Matty Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 one of my clown loaches has got some discolouration in its bands. the problem occurs on both sides of the body. It has only happened to one loach. (I have 7) Does anybody know what causes it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 Hi Matty, What do you mean by "discolouration"? Do you mean that the bars are faded and look grey instead of black? Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted May 17, 2005 Author Share Posted May 17, 2005 Yes, that's right. Just in the patches you can see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 Ok well if it's just fading in and out then I wouldn't be concerned (provided you are sure that you can't see any other signs of distress and the water parameters are correct). Clowns will fade when they fight amongst themselves too. They are also able to change the barring ie. shift the outline of the barring according to mood. However after looking at the picture (sorry missed it first time due to dialup) this looks more like a disease of some sort. I have not seen it before so I can't help you. Does it looks like attack or sucking wounds? Andrea EDIT: I should add that what you have shown is not the normal "fading" that I was describing. When it is "normal" the whole bar (in fact all the bars) fade to light grey evenly...not white patches as is visible here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted May 17, 2005 Author Share Posted May 17, 2005 No it doesn't appear to be a wound at all because it seems to be the same markings on both sides of the fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 Ok Matty, best I can do is go through my quarantine notes later today and see if I can find something relevant for you. Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdc Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 ive got the same problem (if it is a problem) with my 6 clowms though my patches are lighter in contrast ie more greyish than white. Theyve been like that for at least a month but theyre still feeding and fine... Like matty said...somebody pls help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Sorry..after reading through all my notes I cannot find anything specific to the loaches. The closest I could find was the following: The colouration of a fish often reflects its state of health. Pay attention to hygiene and provide for optimal values in water quality Questions... 1. What is the pH and hardness of the tank? 2. Has any medication, fertilizer or other substance been added to the tank? 3. Have the fish been fed monotonously with the same feed for long periods? Without getting a scraping and viewing it under the microscope, it is difficult to even know if it is viral/bacterial/protozoan. Hence treatment guidance is impossible to know. Are there any other signs at all? They appear to look ok apart from the discolouration.... Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wormboy Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Because it is localised only on the black bands and it is the same patterns on both sides I would I would have to say it sounds like a problem with his chromatophores (colour producing cells which can be expanded and contracted to alter colour intensity, in this case black melanophores). The grey/white areas do look within the range of natural clown loach colouration, only the distribution and edges looks different (like Merjo said). If is the only the chromatophores malfunctioning I shouldn't worry too much, it wont hurt them. As for what has caused them to malfunction in the first place that is a different matter, one with which I cant really help you with, sorry . chromatophore problems can also manifest in cichlids and may result in big black patches it is often suspected to be a tumor blocking nervous control of the cells effectively paralysing them (not that I suspect this is the case here, this is only an aside) I would just keep a close eye on it. Look out for white spot especially (clowns are suceptable and if it is a stress problem then this may occur as well) good luck. -worm- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_1 Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 do you ahve many chiclids you should check how much rock salt you are putting in the water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted June 3, 2005 Author Share Posted June 3, 2005 Sorry..after reading through all my notes I cannot find anything specific to the loaches. The closest I could find was the following: The colouration of a fish often reflects its state of health. Pay attention to hygiene and provide for optimal values in water quality Questions... 1. What is the pH and hardness of the tank? 2. Has any medication, fertilizer or other substance been added to the tank? 3. Have the fish been fed monotonously with the same feed for long periods? Without getting a scraping and viewing it under the microscope, it is difficult to even know if it is viral/bacterial/protozoan. Hence treatment guidance is impossible to know. Are there any other signs at all? They appear to look ok apart from the discolouration.... Andrea ← Thanks for all your help Andrea, (and wormboy), much appreciated. In the two weeks since I had the problem, the marking have pretty much gone back to normal. In regards to your questions Andrea, the ph sits at about 8.0, nothing had been added to the tank, and they do get a wide variety of food. Now, because it returned back to normal reasonably quickly, I wonder whether it was an injury after all? It just seemed a bit strange to be identical markings on both sides of the body. BTW, mark_1, why should I check how much rock salt I am putting in the water? How would this affect the fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Glad to hear he is ok. Identical markings possibly would indicate an injury...perhaps it got jammed somewhere and grazed itself? Any sus looking ornament culprits, especially one with holes? Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted June 3, 2005 Author Share Posted June 3, 2005 Yes, there are places it could have squeezed itself into or out of, but I'm still not conviced that it is an injury It just seems strange that the only colour variations were on the bands of the loach. Oh well, not to worry. Life goes on. Thanks again for your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted April 14, 2006 Author Share Posted April 14, 2006 I thought I would bump this post. It's a problem I have with one of my seven clown loaches. By bumping the post, I hope to generate more feedback with this problem (although I'm not bothered by it anymore.) Here are a couple of pics I took yesterday. The same thing has happened again - to the same fish. The discolouration appears now to be on the dorsal fin also. There is nothing in the tank that it could have scratched itself on either. Does anyone have anything more to add? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Wow that seems pretty serious and even more prominent than before. I have no idea what it is, but it certainly looks as if someone had taken an eraser and rubbed the black parts out. Is it still eating and swimming healthily? maybe its an inbred tassie clown loach ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 Matty...quite a few of mine have similar marks atm. I have added a naughty algae eater and I'm sure he/she has done this to them. Do you have any rasping/sucking fish in your tank? Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted April 15, 2006 Author Share Posted April 15, 2006 Yes I do, I have 1 SAE and a couple of BN's, but I doubt very much that they are the problem. I can't imagine a Clown Loach taking that kind of punishment. It doesn't explain the fins either. I'm 100% sure that it's a hormonal or disease problem. But I wouldn't know where to start looking. Once again, the fish does not seem to be distressed at all in any way, so I'm not worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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