Iridsecent Shark With White Film... Not Looking Good! :/

[ChiefBrody]

Tank size: 4gal (I have a 30 for him that I'm cycling now)
pH: "normal" 
ammonia:?
nitrite:?
nitrate:?
kH:?
gH:?
tank temp: 72 - 74

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): He's covered in a white film like he swam through a spider web, his head sometimes is lower than his tail, kinda inverted at a 45 degree angle, He doesn't seem to have anything hanging from him, but he goes to the surface occasionally and gulps air.  He stopped doing that when I lowered the tank water level and the splash from the filter began to aerate the water a bit.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 25%, once a week

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: I have gravel, 3 river stones, and one fake plant.

Tank inhabitants: Just him, Chief Brody, for 3 weeks - although I added another iridescent (Quint) that died within 6 hours.  When I went back to the store, Quint's whole tank was dead, too.  Chief Brody started looking ill just as Quint died.  

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): see above

Exposure to chemicals:



At the first sign, I treated for ich for 48hours and did a 25% water change.  *sigh*  It didn't work, because it's not ich.  It's more filmy.  

Last night I went out at 4 am and bought a broad spectrum antibiotic and began treating him with that.  Before I dropped the tablet into the back, I tested the pH (which was "normal" by the strip kit I have - I'm getting a REAL kit today on the way home from work) and ammonia, which was "harmful".  So, I added a few drops of Seachem Prime to try to neutralize the ammonia a bit, threw the antibiotic tablet in the back (where the filters are supposed to be, but I had removed them for the ich treatment... should they be back in now??) and headed off to work.  I've worried about him all day!!  

I'll upload a few pics of him in just a moment...  I need to log in from my phone to do that.  

Any help you can give is greatly appreciated!!!   (I hope time is on our side!!)
 

 

[star4]

A cobweb like film is slime coat. Fish under stress produce excess slime coat resulting in this web like affect. How big is the fish at the moment. Do you know how big these get? the 30g you are cycling is not going to be big enough either long term.
 
The fish could be under stress due to tank size, water condition, incorrect feeding the list goes on. 
 
The only advice I could give is do a water change, get a test kit and test your water levels and work from there.

 

[ChiefBrody]

He's only an inch and a half right now, but yes, I realize he'll eventually be 3 feet long. I plan on having a indoor pond of some sort in the long run .

Of course I'll test the water when I get home & report back.

I've added a pic to the OP as well as here.

 

[ChiefBrody]

As promised, I'm reporting back with the details:

I bought an API master test kit after work.

Ammonia was 4ppm  (YIKES!!)
Nitrates and Nitrites were 0
pH was 7.0
temp was 75F this afternoon, but it gets down to about 72F at night

So, after doing the first test, I used my gravel vacuum and sucked out about 50% of the water and replaced it with CaribSea Ready Water, which I submerged in it's jug in warm water in the bath tub until the temperature matched the aquarium temperature of 75F.  

Once done with that, I checked the levels again, finding that Ammonia had come down to 1ppm.  I added the appropriate amount of API Ammo Lock as reccommended in the test kit.

He looks a little better, and is maintaining his level horizontal position.  I turned off his light, but left a low light on in the same room with him.  He just looks at me.  So sad.    He didn't eat the one flake I put in there, either, and he normally would shake it around, tear it apart, and gulp it down.   Is there anything more I should do tonight?  Tomorrow??

I've gotten so attached to this little guy.

 

[fluttermoth]

Your fish's problems are almost certainly down to water quality. Did you cycle this tank before adding the fish and, if so, how did you do that?

If the smaller tank isn't cycled, I would suggest you move the fish to the 30g. Fish-in cycles are best done with as large a volume of water as possible and really, even though he's only small, an iridescent shark has no business being in a 4g tank. It's just too small.

 

[ChiefBrody]

yes, the 4 gallon was cycled, but the ammonia spiked. The 30 gallon is not cycled yet, or I would have already moved him. The 4 gallon was simply a holding tank while the 30 gallon cycles, because when I bought him, he was in a bowl with an airstone and that's it. I couldn't leave him in less than one gallon of water in a crappy pet store.

That said, I appreciate any and all advice I can get! I am doing another partial water change as we speak, and I'm going to change out the carbon in the filter, because I don't think it's removing the ammonia like a new filter would. The 30 gallon has a bio wheel, and that would be ideal, but that tank simply isn't ready yet. Wouldn't it do more harm than good to move him to it?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No.
 
The 4 gallon tank isn't ready for him either.  So, in this case, the 30 gallon is better, as the larger volume of water will allow the water quality to remain sufficient for longer.
 
 
I'd put him into the 30 gallon (it will also reduce any potential stunting issue as well) and get some floating plants which will help to take up the ammonia as it is produced by the fish.  Duckweed would be a great option.  But, any floater would work well - adding bacteria to the tank as well as using ammonia from the water.
 
 
Then, just keep a very close eye on the ammonia and then nitrite, to keep the water of sufficient quality to protect him.

I'd suggest doing a 100% water change on the 30 gallon to remove any ammonia you may have in there. 
 
 
 
(Just for an example, the amount of ammonia in the 4 gallon at 4ppm - would only be ~0.5ppm in the 30 gallon.)

 

[sawickib]

Also if your using a filter on the 4 gallon transfer all the cycled media over to the big tank with the fish, should a eradicate ammonia as it has time to grow its colony to accomdate your shark.

 

[star4]

As promised, I'm reporting back with the details:

I bought an API master test kit after work.

Ammonia was 4ppm  (YIKES!!)
Nitrates and Nitrites were 0
pH was 7.0
temp was 75F this afternoon, but it gets down to about 72F at night
So, after doing the first test, I used my gravel vacuum and sucked out about 50% of the water and replaced it with CaribSea Ready Water, which I submerged in it's jug in warm water in the bath tub until the temperature matched the aquarium temperature of 75F.  

Once done with that, I checked the levels again, finding that Ammonia had come down to 1ppm.  I added the appropriate amount of API Ammo Lock as reccommended in the test kit.

He looks a little better, and is maintaining his level horizontal position.  I turned off his light, but left a low light on in the same room with him.  He just looks at me.  So sad. 

  He didn't eat the one flake I put in there, either, and he normally would shake it around, tear it apart, and gulp it down.   Is there anything more I should do tonight?  Tomorrow??

I've gotten so attached to this little guy.

 
 
Do another water change today, you need to get the ammonia down to 0, this is what is causing him to produce excess slime coat by the look. Fingers crossed with lots of water changes he will be ok and you can get him in the bigger tank

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm going to change out the carbon in the filter, because I don't think it's removing the ammonia like a new filter would.

I just want to point out that carbon does not remove ammonia, nitrite or nitrate.

 

[the_lock_man]

yes, the 4 gallon was cycled, but the ammonia spiked. The 30 gallon is not cycled yet, or I would have already moved him. The 4 gallon was simply a holding tank while the 30 gallon cycles, because when I bought him, he was in a bowl with an airstone and that's it. I couldn't leave him in less than one gallon of water in a crappy pet store.

That said, I appreciate any and all advice I can get! I am doing another partial water change as we speak, and I'm going to change out the carbon in the filter, because I don't think it's removing the ammonia like a new filter would. The 30 gallon has a bio wheel, and that would be ideal, but that tank simply isn't ready yet. Wouldn't it do more harm than good to move him to it?

(

 
As others have said, your 4G isn't cycled for the bioload you have in there, that's why the ammonia spiked. The fish is producing x amount grams of ammonia per hour/day/whatever. In 4G, that amount of ammonia is 4ppm, aka mg/l. In the 30g, that same amount of ammonia would only be 0.5ppm, because there is roughly 8 times the amount of water to dilute the ammonia. That is why people are advising you to move the fish now. It is the high concentration of ammonia which is damaging the fish.
 
In all honesty, and I'm sorry if this comes across as rude, but I think you really should have left the fish in the store. You've bought one (well two actually), so the LFS owner thinks, "Ooh, that's good, there's a market for these fish, I'll buy some more." So that's two shipments of totally unsuitable fish that he's bought. What would have been better, IMHO, is to educate the LFS owner on the issues surrounding selling fish which grow into 3' monsters to people with 18" long tanks.

 

[Lillefishy]

In all honesty, and I'm sorry if this comes across as rude, but I think you really should have left the fish in the store. You've bought one (well two actually), so the LFS owner thinks, "Ooh, that's good, there's a market for these fish, I'll buy some more." So that's two shipments of totally unsuitable fish that he's bought. What would have been better, IMHO, is to educate the LFS owner on the issues surrounding selling fish which grow into 3' monsters to people with 18" long tanks.

Well said, I have recently strongly 'educated' my Lfs for getting a shipment of these tank busters in, I doubt they'll be getting any more.
I also pointed them in the direction of The Big Fish Campaign

 

[ChiefBrody]

Thanks, everyone!!  I'm going to move him to the 30gal right now!  I've been doing daily water changes, and his slime coat is gone, he's emaciated, and just generally lying on the bottom. 
 

 

yes, the 4 gallon was cycled, but the ammonia spiked. The 30 gallon is not cycled yet, or I would have already moved him. The 4 gallon was simply a holding tank while the 30 gallon cycles, because when I bought him, he was in a bowl with an airstone and that's it. I couldn't leave him in less than one gallon of water in a crappy pet store.

That said, I appreciate any and all advice I can get! I am doing another partial water change as we speak, and I'm going to change out the carbon in the filter, because I don't think it's removing the ammonia like a new filter would. The 30 gallon has a bio wheel, and that would be ideal, but that tank simply isn't ready yet. Wouldn't it do more harm than good to move him to it?

(

 
As others have said, your 4G isn't cycled for the bioload you have in there, that's why the ammonia spiked. The fish is producing x amount grams of ammonia per hour/day/whatever. In 4G, that amount of ammonia is 4ppm, aka mg/l. In the 30g, that same amount of ammonia would only be 0.5ppm, because there is roughly 8 times the amount of water to dilute the ammonia. That is why people are advising you to move the fish now. It is the high concentration of ammonia which is damaging the fish.

Ahhhh, that makes sense!  I'm on it.
 

 

I'm going to change out the carbon in the filter, because I don't think it's removing the ammonia like a new filter would.

I just want to point out that carbon does not remove ammonia, nitrite or nitrate.
 

I know, but I bought "Ammo Carb" carbon - which is supposed to removed the ammonia that Ammo lock bound itself to....  right??  Anyway, I left the regular filters in and added a little pouch of that to the filter box.  Regardless, I'm moving him now.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

He'll appreciate the extra space as well as the lower ammonia.

 

[star4]

If he is not eating try some frozen bloodworm, or better still chop a prawn up into bits and soak it in garlic (garlic will help boost his immune system). Flake is not a good food for catfish, you need some good quality catfish pellet for him. Keep on with the wc on the 30g tank also.