Clown Loach

Question
My Clown Loach, when I bought it, had a slight black spot on it's "forehead", however, a week later, the spot began to grow larger. He is now acting strange, drifting onto its side and righting himself or not moving too much. Another Clown Loach of mine is just fine except that it likes to sit by my submersible heater alot.
        My tank has been set up for about 5-6 months.
        It is a 10 gallon tank.
        5 fish. 2 uncommon white calico platies (1 female 1 male), 1 female pineapple swordtail and 2 clown loaches.
        I have a Whisper 5-15 Bio-bag filter.
        pH, Ammonia levels fine. Nitrate, ever-so slightly above normal.
      Water Change every week to week and a half.(at most)
        2.5 gallons at a time (at most)

Answer
Hi Chris;

If he's eating and doesn't look thin I wouldn't worry too much. If he isn't eating and has no other symptoms of disease I would suspect an internal parasite or infection of some kind. They are common in clown loaches. Let me know if he's eating or not and what you usually offer him. Clowns need kind of a meaty diet. Worms, shrimp, snails, etc. are very good for them to eat. Some will not eat any other foods besides live worms and shrimp when you first buy them. They usually eventually change to frozen or dried, but we have to get them established in the new tank before we try to do that and it's a slow gradual process. If he isn't eating much or anything at all, try live foods such as tubifex, bloodworms, or brine shrimp. the other fish will love it too but you don't want to feed them to the exclusion of other foods. They all need variety.

Sometimes black on fish can be caused by ammonia burns.Ammonia is from fish waste and is typically elevated when a tank is new, overcrowded or there is something wrong with the biological balance in the filter.  He may have been exposed to it even before you got him and he is just now showing the evidence. It will fade over the next few weeks and should heal just fine as long as your tank is kept clean. Your maintenance is great so keep up the good work there.

Black can also be from a natural color change. One of mine has a round black spot kind of like a mole on his side. He's always had it and it's just part of his normal coloration. It's also pretty normal for clown loaches to darken and lighten according to their mood, water conditions, the weather, etc. They also tend to be nocturnal and shy sometimes. Mine actually lay on their sides out in the open and look as if they're dead. They slowly roll over and just lay motionless on the gravel. It scares people! Sometimes they lay on their sides with one on top of the other. They sometimes hang out together, and sometimes don't. Some days they hide all the time, some days they don't. Very unique and fun little fish.

You may want to consider getting a larger tank for your fish. Clown loaches grow to be over 10 inches long and swordtails get about 5 inches long. This actually makes your little ten gallon overcrowded because of the future adult size of your young fish. Both types of fish need a lot of room to swim as they grow. They tend to be a bit hyper sometimes.

If you can get a photograph of his face I could look at it. It is pretty hard to get a photo but here is my email to send it to if you can do it;

AllExperts_Fish_Guru(a)yahoo.com

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins