Clown Loach - BIG problem somewhere - Clues please

[pugant06]

For those who have the patience to read this, any clues would be VERY welcome.

A few weeks ago i set up a tank for the wife. An aqua one AR850. Everything done properly. Washed aquatic sand through and the new ship ornament. Filled with treated water and after couple of days started the filter start treatment. After a further two weeks checked water, all going well filter starting to take effect. Went to local aquatic centre & they agreed ok to introduce starter fish. Two dwarf blue gouramis purchased and put in tank. Fine, and another week later the four neon tetras we had in another tank we are running down were put in.
Further two weeks and filter is working well and all fish healthy. Went back to aquatic centre who also tested the water and replied its 'spot on'. Ready for more fish. Wife always wanted clown loach so two good sized ones were purchased at £12 each plus a small type of catfish. Placed in tank but both clown loach dead within 48hrs. Took them back to centre who retested water and reply was results of the water was one of the best he had seen from a customer in a long time. They gave us two replacements but first of these has died within 24hrs and second not looking good.

Ok here goes:
Introduced with care. Bag put in top of tank for 20mins to allow temps to stabilise.
Lights off during introduction.
Our tank temp running at 25c same as aquatic centres.
ALL other fish still healthy.
Loach's that died showed NO signs of disease, physical damage and were still holding full colour.
Tank is not in any direct sunlight and is away from windows.
Kids have left home so not subjected to noise or knocks.
No aerosols used anywhere near vicinity.
Plants were placed in tank when set up from day one. no other introductions to tank other than fish.
Main lighting is on for only 8 hrs then subtle moonlight effect on till we go to bed.

I feel i'm really clutching at straws for possible causes here. PLEASE any clues would be greatly appreciated. Even the staff in the aquatic centre were scratching their heads when we left last time. But i'm popping in again tonight to see them with another dead one and rather than refund we will pick up a couple of dwarf honey gourami.

As i said earlier clown loaches are a fish the wife always wanted but we never had a tank set up big enough for them. We will try again but only if we find a good reason why these have died and rectified the problem. IF WE HAVE ONE.

[Frase]

perhaps a heap load of bad luck? If you've got other fish in there that are settled and thriving maybe it is just pure shock of tank moves etc? dwarf gouramis *salutes you* love gouramis so much lol but thats another story.

I would have said osmething to do with whats inside the tank but your waters testing as perfect. or near that.

Only other thing is this catfish, what type and size is it? Could it be stressing your loachs out?

[Graylord]

Daft question but they were actually dead rather than just lying on their sides on the bottom?

Could also be lack of oxygen ,do you have really good circulation as your temp in my opinion is too high for clown loaches.

Also pH could be an issue if it was low but as it`s a relatively new tank its doubtful.

Whar are the dimensions of the tank?

Regards

[Graylord]

Also floating bags is of no use after short trips from a shop it eqalises the water temperature but not the fishes temperature that much .

Floating in my opinion just causes undue stress on a fishes system.

[Frase]

I have my tanks runnin on 27/28 i think majority of the time.

Lack of oxygen is a possibility. I know that i had to introduce a 2nd pump for my comm tank to stop things from getting very lathargic (sp?)

[Graylord]

There is a vogue nowadays for running tanks too warm i feel 24c is plenty warm enough .

If it works for you though then thats what matters ,what the hobby is about .

[Frase]

Deffo agree with you there mate!

I had it at like 23 or so for a bit, things just slowed down pretty crazily. I also had a couple of dwarf honeys go on me too up to 27/28 and omg every guppy in sight is preg's! cories are live n kickin, mollies are going cool and my danios are darting about like little light flashes lol.

[pugant06]

Yes i know they can act dead. but once you have tapped them a few times with plastic rod and no reaction you have a good idea that they are dead. Also held them in net at top of water for few seconds to make double sure.

No Ph problems - thats fine so aquatic centre say for these.

Air is forced into the water by external filter exit above water. I would add aditional airiation if stocking levels go up but at moment not an issue.

The catfish is only small and a type that only grows to 4" maximum. Not a type that goes flying arround bottom of tank like some. Spends most of its time clinging to ship ornament.

Thanks for suggestions so far - keep them coming please

[Frase]

Ok then. With regards to air filtration though, if the loaches are large, maybe it is purely down to the air within the tank. Whats the tank dim's?

i am beginning to run outta ideas other than pure bad luck

[MJ75]

Your average trop tank should be at around 24C. Bettas, wild caught discus, some cichla species and errrr clown loach are better kept at warmer temperatures. The farms where they are bred have temperatures around 28C. Their native waters are warmer than 24C too.

Did you get the pH, gH and kH tested?