PHOTOS

[FranM]

What’s going on with my clown? What is causing the blotching appearance on the skin? Thanks! See behind the gills and towards the end of the body. Skinny (knife back) has been acting up again. Did a couple series of PraziPro. Waited a week and started a medicated feed made with metronidazole. Blotches were there prior.

[FranM]

I hate photobucket. I don’t know how to post pics.

[NancyD]

I saw your pics before they went away but, although I've seen that blotchy look before here on LOL, I don't know what it means. I'm so sorry you're still having the skinny, & now coloration issues, Fran.

Was prazi & metro what you did before? Maybe something different this time, flubendazole? I just don't know.

Can you remind us of your water parameters, etc. please.

[FranM]

Hey Nancy. Ty. Glad you got a glimpse of pics. Yes that poor thing still goes through bouts of “skinny”. I have done remarkably well keeping nitrates under 20. The tank is established so I don’t check ammonia,nitrite. And I haven’t looked at gh, kh or ph in awhile. I will later on today. No other fish shows discoloration. Btw this one did exhibit black spots a few weeks ago. Maybe a month. I’ve seen that before and didn’t think much of it.

[NancyD]

Fran, were the black spots like tiny freckles? I've seen that here on LOL too. From what I recall it may have been fluctuating TDS, co2 or nitrate...maybe chef keith's clowns a long while ago (5+? years)?

I know when I lived in the Boston area we had "seasonal" water winter & summer, you may too. Deep wells in winter & reservoirs in summer. I'm sorry to be so vague. Maybe try searching for black spots + clowns, or blotchy + clowns (splotchy? brown patches?) here on LOL or maybe message chefkeith if he's still around.

[FranM]

Thank you, Nancy. I keep doing research.

[Loachloach]

Hey Fran,

Sorry to hear about your fish.

Try uploading pictures via www.postimages.org

I've been using it recently, its free of spam.

The blotchy appearance sounds like water quality issues. Is your water soft? It may have to do with water going too acidic, low dKH, due to high levels of nitrification. How is the bioload in this tank?
I think I suggested a TDS meter years ago. Its the best way to monitor water quality deterioration. It if increases from tap water value, water changes are needed to bring it down, as many as needed. Measuring just nitrates is not reliable at all. I never have nitrates in my water due to the large plant mass but TDS increases nevertheless. You can get one for 20-30 bucks, really not an excuse not to have one.

Prazi is really no good except for treating for flukes, trematodes and cestodes, .i.e. flat worms, and unless your fish has been in the wild recently, or you have introduced wild fish, and have snails that can complete the life cycle of these worms, then it is highly unlikely your fish has anything that prazi can treat, except for flukes.

If the clown loach is thin, try flubendazole or/and metro. New Life spectrum sell a version called Hex Shield which contains metronidazole, magnesium sulfate and garlic, and treats hex. It is really good..Flubendazole will cover the rest of the possibilities, if that's worm related.

[FranM]

Hey Loach Loach.

You hit on something—KH. It’s 0-.5. Only one fish out of them all—2 clowns, 2 yoyos, 4 silver dollars, only the one clown has issues. I don’t want to deal with putting an additive in to raise KH only for it to go back down in a day then raise again. Can I keep some kind of rock in there that will help stabilize? GH is 4.

Thank you. I’m feeding a food I made with powdered metro. Seems to be good. I had tried Fluben. in the past too. Didn’t see anything big happening in improvement.

I JUST FIXED IMAGES WITH THE WEBSITE YOU SUGGESTED. THANK YOU!

Nancy, yes the clown had black freckles.

[NancyD]

If it's just KH that's low, you can use regular baking soda to boost it, start with a half teaspoon or so every few days. I have lowish KH & GH & did in MA too. I used crushed coral in a piece of panty hose to help stabilize both, maybe a TBSP or 2. Go slow to avoid drastic up or down between & after water changes. I remember chefkeith had very soft water too, so maybe that's the answer to either black freckles or blotchiness, maybe both.

But it's not for the skinny/knife back issue, ugh, I'm sorry it's come back for your clown. I have to say I had a clown "veggie loach" that I tried very hard to save. Antibiotics & various worming, etc, treatments to no avail. I called him Veggie because he seemed to eat zucchini & romaine more than other clowns & when my anubias flowered he guarded the spathe although no other loaches were interested. It went on for 1.5 years as I recall...

[Loachloach]

On postimages.org, above the picture there are blue buttons. Click on the one called "share" and copy the 2nd link which is called "direct link".
Then it will give you bigger size pictures.

I think the issue is most certainly your low KH. See what Nancy says above. You may think of also adding a bag of crushed coral to the filter. Baking soda will just raise the KH but you need to keep adding it, crushed coral will raise the dGH as well. It will be no harm for the fish or loach and may give you a more permanent solution but it doesn't raise the Kh by much, so monitoring is needed to see. Soft water, believe it or not, is not best for clown loaches...not in aquariums....because in nature the water is stable, in aquariums low dKH causes water chemistry fluctuations...It is very hard to keep a tank like that healthy for the fsih and clown loaches are known to perish in very acidic water...Clown loaches breed when the pH of their water rises to 7-8 and water temperatures drop to 26C....So even in nature, in the first crucial months, they survive better in not so soft water....

Go slowly on the changes but try bringing the KH up to 3-4 and keep it there constantly if possible. This will prevent fluctuations and give you enough time between water changes to amend things if need be...

I was once monitoring my Kh while fishlessly cycling a tank with ammonia. It went from 7 to 3 dKH in about 3 weeks without water changes. 3 is still ok to prevent issues but the point is one should never let it drop in the first place. But if I did, it would have been a one off and it wouldn't have created an issue. Now, if your starting point is a lot lower, one needs to be really in control because that may happen within a week or so.. The KH we measure for, is used bit by bit by the nitrification cycle...and is normally replenished by enough water changes....but if the bioload overwhelms the available dKH, then you need some artificial measures of keeping it stable between water changes...

[Loachloach]

I remember chefkeith had very soft water too, so maybe that's the answer to either black freckles or blotchiness, maybe both.

Yes, I am pretty certain his issue was his soft water. His is not the only record of that happening to clown loaches in soft water, hence it was my first thought when reading Fran's post...Avoid soft water with clown loaches....if you can....

[FranM]

Hey Nancy and LoachLoach.

Thank you both for your continued interest and care of my issue. This clown has been fighting something since 2015, when I first posted about it. I’d like to say I’ve been doing SOMEthing right in still keeping him going. Lol. Btw, I’ve had crushed coral in the tank for at least a year. Probably why the GH is stable at 4. I hadn’t checked ph but I plan to this morn.

Loach, if you click the thumbnail it does make the pic larger. At least on my end. I will look into your method.

Thanks again.

Fran

[FranM]

I was reading the clown “specs” on here and it does say they prefer softer water with a ph of 6.5-7.

[Loachloach]

I was reading the clown “specs” on here and it does say they prefer softer water with a ph of 6.5-7.

This type of ph, actually lower than that, is more suitable for egg hatching. As far as adults go, they do better in higher conductivity/TDS and pH.

There is a recent enough video by a clown loach breeder you may want to watch...Although it is not very comprehensive, it does advise on pH values for adult clown loaches, as well as ideal conditions for egg hatching....based on his own experience breeding clown loaches for years....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDIeRI_zW-8

[Loachloach]

Btw, I’ve had crushed coral in the tank for at least a year. Probably why the GH is stable at 4. I hadn’t checked ph but I plan to this morn.

What is the KH of your tap water?