I bought 3 clown loaches last Friday to add to my 20 gallon community tank which already has a Betta, 3 cories, and 6 leopard Danios which were all doing fine. The tank has been going for two months and the water checked out fine so I thought it was ready for the loaches.
As soon as I added the new fish, I noticed that one of them had a bulging eye so I took it right back to the store and got another one in exchange. Today I noticed that one of the others has a bulging eye.
What I am trying to decide is:
-whether to take all the loaches back or just the one with the bad eye
-how to prevent the spread of this problem to the other fish
Any suggestions? I adore clown loaches and they are really the point of keeping an aquarium for me.
ammonia, nitrite = 0
nitrate between 20 and 40
ph 8
A Quandry
Moderator: LoachForumModerators
Hmmm,..
IMHO, give them back. You don't want to deal with fish which already has a problem in conditions which are not ideal.
(ph=8 is bad; in California it probably means very hard water too--recheck; 20g tank will need to be upgraded within a year even if these are very small clowns.)
Larger tank+Better water+Fish with no apparent problems would give you better chances.
Just my 2c.
IMHO, give them back. You don't want to deal with fish which already has a problem in conditions which are not ideal.
(ph=8 is bad; in California it probably means very hard water too--recheck; 20g tank will need to be upgraded within a year even if these are very small clowns.)
Larger tank+Better water+Fish with no apparent problems would give you better chances.
Just my 2c.
Thank you for the prompt replies. I'm sure that a larger tank is inevitible!
Actually, the pH is more like 7.8 at the moment. I have been using bottled drinking water and doing a 25% change at 1.5 week intervals to try to reduce the pH and hardness. I'm a bit baffled about why it is taking so long to bring down the pH. I tested a variety of bottled waters and found that the cheaper store brands have low pH (mid 6) whereas the fancier brands have pH values over 8. It is coming down, just more slowly than I had hoped.
So, if I take the loaches back, how long should I wait before buying some at another place?
I'm sure that you guys understand how desperate I am to have some happy healthy clown loaches living here. My cories are going to be broken-hearted if I take the clowns away - they all seem to love playing together.
Actually, the pH is more like 7.8 at the moment. I have been using bottled drinking water and doing a 25% change at 1.5 week intervals to try to reduce the pH and hardness. I'm a bit baffled about why it is taking so long to bring down the pH. I tested a variety of bottled waters and found that the cheaper store brands have low pH (mid 6) whereas the fancier brands have pH values over 8. It is coming down, just more slowly than I had hoped.
So, if I take the loaches back, how long should I wait before buying some at another place?
I'm sure that you guys understand how desperate I am to have some happy healthy clown loaches living here. My cories are going to be broken-hearted if I take the clowns away - they all seem to love playing together.
Pat L
On bottle water: there are different kinds. Avoid spring water, instead use R/O or distilled water, it should have neutral Ph and no additives. Spring water, otoh, may actually make your water harder.
I'd say *stable* pH<7.5 and gH<10 before you introduce clowns. *stable* is the important word here, because if your pH changes with every water change, it is even worse than just high pH. 7.5, incidentally, is considered to be the upper limit for the clowns.
(Probably should not be saying this) If you are actually working on improving the water already and will be ready to upgrade the tank when needed (soon!!!) you can take the chance with the clowns you have now. The chance is not a very good one... If you do, intensify water changes, 15% every day for three days and then every 3 days until the readings are acceptable.
You real problem will be that even with a 55g (kind of a minimal clown tank) you'll need lots of bottled water down the road...an R/O machine will be cheaper. Find the older threads on this forum started by Xirxes to learn from his CA hard-water experience.
hth, good luck.
I'd say *stable* pH<7.5 and gH<10 before you introduce clowns. *stable* is the important word here, because if your pH changes with every water change, it is even worse than just high pH. 7.5, incidentally, is considered to be the upper limit for the clowns.
(Probably should not be saying this) If you are actually working on improving the water already and will be ready to upgrade the tank when needed (soon!!!) you can take the chance with the clowns you have now. The chance is not a very good one... If you do, intensify water changes, 15% every day for three days and then every 3 days until the readings are acceptable.
You real problem will be that even with a 55g (kind of a minimal clown tank) you'll need lots of bottled water down the road...an R/O machine will be cheaper. Find the older threads on this forum started by Xirxes to learn from his CA hard-water experience.
hth, good luck.
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