Hi everyone,

So before I put my bristlenose in my large tank, she was very healthy. The moment i put her in, she started to get pale patches all over her body, I just thought this was normal from stress and would go away. She has been in there for 2 months now, and just got worse and worse. Now her eyes have this strange white thing on them.

What is wrong?? How do I help her??

Image below... p.s sorry for bad pic but she is very shy

Also, she constantly blows bubbles, then races up to the surface for more air.

I dont think oxygen is a problem in my tank as good water flow, and all other fish seem happy and healthy

The bubble blowing sounds like odd behavior. What do your water tests show?

What lights are you using? How long are they on for and when?

The lights that came with the 980t, and about 8 hours, as have plants. There are lots of hiding places too.

Maybe the stress of moving made her susceptible to some bugs/fungus in your large tank that the other fish were resistant to? Is the water circulating sufficiently so that oxygenated water is reaching the bottom of the tank? Is it a deep tank? Racing to the top to use her labyrinth apparatus sounds like O2 deprivation.

Salinity? Temperture? Other Water parameters?

Sounds like you need to get her into a hospital tank if these is some fungus growing on her eye.

The patchy white could be overproduction of the slime coat and that would fit with her seeking oxygen since her gills will also be filling with slime and therefore not available for gas exchange. I would be wondering about the substrate in the tank or some other irritant. That looks like the black glass substrate sold by Aqua One. I haven't seen it cause many problems before but it is possible considering she is a ground dweller and the substrate is rather sharp.

If it were me, I would do some regular water changes, about 30-50% depending on what you are comfortable with. This will promote her to make even more slime within the first 6-8 hours but it should start to go away after that. Do a couple of water changes per week and be sure to replace the water with dechlorinated water. This is all assuming that it isn't the water that has the irritant, although that is not so likely in most towns. Also, if you are putting anything else in the tank, that could be contributing to the problem. If she doesn't get better in a week or so, I would consider taking her out and housing her in a different tank with similar water conditions. If she gets better in there, it could be the substrate causing the problem (or some other feature).

Whats the tank temperature? My bn can not live in my discus tank which runs 28+. They spent a lot of time flying up to the top of the tank for oxygen.

Thanks for the help guys, I went to auz just after I created this topic, while I was away, he died... RIP Wally.. I had him for 3 years from a tiny baby

Sorry to hear.

Sorry to hear about the loss of Wally &c:ry