Slime coating???

[Snowman]

I've got 1 striata & 1 queen loach's that have white patches on their sides, almost as if they had brushed against a paint brush, breathing fast with a tendency to float slightly nose up.

They have been in the same tank for 18mths with quite a few other loaches (3 clowns), Black Ghost Knife and a pair of b/nose, the male b/nose seems to have a strip of this same stuff running along the edge of his right fin but none of the other fish are showing any signs of this gunk or stress.

Tank is AR850(165ltr) with 120ltrs of water, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate10, ph 6.8

Weekly 30ltr water changes.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

[Caper]

http://www.tropicalresources.net/phpBB2/d_profiles_skin_slime_disease.php

I don't know if that is any help Snowman. I went to google and so far haven't found anything "white" patches other than the usual Ich & fungus and I know you'd recognize those. So I then googled slime overproduction and went to this site.

I sure wish I could help you have helped me so much

By the way, good to see you...haven't seen you in awhile...how's your little boy doing?

[craig]

hi snowman,

i have seen this in the quarenteen at work, it's a bacterial problem.

treat for bacterial infection.

salt is great for treating it.not good for plants though.

search on the net for salt treatment for tropical's.

aquaflavin is good too,but remember lighter dose for the loaches.

do a waterchange before you treat.

how often do you vacume tank?

also need to look for the reason why you have the problem,at a guess water quality might have slumped at some stage. every now and then it doesn't hurt to do a bigger waterchange ie once every 4-6mths.

good luck snowman.

[Caper]

Snowman...how's your fishies?

[Snowman]

Thanks all for the advice

Lost 2 striata loaches but my main concern is my big clown, done a few more water changes ( 20% a day for 3 days ) and added salt at 1gram per litre, tanks looking better i.e. more active fish, eating better and i cant see any slime on any of the fish.

When i do my gravel vac i wave it over the surface of the substrate to lift gunk, it doesnt seem to get the build up that the other tanks do, exact opposite of my GBA tank.

Thanks for that link Caper, very handy.

Marcus is growing real fast and loves the fish

Thats his swordtails nibbling my fingers look LOL

[Caper]

OH MY...he is adorable Snowman Not quite the same little baby that you have in your pic

Sorry about your losses ...but glad that it seems things are improving :bounce:

[Caryl]

Is that your 'big clown'? :lol:

[craig]

hi snowman,

sorry to hear about the loaches but glad to hear things are picking up. that's one cute kid :lol:

on the vacuming thingie,of skimming over the top. you have alot of rocks in your tank,sometimes you can get a anaromic activity,that isn't how it is spelt. if you dig your vacume in deep in the substrate all these bubbles will come up the hose,along with a foul smell like sulphur. if these bubbles let go while a fish is swimming past and he gets it in the nose so to speak it will kill.never seen it occur it's only what i have heard and read.

give it a go,deep vac near rocks,see what happens or not,hopefully all sweet :lol:

cheers shell.