Skinny Clown Loach?

[Daryl]

Hey all,

I currently have 3 Clown Loaches in my tank that I have had for a couple of years anyway. All 3 were purchased at the same time, from the same tank in the same store.

The Trio has grown pretty quickly (for clowns I've been told) and they have probably tripled in size since I brought them home. The 2 fat clowns are probably 4+ inches long and very full bodied, the skinny one is probably just under 4" but he/she looks very emaciated compared to the other two, and is literally 1/3rd of their 'bulk' at most. They all currently have nice vibrant markings, but at times I have noticed that they take on a greyer, washed out appearance.

I have read that Clowns are a social fish (at this size anyhow) and I am wondering if my skinny one is lonely? The two fatties spend 100% of their time together swimming, resting, eating etc. But the skinny one is almost always off by itself.

I have been watching it closely lately and from what I can tell it is still eating. It doesn't swim up to the surface and compete with my larger cichlids like the other 2 clowns do, but it does always seem to get some food. I have taken to dropping in pellets and algae wafers when the lights are off to help ensure the loaches get a little something extra. I also squirt blood worms / brine shrimp right down on the substrate when I feed those.

I would think that if it was a parasite or something the othe fish - especially the other clowns would show similar signs?

Should I isolate this guy in a 10g for awhile, or should I consider adding 2 more clowns to bring the number up to 5? I have heard they do best in groups of 5 or more?

I will try to get some pictures to better illustrate the situation.

Below is a list of the foods that I typically feed throughout the week (2 - 4 x per day);

-NLS Cichlid formula 1mm sinking pellets
-NLS Therma+A non-medicated anti-parasitic 1mm sinking pellets (just bought)
-Fishalicious flaked krill
-HBH Veggie Flake
-Hikari cichlid gold 1mm floating pellets
-OSI vivid colour flake
-OSI spirulina wafers
-HBH sinking shrimp pellets
-Frozen brine shrimp
-Frozen bloodworms
-earthworms from the garden

[Daryl]

Here are some real bad photos that I just snapped...




In this photo you can see the skinny guy is just behind one of the fatties, it illustrates how much thicker they are than him/her;

[TKD]

1 male and 2 females?

[Daryl]

I have no idea how to sex clown loaches!
Do the females get fatter?

[Dragonfish]

Are they competing for food? Maybe she is the least aggressive, therefore not recieving the same amount at meal time?

[Sherylee]

I give my 3 Clowns a bit of slightly blanched zuccini or cucumber every so often, they don't fight over the foods often eating at different times. I hold the veggies down with an old fork tongs down, that the end has been buried in the strata. I have a Big one and two smaller fish, I take it from my reading that the larger is the female. The boys do the "I'm better than you are dance" on rare occasions, but have never hurt eachother. They all sleep, eat and play together unless one or 2 is having a nap.

[Rondelet]

Daryl,

Emaciation (skinniness) and social disconnect (and often disinterest in food) are good signs that the fish is not healthy. Often, however, pairing-related aggressiveness can have the same result but should be easily observed. Illness could come in many forms. Infectious agents such as parasites and bacteria can just as readily be internal as external. Given that it’s a clown loach and is not showing some of the classic signs of bacterial infection (bloating, hemorrhaging, pop-eye, etc) but has a sunken belly – it might be a gastrointestinal bug of some sort. I would suggest it might be a good idea to isolate the fish and try giving it something like Jungle’s Anti-Parasite food, which has broad-spectrum activity against several types of internal parasites. At minimum this will limit the spread of infectious agents if present. Might help – might not, but should be safe and good place to slowly start to figure out what’s going on.

[pittiepride]

He could also have had some damage as a youngster and is just not developing properly. Lots of things can cause damage to baby fishes.

I had yoyo loaches and if they turned grey they were either fighting or the water needed a quick change. Something was wrong if they were grey.

kara

[slinger256]

Daryl,
I added 6 young clowns about 50 days ago, they all seemed fine but as of late, I have a pair of skinny loners who dont seem as hungry as well. Did you figure anything out with yours?

[TheManicFishkeeper]

Is there any pinching in the back at all? Is the back sunken in? Generally speaking if loaches are really suffering from an internal problem they start wasting and and there are obvious visible signs. I can't really tell from the picture but Rondelets suggestion on using some medicated food is a good one, or dosing with something like PraziPro.

Another thing to consider is that not all loaches may develop at the same rate. Females tend to get larger and fuller in the bodies then males (males tend to have a flatter bottom). There is also the possibility that the clowns are from different geographic areas. Just because the clowns came from the same store does not mean they came from the same shipment. Clown loaches are usually exported from farms these days, but there are different strains. Many clowns are from stock from Sumatra, while others are from Borneo, and may not appear visually different.

[Daryl]

Sadly my skinny clown died... I replaced him with two more young ones - but they both died as well... All 3 that died had the pinched back.

My two fatty's are still doing very well. As fat as ever, and they are always by each others side - they often swim into this tight little cave and hang out there stacked one on top of the other... Maybe they are a pair?

[TheManicFishkeeper]

Clowns are extremely social and value company of their own kind. Pair or not they will probably share the same caves as they grow. Sorry to hear about the skinny guy, I've lost a few like that myself :-(