Skinny Clown Loach

[betta blue]

Been a year since I asked advise on my clowns...I bought 5 mollies and 4 platys to bring them out of the bog wood. Since then, I've given away about 40 mollies and 20 platys. They just keep breeding even with two African Butterfly Fish...still have some offspring that survive monthly...

But my NEW problem is that one of the clowns that had continued to live in the bogwood longer than the other two is about 1/4 of the size of one of the clowns (they were all the same size when I bought them a year and a half ago). and half the size of the other one..

She is now constantly at the top of the tank where the filter's bubbles come out. She is sooo skinny. I'm feeding dried flakes, shrimp pellets that she never goes to the bottom to eat, both frozen and dried bloodworms...I just want her to gain some weight and afraid with the mollies and platys that go into a feeding frenzy, I'm really worried about her. The other clowns are doing fine and growing and looking healthy. But I can see the little clown's bones... I think she's starving but I do watch her eat both the flakes and the bloodworms. She just doesn't seem to be gaining any weight and continues to vertically swim right next to the bubbles.

Can anyone explain?

Is she sick? with some disease I'm not familiar with? Maybe something to do with the gills? I don't want to quarantee her cause finally she periodlically swims with the other two clown loaches...she was totally anti social in her cave in the bogwood for so long just seeing any kind of interaction with her peers is exciting for me...in addition that she finally got out of the bogwood about a month ago...at least visually for me.

Thank you for you help,
Shar

[chefkeith]

Quarantining and medicating is probably the only way to save the fish, if it's not too late already.

So that there are no acclimation problems, use main tank water in the Q-tank. Keep water chemistry consistent. Try not to shock the fish with large water changes.

Use a wide spectrum antibiotic like Maracyn I & II combo. Feed her bloodworms until the bulk is back. You may need to treat with a medication such as Praziquantel also.

[betta blue]

Thank you! I will do that and buy some Maracyn tomorrow. Should I try to give her a cave in the quarantine? I'm not sure what sex the little clown is...just thinking she's so small compared to the other two.

[Ardillakilla]

I had to deal with the same bacteria that presumably causes "skinny" (a very common aquarium bacteria) and Maracyn I & II didn't work even in high doses though it does work when the infection is not that advanced.

Instead, I used kanamycin (Kana-Pro) and TMP-sulfa:

http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/products2.html

I kept up the treatment for several months just to make sure it was gone for good. The fish is fine now so fish "TB" is indeed treatable and not a death sentence.

There really wasn't a lot of information on dosing. Just a few papers, books, and the recommendation on the bottle none of which were really in agreement. Since the fish was a goner anyway, I decided to start on the higher end of the recommendations and decrease the dose over time. I recorded the doses and dates in a spreadsheet if anyone's interested.

[betta blue]

I lost my clown today. I'm in the mental doldrums right now but I also am concerned about the rest of the fish in the 90gal tank. Should I medicate the 90gal tank? I have one clown that is about 3 1/2in. and out and about all day. I have another one that is only about 2 1/2 in and spends all day in the bog but is out in the morning and evening. Both YoYo's are about 5in. and looking healthy. I have mollies and platys that are still giving birth and even though I have African Butterfly fish, I still have offspring that grow up and I need to constantly give away mollies and platys. My common plec and my farlwella both seem to be doing okay. I had gotten prazipro from the aquarium shop. Should I medicate my 90 gal. with it? in case any of the other fish have intestinal paresites or should I wait and watch the fish before medicating?