Clown Loaches

Question
Hi Ron,
No No No, I won't give the loaches to anyone while they are ill.  I was hoping you would be able to recommend a cure for them.  I will keep them, maybe set up a smaller tank.  I would never give sick fish to the store....that would be a bad thing.

thanks,
wendy
-------------------------

Followup To

Question -
Hello Ron,
We have a 135 gal. freshwater, we are setting this up completely for the first time in several years.  We have all new equipment, lighting, Fluval, powerheads, etc.

Our clown loaches (4), 10 years old have had what we call fin & tail rot and or body slime.  When they were in a 10 gallon tank, recently we treated them with E.M. Tablets as per instructions.  We have also tried MelaFix.

We would like to give our clown loaches to a fish store, as we want to have a plant tank for six months, then add less aggresive fish to the tank.
But we do not want to give the fish to anyone if they are sick.  Can you advise me of anything we can do as this has been an issue for several years.  We have spent alot of money trying to treat them but no success.

Any input you could offer us would be most helpful.
Thanking you in advance for your time.
Wendy

Answer -
Hi Wendy,
 That's a tough one.  I can't really recommend that you give the loaches to a fish store.  If you have tried to cure this problem and they still have it, odds are it is not easily cured.  So to then give the fish to a store just makes it someone else's problem and the pet store will be VERY unhappy with you, particularly if it is something that spreads to other fish at the pet store. In fact, they could be EXTRAORDINARILY UNHAPPY with you.   

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


Answer
Hi Wendy,
 The problem is that even if the loaches do at some point appear to be cured, you will never know that they are completely cured, i.e., they might still retain the infection at a low level.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>