clown loach follow-up

Question
trish
you responded to my problem with my clown loach not too long ago, asking for more info. I tried emailing you back but the site said you werne't taking any new questions at the time.... anyway, hopefully this might clear some of my issues up. my clown loach's fins look like "stubs" of what they should be. If you look at a photo of a healthy clown loach, the fins on mine are about 1/8th the size of that. litterally they look like "stubs." they aren;t all ridgy, etc that would suggest maybe some other fish nibbling at them. also his tail fin is about 1/4th the size of what it used to be. also it doesnt appear to be nibbled down. he seems to be swimming around OK, but i can't imagine this is a good (healthy) thing for his fins to now suddenly be so small. it cant be easy for him to be swimming around, he looks like he's struggling sometimes. anyway i hope this info might help you help me. thanks again, steve

Answer
Hi Steve.  Wow, this sure is a mystery.  And you're saying they just started looking like this?  Are you sure they haven't always been like this (look at Nemo....he had a deformed flipper!).  If you told me they looked torn, frayed or ragged, I would probably say tail and fin rot, but you're saying they don't.  

I don't recall what size tank you said you had him in??  Even when small, they need very large tanks, because the grow to be HUGE. Keeping them in a small tanks does something we call "stunting", and that's not real good.  THe outside of the fish stops growing, but the insides keep growing until it eventually kills the fish.  These guys get to be 12++" long.  See:  http://www.loaches.com/species-index/clown-loach-chromobotia-macracanthus

So long as your fish shows no signs of illness, I don't know that there is anything that needs to be done.  I'd go looking on the computer for picture of them to see if you can find pics of anything that looks similar.  Mine are still small, so I am not sure if there are any changes like that.  

I would try going to a forum called "Everything Aquatic" at www.everythingaquatic.com (I belong to it).  The guy who runs it has been in the business for over 30 years, and really knows what he is talking about.  Plus, there are many members who are very knowledgeable and may be familiar with this.  Just tell them "MrsCrabs" sent you!  It is an extremely friendly forum.

Please keep me posted, and Good luck!!