New to keeping clown loaches

[NicholasChua]

I recently bought a clown loach for my 2 ft aquarium to clear the snails that have appeared. However, it is very skinny and it is always at the back swimming to the surface and back down, over and over again. What is wrong? and how do i ensure it is healthy?

[stormhawk]

The Clown Loach could be suffering from a parasite infestation, either in the gills or the intestinal tract. Does it show any signs of white spot or cloudy skin? Young clown loaches are extremely subsceptible to white spot aka ich. To understand what other parameters could be affecting your loach, listing down your pH, nitrate and nitrite levels might be helpful.

A loach will not survive on just snails alone however and extra food in the form of frozen bloodworms or other foods should be given to it. If the stomach is very badly sunken in and the fish looks extremely skinny or emaciated, then it is pretty going to just waste away and eventually die. Situations like this usually means the loach is beyond help.