being filtered? With two filters: Top Fin 60 and Aquatech 30-60

* Water temperature. Temp is 86 degrees

* Your maintenance regime (e.g. how often water changes are carried out, what percentage of the water is changed each time, how often you clean your filter/s and how do you do this?) Water changes every two weeks, 25% water is changed. Once a month or so I clean the filters

* Has anything new been added to the tank recently? (fish, plants, live food, decor etc). Nothing new has been added recently

* What other fish are in the tank? I have in the tank 3 clown loaches and 2 plecos

* As detailed a description as possible of the symptoms the fish are exhibiting (remember a photograph can speak a thousand words). My biggest clown loach is hanging out at the top of the tank, she usually hangs out in the big rock I have in the tank all day. But since she has been sick she has been hanging at the top of the tank. There is a white spot right behind her right eye. I will be keeping an eye on it to make sure that it isn't ich.

She has been floating around the tank. It looks like she relaxes and lets herself floating, but she gets right back upright after a few seconds or so. I am not sure what is going on with her. Please help as I don't want to lose her.

* How long ago the affected fish were added to the tank, and how long the fish have been displaying symptoms. She has been displaying this ever since she was sick about one week ago.

* Your current water parameters - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH (please don't say 'my water is fine, the levels are ok', we would like actual numbers from the test results). My water parameters are:
Ammonia= 0ppm
nitrite= 0ppm
nitrate= 0ppm
pH= 6.5ppm

An update on my biggest clown loach:

I researched online about swim bladder and sure enough she had that. I gave her a couple peas last night and this morning she was back to her normal self. I am wondering now how often I can feed peas to her to avoid the swim bladder disease?

I think your test kits are not giving you the right answers.
Several large fish in a small tank, few and small water changes, no live plants...
...means your nitrate will be way too high.

Fish hanging at the surface may mean they are getting too little oxygen. This can be because there is reduced oxygen in the tank (Warm water holds less oxygen) or because the fish is otherwise compromised.
Ich can live in the gills. Your treatment might have killed the Ich. At that high temperature Ich goes through its life cycle so fast that a week of treatment might do the trick. Might not have, though. Watch out for a resurgence of the Ich parasite.
Fungus or other disease might affect the gills, and the stress of being sick and the stress of dealing with medication can also cause what looks like breathing problems in the fish (Lethargy, hanging at the surface)
If one test kit is old, another might be, too. If the nitrate is old, and no longer registering (Based on tank care as reported) then the nitrite also might not be accurate. Nitrite can enter the fish's blood and make the blood so it does not carry oxygen well. Then the fish responds as if it cannot breathe well, hanging at the top, lethargic. Are these Aquarium Pharmaceutical brand name tests? There is a code on the bottles. The last 4 digits in the code are the date (month and year) the product was bottled. Most of these tests are good for at least 2 years, many for 3 years. Some of mine seemed to work OK at 4 years, but the results became questionable, no color change in some tests. Comparing the results with other test kits, and knowing my tanks as I do, I am able to say the old test kits were not accurate any longer. There are ways of checking the accuracy of your test kits, using some of the materials that are used by planted tank people to fertilize the plants in the aquarium.

Here is what I would do:

1) Begin two-to-three times a week 25% water changes (even daily, if you can), being really sure to do as deep a gravel vac as possible each time. Maybe you can't vacuum the whole tank each time, but if you can do half or a third of it each time, then over several water changes you will get it all done, then repeat... keep on vacuuming. Be sure to lift any caves, rocks, driftwood or other things, and vacuum really well the substrate under them. Poor water circulation in these areas can lead to a build up of certain toxins.
2) Add an air bubbler or power head to increase the surface movement of the water, doing the best you can to circulate the water from the bottom of the tank so this most oxygen depleted water sheets across the surface to gain oxygen and lose CO2. Your filters already do this, with the intake fairly low in the tank, and the release point at the surface, but I think this tank needs more water movement. Make sure whatever you add works with the existing equipment to enhance the water movement.
3) Clean the filters in alternation. One this week, the other next week. Rinse the filter media in water removed from the tank for a water change and reuse the media. (Never rinse in tap water that has chlorine or chloramines.) Lots of beneficial bacteria in the filter media. If you are using activated carbon, rinse it really well before adding it to the filters. Keep the media good and clean for the best water flow, both for the benefit of the fish, and for the benefit of the beneficial bacteria that live in the filters.
4) Get a new test kit (even if it is just the test strips), or get a sample of water to a store that can confirm or not your test results.

^ + larger tank. Clown loaches really need large tanks that have nice long footprints, with good water quality and flow. Larger clown loaches are rare - you could always sell them to someone else if setting up a larger tank is not an option.

Yeah I will be getting a new test kit when I can get the money for one. They are expensive here, like $30 or something like that. Baby Girl, my biggest clown loach, has been doing better whenever I have fed her some peas, she would swim around normal. I was thinking about oxygen depletion but my other clown loaches are not displaying any of the behaviors as the biggest clown loach is. They are acting very normal. They are hanging at the bottom of the tank like they are suppose to. I haven't seen any evidence of any more ich since I have cleaned the tank. When I cleaned the tank Baby Girl, biggest clown loach, has hung out at the bottom of the tank all day, also when I fed her peas or frozen veggies from the fish food pack she swims normal and isn't hanging out at the top.

She also was behind the heater when I got back home, but the heater that she was behind isn't working so I am not worried about any burns on her. But I will keep an eye on her for any burns to be on the safe side.

I will buy some more peas when I get some money, and give Baby Girl some peas to help her with her swim bladder issue. How many peas can I feed her to help her get rid of the swim bladder issue? Because when I fed her like five peas, she ate one and she was fine the whole day.

EmilyMarie85: I am saving up for a bigger tank. Right now the 55 gallon is big enough to keep them in until I can get the money saved up to get a bigger tank. I have a few years before I have to stress about getting a bigger tank for my clown loaches.

and get zebra loaches instead.

ClownLoachSharky wrote:and get zebra loaches instead.

I love the clown loach the best. Zebra loaches don't catch my interest high enough to keep them for their whole life.

really i dream they will someday be legallised in australia.

I will take a look at them when I go to the pet store. I really love the clown loaches. I saw a big one at Farmland one time and I was hooked on them. But I will be saving for a bigger tank so that my clowns will stay happy and so I can get more clowns. How many clowns are suggested to have?

umm about 10+. the more the better i guess. Like havin 30+ in a good lookin tank would be very awesome

please dont loot.