Clown Loaches not happy

[jeash007]

Have a 4ft by 2ft by 2ft tank with about 40 young fish in a cichlid tank, problem is 4 of my 10 Clown Loaches have died and the rest look skinny, my water parameters are okay and i feed twice a day. I am going to move the Clown Loaches to a seperate tank but wondering if anyone else has had the same problem? it is as though they are being out competed for food?

btw the tank size is okay because all the fish are babies

[ryanjury]

Someone posted a similair post a while ago and they decided to worm their's.. I have kept them with big africans and they had no trouble keeping up for food..

I have seen some clown loaches around and the condition of the ones being imported looks rather poor

[David R]

it is as though they are being out competed for food?

Thats the problem, unless it is some sort of bacterial thing in the loaches that means they cant put on weight.

[Simian]

Clown Loaches are prone to a "wasting" disease, google it and you will see what I mean.

Apparently its a parasitic thing I lost all of mine within 3-4 weeks of getting em. :evil:

Its put me off clowns forever, Go Striata Loaches

[smidey]

i have a clown with an internal parasite. it is called Spironucleus parasite.

The treatment is metronidazole which is in Bayer -Clont vet prescribed tablets. You need a tablet, i am going to crush it up, add a little water, thaw out some blood worms, put separated bloodworms in with watery tablet & freeze again. then feed to clown loach as a bloodworm cube. should work. in the mean time, separate them & feed them up on blood worms etc.