Clown laying on side

[clutchxr]

Lost my other clown loach today along with 2 glowfish. This really sucks I have no idea why my fish are dying.

[KoiGuy]

Well the new guy bottom sits 95% of the time.
I haven't really seen it eat.
I was going to take it back but the LFS doesn't have
anymore. I went to scoop it in the net but it moved.
I think I'll give it another chance.

Perhaps it takes a few weeks to acclimatize.
The first clown is doing fabulous.
These clowns were $3 on sale so probably were sick to
begin with.
When the LFS does have small clowns in, they bottom sit
alot, & are skinny & only 1.25".

[TammyLiz]

Lost my other clown loach today along with 2 glowfish. This really sucks I have no idea why my fish are dying.

You should post a new topic and give some details of what is going on in your tank and maybe someone will be able to give you some advice.

[clutchxr]

I got a bigger filter and a bubble wand haven't lost anything else. The filter I had was for a 20 gallon I got a 29. My guess is I put too many fish in too soon plus the filter being too small. I put the fish in the tank only a day after filling it and letting the filter run. I think now that I added some bacteria booster (dont know the name ) and more bubbles everything seems better. I got 2 new clowns thursday they seem to be doig fine. They seem kinda skinny though. should you be able to some what see through them? they are about 2in fairly small. They were only 5 bucks so I took them. Any quick ways to thicken them up? certain foods or maybe a water supplement or vitamin. Some thing to boost their chance of survival? thanks for any suggestions

[KoiGuy]

Leva HCL
Stress coat
new clowns don't eat well the first week

[clutchxr]

thanks for the info. can I get Leva HCL online? or will the local petshop carry it? I just want to have it on hand just in case. The clowns seem to love the bubble wand they seem to play in it for hours. They are out a lot more than the last 2. The other 2 I hardly seen which makes me think there was something already wrong with them when I bought them.

[KoiGuy]

I haven't had luck getting Leva HCL either.
try Dr Foster
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/
my clown likes to eat flake food & baby guppies.
I treat all new arrivals with Melafix & salt bath.

[TammyLiz]

I got a bigger filter and a bubble wand haven't lost anything else. The filter I had was for a 20 gallon I got a 29. My guess is I put too many fish in too soon plus the filter being too small. I put the fish in the tank only a day after filling it and letting the filter run. I think now that I added some bacteria booster (dont know the name ) and more bubbles everything seems better. I got 2 new clowns thursday they seem to be doig fine. They seem kinda skinny though. should you be able to some what see through them? they are about 2in fairly small. They were only 5 bucks so I took them. Any quick ways to thicken them up? certain foods or maybe a water supplement or vitamin. Some thing to boost their chance of survival? thanks for any suggestions

Are you saying you put them in a brand new tank, without cycling? It is probably still cycling and you should hold off adding any more fish until you're sure you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. Do you have test kits?

The size of the filter probably had little to do with it. It would have been from the ammonia spike due to not cycling.

[saphphx]

I remember when my husband first got his, I came down one morning and they were all on their sides in a pile and I FREAKED! Phoned him crying "there all dead, all the pretty loaches are dead" he zoomed home, got the net, and off they went every which direction lol!

[clutchxr]

I started the tank with 2 neon tetras and 2 mollies. Im not sure how many days later I got the loaches. My roommate put 2 glowfish and some sort of catfish in there around that time. A mollie died first followed by the first clown then both of the glowfish followed by the other clown. So now its been roughly five weeks since I put the first fish in the tank. I didn't really know much about setting up a tank. I had no idea that you have to wait to put fish in there. I just filled her up added some start right and turned on the filter. I don't plan on adding any more fish for a while. Everything seems good though. I seen the clowns eat earlier so I know they at least doing that. I will definitely get a test kit tomorrow. what all should I test for? I don't want to by something that I don't need.

[chefkeith]

Koi- You really returned a clown loach because it was laying on it's side? That's just wrong.

[LoachOrgy]

it took my newer clowns about a week to figure out that cucumber and squash were food. after that they were eating at all hours of the day. just fatten them up and give the little guys a chance. i thought at first my smallest had chronic wasting syndrome but after a week i made that little guy fat as can be. now he looks very healthy. but he did have a two week layover of ich to deal with. after that cleared up, all the loaches are happy as can be. you really have to spoil those guys. they are fun little fish. keep up with them and they will love you forever. it may be that the fish store was feeding them flake food. for the first week my smaller loaches would only swim to the top and eat flake food. well, after a week i solved that problem. give them a chance and you can't beat 3$ for loaches. usually average price here is 6$. But i saw a few 1" clowns for 20$ and they looked healthy but were undersized. its sad that a fish store that usually charges 6$ for healthy over 2" clowns now has a few at 1" that it charges double for. not only that, they don't take very good care of the fish. i don't even think the smaller loaches learned that the foood was food until the larger loaches showed them. this may be why yours haven't figured it out yet. try leaving only one type of food and ween them off the flakes. i am not saying flakes are bad but they prefer veggies and proteins over flake food in my opinion. i don't even see my laoches eating flake food anymore. i mean think about it, why would you eat some nasty tasting flakes when you have a cucumber steak twice the size of your body sitting right next to you?

koiguy,

Well the new guy bottom sits 95% of the time.
I haven't really seen it eat.
I was going to take it back but the LFS doesn't have
anymore. I went to scoop it in the net but it moved.
I think I'll give it another chance.

Perhaps it takes a few weeks to acclimatize.
The first clown is doing fabulous.
These clowns were $3 on sale so probably were sick to
begin with.
When the LFS does have small clowns in, they bottom sit
alot, & are skinny & only 1.25".

i think its good that your loaches sit 95% on the bottom. they are bottom feeding fish. mine spend that much time on the bottom as well and they are all happy and healthy. your loaches eat flake food bc they were improperly taken care of at the lfs. you need to get them off the flake food and get them eating veggies and shrimp and other food. when you see a clown loach laying on its side, to me is a sign that the loach is very comfortable in its environment. i noticed after a year my loaches started laying on their sides. once i changed tanks it took them two months before they started doing it again. they seem very comfortable now and don't have to worry about being threatened so i catch them laying on their sides more. in my opinion, that is a healthy sign of a happy loach. why would you get rid of your loach?

[TammyLiz]

I started the tank with 2 neon tetras and 2 mollies. Im not sure how many days later I got the loaches. My roommate put 2 glowfish and some sort of catfish in there around that time. A mollie died first followed by the first clown then both of the glowfish followed by the other clown. So now its been roughly five weeks since I put the first fish in the tank. I didn't really know much about setting up a tank. I had no idea that you have to wait to put fish in there. I just filled her up added some start right and turned on the filter. I don't plan on adding any more fish for a while. Everything seems good though. I seen the clowns eat earlier so I know they at least doing that. I will definitely get a test kit tomorrow. what all should I test for? I don't want to by something that I don't need.

ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH

There are others that are useful if you have problems but those are good for starters.

The liquid ones are much more accurate than the test strips.


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