Just a reply

Question
Hi Karen,

Thank you for your speedy reply, i found it quite enlightening and helpful, i will be sure to follow your instructions and hope all goes well. I feel so stupid for letting the pet-shop rip me off again, but i feel worse for the fish that died. As of now i will be spending alot more time reading up on my little buddies to ensure i lose no more.

I may even consider taking the new tank setup back and asking for a refund of the money spent. Oh and one more question if you don't mind, in my larger tank i have 2 Stone fish, 1 "Common" Pleco, 2 large Bristle Nose, 1 alleged Sleeper Gudgeon, 2 Eeltail Catfish and 2 Crown Loaches. Recently i lost a Crown Loach, it appeared to of gotten stuck between a stone and the glass but upon closer inspection had a silky substance on it. I bought a new one because the other Crown Loach wasn't looking too happy and now the same thing is occuring with the original one. It has the same substance along with it being dull.

The tank is cleaned every Sunday to the tune for 40-50 % taken out, then dechlorinated, warmed water added. You don't have to reply to this because i'm sure you have better things to do, but it would be nice. Thanks in advance,
Kyle.

Answer
Dear Kyle, thanks! You're very welcome!
Better things to do!? No, this is what I'm here for! ;-)

~Some thorough research would have been your best bet before trusting the petshop's advice. Of all the time I've been volunteering here, I've gotten countless fishkeepers telling me what the Petshop told them to do and 98% of the time, the petshop "knowledgeable" employees were wrong.
At least it's good that you know better, yes research is the key.

Getting a refund would be great, I wouldn't count on the petshop refunding you for the aquarium (they may not) but you might get lucky.

In your question you asked what this "silky" substance was on your Crown Loaches (sorry, did you mean Clown?) Here's what a clown loach looks like-
"www.fishtanksandponds.com/live-stock/fishprofiles/clown_loach.htm"
*~Anyway, this could be an illness. It would have been best if you could have quarantined your new Crown/Clown loach. Since these creatures are very suceptible to illnesses when first introduced. So would you say the loaches skin was cloudy? If so this could be a fungal infection or a slime problem. Fungal infections are usually distinquished from other skin problems by their fuzzy appearance like regular food molds. It can also be a symptom of less-than-ideal water quality. If you could test your water that would be great. Or moving the clown/crown loaches to a "hospital" tank. You could also treat the whole aquarium with "Melafix/Pimafix" combo medication. These are very reliable meds that are safe to mix and safe for your fish and biological filter.

Although it's hard to diagnose any fish disease without actually seeing the actual patient. If I were you i'd change 30-50% of the aquarium water everyday and use Melafix/Pimafix together at the very least.

If it seems to be getting worse..You'll have to make a proper diagnosis and may have to move the Loaches to a hospital tank and use stronger meds. Loaches are very sensitive to stronger meds so I do hope there is nothing seriously harming them.
Just be sure to watch it.

I really hope this helps and sorry again for the bad start you had to your second tank. I hope you can get things straightened out very soon.

Only my very best wishes and Happy fishkeeping!
Karen~