Does this Fish have Ick?

[PackardG00SE]

I bought this Angelfish the other day. It doesn’t eat, and it doesn’t really swim much. I was certain it wasn’t going to make it through its first night in the tank, but it has managed to stay alive. Today I noticed its mouth is all white. I’m not sure if it’s the result of Ick or if the white is just its normal coloring. I was hoping someone with more experience could take a look at the photo below, because I really don’t know what I’m looking at.

-Thanks.

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[PackardG00SE]

Here are some more pics. —>

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[Colin_T]

How long has the tank been set up for?
What other fish are in the tank (it looks like you have 1 or 2 red parrot cichlids)?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

Does the water have a milky cloudy appearance to it?
What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels in the water?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

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It's not white spot. Ichthyphothirius (Ich or white spot) looks like grains of salt sprinkled over the fish.

The fish is covered in excess mucous, which is caused by something in the water irritating the fish. In response the fish increases the amount of mucous it normally produces and develops a cream or white film over the body.

Excess mucous is normally caused by poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite or nitrate) but can also be caused by external protozoan parasites, chemicals (fertiliser, medication) in the water and chemicals getting into the water from outside the aquarium (smoke, paint, fumes, perfume, deodorant, hand sanitiser residue on your skin, etc).

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The white mouth is a concern and could be excess mucous or the start of mouth fungus (Columnaris). It it's Columnaris it will need antibiotics. However, before treating with anything, do the following.

Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Post the results in numbers here.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Post more pictures in 24 and 48 hours time so I can check the mouth. If it is Columnaris, it usually spreads rapidly over the mouth and face and the fish normally dies in a couple of days.

 

[PackardG00SE]

The tank has only been running for a week. I bought 2 Blood Parrots on Wednesday, and the Angelfish and a Turquoise Severum on Friday. I conditioned the water, and created a bacteria bloom before adding the fish. I plan on doing my first water change this week. The filter is a 35 gallon sump with filter socks. The socks are stuffed with filter floss. In the sump there is bio media, carbon, a phosphate reducer and SeaChem Purigen. The water is pretty clear. There are bubbles forming at the surface, and lots of underwater micro bubbles directly below the flow return. I think I have some water test kits that came with my aquarium. I’ll run a test and post the results.

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[Ceez]

The tank has only been running for a week. I bought 2 Blood Parrots on Wednesday, and the Angelfish and a Turquoise Severum on Friday. I conditioned the water, and created a bacteria bloom before adding the fish. I plan on doing my first water change this week. The filter is a 35 gallon sump with filter socks. The socks are stuffed with filter floss. In the sump there is bio media, carbon, a phosphate reducer and SeaChem Purigen. The water is pretty clear. There are bubbles forming at the surface, and lots of underwater micro bubbles directly below the flow return. I think I have some water test kits that came with my aquarium. I’ll run a test and post the results.

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Did the tank cycle before you added the fish?

 

[PackardG00SE]

I cycled the tank for at least 24 hours before I added fish to it. I found the 2 types of test kits that came with my aquarium. They seem somewhat complex to administer, so I might get some simple test strips from the pet store to use instead. The 4 fish residents are all looking pretty good. Even though the Angelfish still has a little white around the mouth it appears to be going away. Hopefully, I can get it to eat soon now that it’s more active.

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[Essjay]

When you say you cycled the tank for 24 hours, what did you do to cycle the tank? Most cycles take a lot longer than that.

What is the ammonia level in the tank water? Note - those 5 or 6 in 1 test strips don't include ammonia so if you do get strips you'll need ammonia strips as well.
What is the nitrite level in the tank water?

 

[PackardG00SE]

What I meant by cycled… I turned the pump on, so the stuff sitting in the sump could mix with the water in the tank. I didn’t realize that might not be what cycled means. I also added a bottle of bacteria the day before I bought fish.

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[Colin_T]

Sounds like you are doing a fish in cycle, which means there are fish in the tank while the filter develops the colonies of beneficial bacteria. In these cases you reduce feeding to once every couple of days and do a 75% water change 4-8 hours after feeding. You should also do a 75% water change any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[Lcc86]

Your tank unfortunately isn't cycled. You really need to be testing the water daily and doing large water changes as others have said. If you haven't done any changes yet since you set the tank up your ammonia and nitrite are potentially going to be really high. Whether this is contributing to what youre seeing on this angel I dont know but you need to do a massive water change ASAP and keep on top of this daily until the tank is cycled - which will take a few weeks.

How big is this tank? You've got some fish that need a fair amount of space in there, if they are overcrowded that will also affect the water quality.

There are lots of threads on here about cycling your tank, a fish in cycle isn't the preferred way but not much you can do now that the fish are in, you just have to be really on top of testing the water and changing it when the readings show ammonia/nitrite.