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My clown loaches started doing some odd rubbing on the root they live under, so after coaxing them out I noticed there were some little tiny sprinkles on them - figured it is the start of ICH. Out of the 5 only 3 have this.
(BTW - I have a 55g. tank started 2 1/2 months ago, nitrites 0, ammo 0, pH 7.4, hard water, Nitrates 10. Feed them 3 x day. Have 5 clown loaches, 3 zebra loaches, 6 Otos, 4 glowlight tetras, 3 neon tetras, 4 leopard danios, 4 zebra danios, 2 cherry barbs, 2 algea shrimp, 1 guppy, & 1 female betta. I have an aqua clear 300 external filter with a sponge filter, carbon filter and a bio max insert. It is 50% live plants and 50% plastic. Food is fresh, they get tetra flakes and new life spectrum for the loaches. For a treat they get plankton.)
I read that this could be caused by stress and the male betta I had in there had started chasing them aorund. I got a female for him, but that was a disaster, so he is back in a bowl - poor bully! So, after much research this is what I did. Sunday a 35% water change. (Last one was a 20% 3 weeks ago.) Thoroughly vacummed, took out the root the clowns live under - what a mess - and vacummed the entire tank. I took out the carbon filter, added aquarium salt to the tank - directions said 1 tblsp per 5g water, but I only used 9. Dissolved part of it in water and the rest is in the tank in a plastic container, slowly dissolving. I also added Melafix 1 tsp per 5g water but I only used 9 tsp. And I turned the heater up to 82, where as it was at 79.
Now the clowns are going up and down in the corner of the tank. It looks like they are playing, but usually they hide under the root, and now they won't even go over there. Is this normal, or should I be concerned? :eh: Maybe they are jsut happy that the male betta is gone.
(BTW - I have a 55g. tank started 2 1/2 months ago, nitrites 0, ammo 0, pH 7.4, hard water, Nitrates 10. Feed them 3 x day. Have 5 clown loaches, 3 zebra loaches, 6 Otos, 4 glowlight tetras, 3 neon tetras, 4 leopard danios, 4 zebra danios, 2 cherry barbs, 2 algea shrimp, 1 guppy, & 1 female betta. I have an aqua clear 300 external filter with a sponge filter, carbon filter and a bio max insert. It is 50% live plants and 50% plastic. Food is fresh, they get tetra flakes and new life spectrum for the loaches. For a treat they get plankton.)
I read that this could be caused by stress and the male betta I had in there had started chasing them aorund. I got a female for him, but that was a disaster, so he is back in a bowl - poor bully! So, after much research this is what I did. Sunday a 35% water change. (Last one was a 20% 3 weeks ago.) Thoroughly vacummed, took out the root the clowns live under - what a mess - and vacummed the entire tank. I took out the carbon filter, added aquarium salt to the tank - directions said 1 tblsp per 5g water, but I only used 9. Dissolved part of it in water and the rest is in the tank in a plastic container, slowly dissolving. I also added Melafix 1 tsp per 5g water but I only used 9 tsp. And I turned the heater up to 82, where as it was at 79.
Now the clowns are going up and down in the corner of the tank. It looks like they are playing, but usually they hide under the root, and now they won't even go over there. Is this normal, or should I be concerned? :eh: Maybe they are jsut happy that the male betta is gone.
. How much time has passed since you added the female betta? A lot of the times, ich can come from new fish (if not quarantined), even if they don't seem to be showing symptoms. Stress is a common culprit, too. Ich can actually be in the tank, but not affecting the fish, and attack when they let their guard down, so to speak. Stress can come from really any kind of change in the environment, especially an abrupt one. 
had decided that he wanted to claim their cave (under the root) so they had been huddling inside the root. The baby would come out from time to time and Buster would start chasing him. This only recently happened with the betta.
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