# Help!! SkiNNY Disease on my LOACHES HELP!!!



## magicboi86 (Apr 10, 2010)

I've had my clown loaches for 4-5 months now and recently ive lost atleast 3 loaches...all skinny...are they not eating? or wat the heck is going on? My water parameters are perfect...although i had recently turned the heat up to 84 degrees...but its gone down to 80 now...what could it be? And what is this skinny disease i hear about?....How do i save my other loaches? They keep dying one by one...atleast once every week since it started almost a month ago....


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

What exactly are your water parameters?

Have you made any changes recently (other than the temperature change). Do you notice any sign of parasites?


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## oshiet (Oct 23, 2009)

Have you tried feeding blood worms? 
Whenever I buy stubborn clown loaches, they always go for blood worms. However, it's probably a better idea to feed this in a quarantine tank with a bare bottom and sponge filter. Blood worms are messy and I hate when they get into my filtration system.


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## magicboi86 (Apr 10, 2010)

*dang...*

another one showing signs...i have 5 left...what do i do?

no signs of parasites as my other fish are ok...everything is at 0 in terms of parameters...and its a bare bottom tank...


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Have a look at this link here...
http://www.loaches.com/Members/shari2/levamisole-hydrochloride-1

If you can, you might want to ask the guys at www.loaches.com I have talked with one of the members there and he has dealt a lot with wasting in clown loaches. Martin Thoene is his member name on that site however there are lots of members on there who should be able to help you.


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## magicboi86 (Apr 10, 2010)

*will do...*

thanks to everyone for their input...im gona try a bunch of these...and ill post how it turns out...wish me luck..


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

magicboi86 said:


> I've had my clown loaches for 4-5 months now and recently ive lost atleast 3 loaches...all skinny...are they not eating? or wat the heck is going on? My water parameters are perfect...although i had recently turned the heat up to 84 degrees...but its gone down to 80 now...what could it be? And what is this skinny disease i hear about?....How do i save my other loaches? They keep dying one by one...atleast once every week since it started almost a month ago....


You know they live at 84 and ridiculously high current/oxygen levels. That's why it's a hard fish to do at home.

You need some Levamisol


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

There is not much evidence that skinny disease in loaches will be cured by levamisole. In Clown loaches, there is also no real evidence that higher temperatures prevents or cures skinny disease, either. I suggest you head to Loaches.com, and register. Over there some of the most dedicated Loach hobbyists in the world will try to help you. Over here, ain't nothin' but us amateurs. 

W


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

KhuliLoachFan said:


> There is not much evidence that skinny disease in loaches will be cured by levamisole. In Clown loaches, there is also no real evidence that higher temperatures prevents or cures skinny disease, either. I suggest you head to Loaches.com, and register. Over there some of the most dedicated Loach hobbyists in the world will try to help you. Over here, ain't nothin' but us amateurs.
> 
> W


Yes, and when you get there, they will tell you to permanently set a higher temperature, and do a course of levamisol


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I think they told me to do it, but don't expect it to help. Which is what happened. I had six clown loaches, and lost three while they were very small (1" - 2"), but now that I have 5" clown loaches, that are healthy and very active, they are not having any trouble. 

If you want to save yourself the heartache, one way to do it, is to avoid small clown loaches. They are very young, and very fragile, and sadly, very greatly stressed by their long journey from Over There.

W


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Kubotai/Polkadot loaches. Much better choice. Happy in a typical community environment. Get five. Enjoy .


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

If you decide you need levamisole let me know and I can set you up. I ordered a bunch of it a few months back to help get rid of the camallanus scourge spreading around the city.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Levamisole is one to keep around.  You never know when those nasty worms will turn up in your fish's uh... downspout. 

W


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## neovision (Jun 11, 2010)

if the clown loaches are still eating what you could do is hand mash the medication (either Levamisaole or Metronidazol) in with some banana and they will pick at it. This method has worked well in the past for me for different loaches as they are attracted to the scent of the bananas... This also works well with fancy goldfish and pretty much any mid-bottom feeder you are trying to fatten up or get meds into.


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