Clown loach with a lump on stomach - what does this mean?

[ey]

I noticed that 2 of my small clown loaches (1") had a slight lump near their belly. I've posted some pics of this (links below, you can see an enlargement if you click on the thumbnail)...sorry about the quality, they never stop moving.

Again, it is really visible, the lump is on the bottom half of middle black stripe of the clown.

As the clown is swimming on an angle, you can see the lump quite clearly

Last pic - you can see the lump as its very distinct in the pic

Is this a sign of any disease? An accident that occured during the past 48 hours may have a direct effect on this.

On Friday, while cleaning the filter pipe and pulling out the java moss stuck to the filter inlet pipe, I turned the switch off to the inlet pipe, but must have forgotten to turn it back on....I left it like this for at around 15 hours before realising. By then, the water stats had spiked - Ammonia went up to 1.0 and Nitrite to 0.5.

I immediately did a 50% water change, and did another 30% water change 5 hours later. Fortunately, I was able to get ammonia and nitrite back to zero after the 2 big water changes.

In the process, no fish died and the fish are all swimming and eating normally. I know this was a stupid and silly mistake to make and definitely will not make the same mistake again as I've learnt the hard way (literally spent a few hours doing water changes and monitoring the tankwater stats)....hard to imagine what a little thing can cause.

Just wondering if this may have caused the lumps on the 2 small clown loaches?

[ey]

Just a quick update - the lumps on the 2 small clowns are still present, and to top it off, I noticed a white spot on one of their tails, meaning they also have ich!

I've immediately put some medication in.

I managed to find a a recent thread on another fish forum, where a member experienced a similar problem to me, and it seemed that it was only a temporary thing and maybe the clown had eaten more than he could handle. I've messaged that member to ask how his/her clown loach is doing and if that 'lump' was a symptom of any disease/bacteria infection/worms etc.

Any feedback would be appreciated, if or any other LOL members who have experienced a similar issue with the lump and can shed some light on what may be causing this.

Cheers

[Emma Turner]

Hi ey,

Sorry to hear about the accident with your tank. From those photographs you posted, it looks to me as if those loaches have been gorging themselves on too much food. Keep a close eye on them over the next few days, and keep the feeding very light, especially as you had ammonia/nitrite present in the tank.

If whitespot (ich) is present in the tank, increase the temperature to 86 deg F (providing the other inhabitants of the tank can take it), increase aeration, remove any activated carbon from your filter, and medicate with a trusted whitepot medication.

Good luck, and let us know how things go.

Emma

[ey]

Hi ey,

Sorry to hear about the accident with your tank. From those photographs you posted, it looks to me as if those loaches have been gorging themselves on too much food. Keep a close eye on them over the next few days, and keep the feeding very light, especially as you had ammonia/nitrite present in the tank.

If whitespot (ich) is present in the tank, increase the temperature to 86 deg F (providing the other inhabitants of the tank can take it), increase aeration, remove any activated carbon from your filter, and medicate with a trusted whitepot medication.

Good luck, and let us know how things go.

Emma

Hi Emma,

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm so glad to have found out the ammonia/nitrite spike early enough and acted on it, to prevent any casualties. I'm still shocked how a little mistake can lead to such consequences - I will learn from this for sure!!

Thank you for clarifying about the lump on the 2 clown loaches, glad to hear its not any disease, but rather just them eating a bit too much. I haven't had any 'fasting' days for the fish, so perhaps I can use tomorrow as a fasting day and then feed lightly there after.

I've done all the necessities required for treating ich (raise temp, increase aeration, removing carbon) but am using a new medicine - Wardley's Ickaway. In the past I have used a different brand, but the LFS recommended Wardley's so I hope they are pointing me in the right direction with this one!

Will keep you posted on how the clowns go! Thanks again for the help

ey

[Vancmann]

Hi ey
Uneven lumps usually form on the bellies of young clown loaches or loaches that have been fasting, when they gorge themself, like emma said. This will go away as they get older and fatter then all you see is one big lump, their belly..LOL

As for the ammonia spike, there should NOT be an ammonia spike in an established tank unless there is a problem ie. Too much uneaten food, an addition of too many fish at once and a few other reasons... In general, an increase in the tank load that is too sudden for the bacteria to keep up (initially)

The part I hate saying, if for some reason your tank is not yet established, it will HAVE TO go through the ammonia cycle. That is inevitable. Usually, clown loaches cannot survive this and get stressed that can lead to the breakdown in their immunity to ich and other diseases. This is not always the case, some loaches may be able to go through the ammonia cycle.
Good luck!!

[Emma Turner]

As for the ammonia spike, there should NOT be an ammonia spike in an established tank unless there is a problem ie. Too much uneaten food, an addition of too many fish at once and a few other reasons...

Or the fact that the filter was accidentally left off for 15 hours, as ey stated in the original post.

Whilst the majority of the filter bacteria may have been lost due to lack of oxygen, some will have survived and now that the filter is running normally again, it should re-colonise quite quickly.

Emma

[Vancmann]

Ops, I missed that one.